Post 19 Clearwater

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 Dec 20-29

We stayed in an Airbnb in Clearwater.  Cute studio on the north side of town.

You can't be in Florida for the Christmas season and not attend a holiday boat parade. Tampa had a great one that included over 100 decorated boats!  The parade is along the river through downtown Tampa.  We weren't sure where to stand or park so we found a seat for $10 on the USS Victory that is anchored in the river next to the Tampa Aquarium. It was perfect. We parked in the aquarium lot and made our way onto the ship for front row seats to view the parade. There were food trucks on the pier and bars onboard the ship. It was a great evening.














We weren't sure what to do for Christmas. We were definitely missing our Christmas Eve service at church and singing in the choir. We looked online to see if there was a local UU congregation and sure enough, there was!  UU Clearwater was also having a Christmas day potluck brunch and a Christmas Eve service. When we RSVP'd to the brunch, we asked if we could sing in the choir. "Sure," they said. Come to the Sunday morning service rehearsal and Tuesday evening practice. Little did we know they had been practicing for months for a Christmas Cantata!  We brought home music and plucked out parts on our iPad keyboard App. It was great to sing accompanied by piano and string quartet on Christmas Eve!.  

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On Christmas Day we went back to the church for a lovely potluck brunch.  The church prepared both ham and turkey and the guests added side dishes and desserts.  Cindy made a delicious roasted vegetable casserole.



Anne's cousin, Susan, lives in Clearwater so we spent an afternoon visiting with her.  We hadn't seen her in 10 years. It was great catching up with her.

Anne's computer was acting up so we paid a visit to the Geek Squad at Best Buy only to find out that it had a terminal illness. May it rest in peace...

As always we checked out a local brewery.

We'll be in Florida for most of the winter so we're not spending as much time doing touristy things as we have in the past.  We'll be staying in places for a week or two at a time and spending 3-4 days seeing the local sights.

Our next stop is in Venice. Florida, not Italy. 


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