Recently, we spent a week in St. Petersburg, Florida celebrating the grandparent’s anniversary. During the trip, we stepped out for a WHOLE DAY. Date Day- just me and hubby and no kids.
As you can imagine, as a family with three under three there is not a lot of time for “date night”. Yes, I read all the women’s magazines proclaiming that you have to do “date night” every week (who is doing this every week??) and I get it. But in real life our schedules and three toddlers just don’t make it easy.
Y’all. A WHOLE DAY of alone time and I’m telling you, we did not know what to do with ourselves. It was so quiet just driving in the car. Don’t worry! We figured it out. On a more serious note, that elusive “date night” that everyone says is so important, well, it really is. Time to connect and time to chat. Time to make some jokes that have nothing to do with poop or bottles, and just time to be together to remember why we started this whole circus in the first place.
It was so nice to go on a date with my husband.
I even wore lipstick. This was a big deal.
St. Petersburg is such a cool place. It’s part old-timey Florida and part hip, new spots. It is on the Gulf side of Florida, so the vibe is totally different from the Miami area. Think 1960’s nostalgia meets 2017 restaurants and hang out places. Plus, beautiful beaches are always just a few minutes away.
Our first stop, and the place we were most excited to visit was the Salvador Dali Museum. Not only is the building exquisite, but the history and how it all came together in Florida is crazy interesting. Old New York Money! Paintings by boat from Spain! Plus, have you seen the scandal with him in the news this week?? It’s crazy. We arrived just in time to go on a guided tour. An artist who had closely studied Dali through his career, Craig Petersburg, shared his intimate knowledge of the painter and pointed out great details at each painting. You already know his melting clocks- we learned they were inspired by melting cheese on a hot day. True story.
After our guided tour, we needed to take it all in for a minute before continuing, so we stopped at the Gala Cafe for wine and Tortilla Española. If you have the chance to visit- don’t miss the cafe! A real Spanish menu with some hard to find specialties like Jamón Serrano. At this point I was feeling like who am I? Wine and cheese? Is this real adult moment really happening??
After we looked over the museum again we headed outside to the garden. The garden is just beautiful. The melting bench is awesome.
Then, you can’t miss the chance to “try-on” Dali’s iconic mustache. He was exhumed last week… and his ‘stache was “perfectly preserved”! What?!
There is a labyrinth that you can actually get lost in (I wasn’t nervous, I swear!) and the tag tree- a huge tree that everyone adds their admission bracelet to at the end of the visit. This place really made an impression on us and if you happen to find yourself in that area- it’s a must see!
Following our museum adventure, it was time for lunch. We headed over to a place we heard so much about- Bodega -it has been featured recently in all sorts of places for their Cuban sandwiches and it’s all true. So delicious. In addition, don’t miss the guava and queso pastry- light and flaky pastry with this delicious filling inside. My stomach is rumbling with the memory. After lunch, we realized that we still had even more time on our own because… grandparents!! So, we walked around the cute downtown area.
The Don Cesar was our final stop and it’s another must-see. It is a bright pink hotel known for old Hollywood glamour. Al Capone and others used to hang out here in the 30’s and it was a favorite for stars and starlets. We walked through the main lobby, checked out the views, then we went poolside for a bit. I love hotels and it was fun to look around this one and imagine all the glamour of the past. We had a snack a the beach bar and spent a few more minutes trying not to talk about the kids. We tried, but it’s pretty impossible! The Don Cesar is listed as a Historic Hotel of America.
These three spots were perfect for our date day and we spent a much-needed ENTIRE day together. Thank you, St. Petersburg!
A kind passer-by made us take this picture;-)
Come back to the blog soon, I’ll be sharing all the places you should visit with kids in St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida.
Be sure to subscribe below so you don’t miss a thing!