Clearwater and St Pete area felt happy as we drove down the beach. For this time of year there were not many people around the beach area. We drove down the entire beach area and stopped a few times to walk out on the beautiful beach. Duf hated that there was a $3.50 per hour charge to park anywhere around the area and two toll bridges to get there.

In one area we came around the curve to find a huge party of young people dressed in holiday garb, drinking, and sharing food at an outdoor restaurant. They were on the restaurant property, across the street, and out onto the beach. We had to stop because an Uber driver was in the middle of the road trying to load 5 females into a small car. He had no idea how to make the back a seat and they all had their heads in working to figure it out. There were no masks in sight, but we saw Biden flags on their tables. Crazy!  Our only comment to each other was, “I wonder if this is legal?” We are from IL you know!

As we approached the area around the DonCesar Pink Hotel it seemed that something was happening, but we could not decide what it was. Again parking was $3.50 per hour so we only spent an hour walking around. We saw luminary bags lining the beach and people were all around.  We left and drove across the high bridge and looking down there were what I said was, over a thousand yachts and some smaller boats. Duf thought I was exaggerating but I was not and when he was able to look he was shocked. We thought maybe a fancy ship was coming into port. 

Just over the bridge was a sign that said 7 miles to the highway. At that point, on the other side of the road, we started seeing a parade of cars. The parade lasted over 7 miles with all the cars decorated with Trump signs and flags. 

When we got home I looked on the net to see what was happening. I was taken to YouTube where I learned that there were over 2,000 boats and it was a happening. They were all decorated for Trump and they set a Guinness-Book-Of-World-Records for the largest boat parade. Look it up!