As a Father's Day present, Janie booked a few days at Clearwater Beach in September, waiting long enough for her ankle to heal. We drove down from Orlando in the afternoon, and after a stop at Parlor Doughnuts, arrived at the Sheraton Clearwater Beach Resort. Our room was spacious and well appointed, but they didn't tell us about the construction going on outside which meant we could not have our balcony open or else we would hear non-stop concrete grinding. It was raining our first night so we mostly hung out in the room and watched the ocean from the window although the weather cleared enough for J. R. to take a walk to the pier.

Our first full day was spent at the beach where we rented a beach tent to protect us from the expected drizzle. The day was overcast, but still enjoyable. We had dinner that night at the hotel restaurant, which was pricey but good.

The weather improved on day 3 and we spent the day in our beach tent enjoying the blue skies and water. We ate lunch at Badfins near the hotel, which was good, although the service was spotty and we were stalked by a bird the entire time we ate.

The weather cleared in the evening today allowing us to see a beautiful sunset from our balcony.

We checked out in the morning after spending some time by the pool and hot tub upstairs. On the way home we stopped at Keel & Curley Farms where we had lunch and Janie purchased some of their ciders.