Clearwater's Top 'Destinations' of 2012
Do you have a favorite place travel writer Cathy Salustri took you in a Destination Clearwater story? Here are some of the most popular stories from the last year.
Destination Clearwater
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Saturday, December 29, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Destination Clearwater
Destination Clearwater: Best Places of 2012
Do you have a favorite place travel writer Cathy Salustri took you in a Destination Clearwater story? Make sure to vote in our poll, here are some of the most popular stories from the last year.
From a walk through the lighted Florida Botanical Gardens to finding out the truth behind an old sailor story, Cathy Salustri has taken Clearwater Patch readers to many places near and around Clearwater. Take some time and catch up on some of the most popular places featured in our Destination Clearwater column. After, take a moment and vote in our poll to pick the favorite place featured in 2012. 1. Destination Clearwater: Strolling Through the Garden 2. Destination Clearwater: The Grey House: Part Two 3. Destination Clearwater: Barber Temple Orange 4. Destination Clearwater: The Case of the Vanishing Skull 5. Destination Clearwater: Submarine Races 6. Destination Clearwater: 1987 7. Destination Clearwater: A Tree Grows in Clearwater 8. …
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Saturday, December 1, 2012
Destination Clearwater
Destination Clearwater: Strolling Through the Garden
Sometimes the Florida Botanical Gardens' brightest colors are at night.
Just outside Clearwater, the Florida Botanical Gardens lights up like a Christmas tree every December. Not just one Christmas tree, though – all of them. It's one of those rare Florida nights when it actually feels like winter feels in most of the country. I’m not complaining; I love that I can wear shorts on Christmas. But when we do get a cold burst, I feel brilliantly alive out in the elements, wrapped in a scarf and breathing the cold air. That’s what I’m doing tonight, and I’m doing it at the Florida Botanical Gardens. There’s no snow, but it’s a Florida wonderland all its own over here. Everywhere I look, lights sparkle against the rich backdrop of green fringe and brilliant blossoms. I walk across a long bridge to reach the sparkly…
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Saturday, November 17, 2012
Destination Clearwater
Destination Clearwater: Börek
Looking for coffee, I find something even more wonderful.
Every year I am part of something called "NaNoWriMo" in November. November is National Novel Writing Month, hence the catchy title. The goal – and you can visit the Website if you want more information – is to write a 50,000 word novel between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30. There are no prizes and no one else reads the book; it's something I do just for me. Everyone knows, of course, you need coffee to write, so that's why I find myself seeking out a coffee shop. I'm ready to write, and my editor has told me about a nifty little coffee shop by Westshore Pizza on Hercules Avenue and Drew Street. I found a little coffee shop called Manos right where I expected to find a coffee shop. There's something about chilly weather that makes me want to curl up …
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Destination Clearwater
Destination Clearwater: Playing Catch Up
Twice a month travel writer Cathy Salustri shares her stories of Clearwater, here are some of her recent columns.
From the library to the top of Clearwater Beach and every place in between, twice a month travel writer Cathy Salustri shares her stories of Clearwater. Catch up on some of her recent columns: Destination Clearwater: The View From the Top Destination Clearwater: Alone in Public Destination Clearwater: The Grey House Check out more Destination Clearwater columns here.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Destination Clearwater
Destination Clearwater: Gnomes of Christmas Past
Santa and gnomes have given way to the real estate market.
Used to be, I'd laugh at the Santa in the rowboat every Christmas. With great disdain I'd make snarky comments about the little Santa set adrift on the manmade lake amidst the trailers. Every Christmas he made his appearance on a rowboat in the middle of the retention pond, where he would wait, alone in a red fluffy suit, for his big day. I would laugh, too, at the mobile homes I called tornado magnets. These little trailers — gussied up with plastic deer and bright ceramic gnomes — represented everything I found wrong with the Sunshine State: cheap housing, easily destroyed by weather, stacking retirees next to each other and too close for my comfort. I rode through the park only once, as a teenager. On that night I encouraged a friend to…
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Destination Clearwater
Destination Clearwater: Sittin’ on the Seawall
Sitting on the bay making the world wait, for once.
I want to find a seawall and sit on it. There’s something about sitting on the rough, angular blocks that keep the land in and the sea out that offer the opportunity for introspection like no other. I can sit watching the water hit the rocks and lose all sense of time and my worries. While I suspect I’ll have to drive quite a while before finding a sea wall open to the public – most are in people’s back yards or other places generally off-limits to people like me who are given to wandering around outside. I glimpse one pretty much as soon as I drive north onto Sand Key. Sand Key Bayside Park greets me on the bay side of the key. How, I wonder, have I never noticed a park I drive by every week? Clearly, I need to pay more attention. I pull …
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Destination Clearwater
Destination Clearwater: The Pond
The small drop of water is almost hidden from view.
I’ve driven by it thousands of times. I’ve always admired it. I would miss it if it disappeared under the weight of development. But I’ve never stopped, not until today. Today I stop because I am curious about the walkway, but instead I find myself enchanted by the pond’s lesser- seen side. I want to see what lies on the far side of the pond. On Nursery Road, between Lake Drive and Keene Road, there’s a tree-fringed pond on the north side of the street. A wooden boardwalk crosses it and guards it from the street. There is nowhere to park except on private property. As I pull into the parking lot of the tidy white group of buildings that make up the Lutheran church abutting the nondescript lake, I realize I have no idea if I’m trespassing …
