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Race to the beach: Clearwater Memorial Causeway

 
Published April 2, 2015

If there are three things I've learned during my four years living in Tampa Bay, it's:

• The beach gets really crowded during spring break.

• Avoid Gulf to Bay Boulevard at all costs, especially during spring break.

• For the love of God, just pretend that the beach doesn't exist during spring break!

I had managed to strictly follow these time-honored rules until my editor sent me and Mike Brassfield directly into the fray last week.

Fearing the worst, I filled my beach bag with bottled water and protein bars in case lunchtime became but a distant memory while I sat in gridlock on the Memorial Causeway.

Turns out, I didn't need them.

Clouds and a light drizzle, which finally gave way by mid morning to blinding sunshine, appeared to scare many tourists away — giving me just the edge I needed to make good on a friendly bet that I'd beat Mike to Pier 60.

10:45 a.m.: Left the Tampa Bay Times lot on Cleveland Street. I crossed the causeway in a record five minutes, encountering moderate traffic only as I approached the Clearwater Beach roundabout.

10:53 a.m.: The frantic game of musical chairs . . . er, search for parking . . . begins. The first Gulfview Boulevard lot after I emerged from the roundabout was full, as were all the parking meters on that street.

I turned left at Hamden Drive then swung back up Coronado Drive, where I found plenty of empty metered spaces — more than a mile away from our meeting spot at the pier, my GPS (what did we do before those?) revealed.

What's a girl with a beach chair, sand pail with toys and jumbo shoulder bag brimming with snacks she'll want to burn off later to do? Keep looking, of course!

11 a.m.: Nearing the roundabout again, I spotted Pier 60 Hotel, which happens to not only be situated beneath a rooftop bar offering gorgeous sunset views but beside a quiet public lot on First Street that charges $1.25 an hour.

Just an unprecedented 15 minutes into my beach journey, I thought about trekking on to pitch my chair in the sand. Then, I realized it would be more fun to rub my early arrival in Mike's face!

On to the dock to ask directions to the ferry station, stopping along the way to chat with a tour guide and to snap photos of a fisherman and tourists feeding a pelican!

11:15 a.m.: I find Mike on land near the ferry station, his hat askew and face refreshed from the boat ride. We set up about 10 minutes later at the seashore.

11:30 a.m.: Sitting pretty on the beach, I reflect on the unusual spring break beach experience. I recall the days when the Tampa Bay Times' Clearwater office fronted Court Street, the main road to the beach, and we'd watch the same car move literally mere inches over the course of an hour or so.

As I drove back to the office, I noted that the lot where I parked was full and that both vehicular and pedestrian traffic were picking up.

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Was it the early morning weather — overcast and chilly by Florida standards (or balmy if you're from up north, where "spring" simply means fewer snowstorms) — that made my commute easier? Was it just the nature of spring break and vacationers catching up on extra Z's?

Hmmm, maybe another super scientific beach day experiment is in order to find out.

Contact Keyonna Summers at ksummers@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4153. Follow @KeyonnaSummers.