Thanksgiving 2025

 

Thanksgiving 2025

 

I am just back from spending a few fun days in Clearwater Beach for Thanksgiving. I haven’t been to Clearwater in about 50 years so I don’t remember a thing about the place. The “beach” town is about two miles long and maybe a quarter mile wide at the widest. Half is old residential and lavish home living. Half is tourist heaven (or hell, depending on whether you have to commute there to work). 

From Johnson City it is a fairly long drive, about 750 miles or so. As is well documented there were several million people on the road at various times all of them going my direction, it seemed. I split the trip into staying in Savannah both directions. The trip wasn’t so hectic as much as boring and hard on the body. I’m gettin’ too old for this stuff. I was neither the fastest nor slowest but I tend to be a bit cautious. And make stops when I wanted to and not dictated by time or fuel or someone else needing a rest stop. And, until just below Asheville on the way back, was the only real time of frustration with traffic. That was only because I just near enough to home to feel like I should be there.

I get asked why I didn’t go through Atlanta. From here it appears the route is westerly around Knoxville and Chattanooga then around Atlanta and back easterly to Clearwater. Or, head out east towards Charleston on I-26 and take I-95 to Jacksonville and cut across diagonally to Tampa. Measured about the same. But I know the road better going east. No matter how you cut it, the miles were plenty.

My hotel was on the beach. And I mean right on the beach. The hotel’s patio-retaining wall was protected by boulders and at low tide about 5-10 feet of sand. Each building has a walkway between them that usually did not end on the beach. Every square foot in that end of town is developed. There was no such thing as a vacant lot. The public beach was about four or five hotels down the street. They have parking but I never did try to understand how the payment system works. 

We had fun. I enjoyed chatting up folks. Our gang ate at Granny’s Diner in Crystal River. Great place. Locals love it. Food was good. The staff was a busy, smiling bunch, too. We asked about the sign that said it was a rule you could not order syrup on your grits. Well, I said, whoever thought you should put syrup on your grits? Don’t know that I got an answer but it was an ice breaker if there ever was one. Check ‘em out.

I’d go again. Just give me a year to let me recover from a lot of driving. 

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