Clearwater, Florida

While my parents were helping Amy move into her new apartment, Jeff and I Spent the day at Clearwater Beach. It is definitely more of a touristy place than the other beaches we had been to, which has its ups and downs. The beach is more crowded, but there were a ton of shops and things to do.

We went around a time when they were featuring dolphin statues which were each painted differently by local artists. You can tell that some really spent a lot of time and effort working on theirs and, collectively, it is something worth checking out.

Probably the highlight of my day was taking a spontaneous dolphin watching tour. I had never seen wild dolphins up until then and it was amazing. Dolphins had always been my favorite animals growing up so I was extremely excited to see them. We found a pod and, even though they were sleeping, they were absolutely beautiful to watch float in and out of the water. The tour also takes you to see some of the million dollar homes in the area owned by various celebrities who almost always belonged to the church of Scientology and did a pretty good job of pointing out other points of interest as well.

Every day around sunset at the pier they have a festival with vendors and street performers. It's a great environment to walk around in, the vendors are all so talented, and the sunset was gorgeous. Definitely a way to end the day.