The Dang's: Clearwater Beach Part 2: Beach Day + Bush Gardens

Sunday was our second full day in Florida. We slept in a bit, and then walked about a mile down the beach with Curt and Robin on our way to breakfast. The sun was out and the sky was clear with no fog. It was beautiful!

I did some shelling along the way and found a really cool one right along the shoreline. However, it was still occupied so I made Adam throw it deep so no one would find it and take it/kill it.

Breakfast was at the Clear Sky Beachside Cafe. It was a good thing we had a reservation, because the place was packed! After much indecision because everything on the menu looked so good, I decided on fruit crepes. They were so light and delicious! Adam had corned beef hash which he also really enjoyed.

After breakfast, we walked back along the beach. Unfortunately, it was starting to cloud up.

Back at the condo, we got into our beach gear and headed down to the beach. Adam's mom rented an umbrella and chairs, and Adam and I sprawled out on towels. It was so lovely and relaxing.

You're not supposed to have alcohol at the beach, but I snuck a few of my Mang-O-Ritas. Refreshing!

Adam and I even split some delicious Espresso Chip ice cream from the nearby snack bar. I even found an adorable glass dolphin ornament to commemorate our trip. Ornaments are usually the only souvenirs I get, and we have such fun remembering our trips when we put them up every year. I may have an ornament addiction...

Adam's parents decided to head back to the condo around 4, and we stayed a bit longer until 5. We made a quick stop at Surf Style for some snacks and refreshments for Adam. Did you know Lay's Limon chips were a thing? I discovered them there and couldn't get enough! Lime potato chips, very similar to the lime Tostitos but in potato chip form. Seriously good.

While we were gone, Adam's parents had been making up some delicious snacks. Robin made homemade guac, and Curt had made ceviche with the fish we had caught on Saturday. I was a little skeptical of the "raw" fish, but it was cooked in acid, so I gave it a try. It was quite good. We enjoyed sitting out on the patio snacking as it got dark.

Around 8, we headed down to Frenchy's South Beach Cafe for dinner. There was a bit of a wait, so we enjoyed drinks in the bar. Dinner was good, but nothing special. Probably the best part was just being able to sit outside to eat and enjoy the fresh air.

After, we walked back and watched some of the Closing Ceremonies for the Olympics.

Since Curt and Robin had to work on Monday, we had plans to go to Busch Gardens for the day. Robin kindly let us use her car, and we were off by 9. It was only a 30 mile drive, but took us over an hour because of all the traffic (there's no good way to get there - lots of stoplights). We got there a bit after 10, parked, and walked over. There I discovered that the tickets I thought were $82 per person were something like $94. Yikes! So I popped on Adam's phone (left mine in the car) and ordered them online for $82. Then we just scanned the barcode on our phone at the turnstiles to get in. It was slick! But even at that price, the place is kind of a rip off... It doesn't hold a candle to Disney! It's mainly rollercoasters, with a few midway style rides, shows, and animals thrown in.

Our first rollercoaster of the day was Montu. Crowds were light, so we walked right on. We loved it! It's an inverted roller coaster, so your legs dangle. It goes upside down, but it's so smooth that I felt fine after.

Next, we headed over to Cheetah Hunt. Here we had to wait for about 20 minutes. It's a triple launch coaster, so you go from something like 0-60 three times. I felt nauseous after. I guess I just can't do rollercoasters like I used to!

To allow time to recover, we took the Skyride (like a gondola) up to the other side of the park.

(ignore my crazy hair, I blame the Florida humidity!)

There we walked around a bit and checked stuff out. We shared an Icee and relaxed a bit. I still wasn't feeling the greatest, so I watched while Adam went on the Scorpion coaster. It had a lot of upside down corkscrews, so I was okay with sitting that one out.

Then, we went on the Kumba which has a 135 foot drop and a 360° spiral.

We checked out the water rides, but people were getting soaked and it wasn't that warm out, so we skipped them.

It was getting to be lunch time, so we took the Skyride back. My first choice for lunch was closed, so we backtracked and shared a lunch.

Then we wandered around a bit and checked out the birds,

gators,

and flamingos.

By then I was feeling better, so we decided to take on the SheiKra. It's a floorless 70mph coaster where you drop 200 feet from a 90° angle. It was intense but fun!

I needed a bit of a cool off after that, so we took the Serengeti Railway around the whole park. This allowed us to see a lot of the animals which was neat.

Our last ride was the Gwazi which is a wood coaster. I'm glad we saved that one for last because it was so jarring we both had headaches after. Note to self, avoid wood coasters! Yuck.

We were ready to head out by 4, and took the tram back to our car. Our feet were sore!

Of course it took over an hour to get back, but we were back by 5:30 and had time to relax before dinner.