Bike Beer Bike... repeat

Hi Blog! Today is Sunday, March 8, 2015. It is Daylights Savings Time - time to spring forward. Our cats, Baxter and Flip, have no clue we changed the clocks on them. So, when they came bounding into the bedroom to wake us up at 7:30 it was already 8:30. YES! Under no circumstance are you allowed to tell them. We want to make the most of this new hour.

Since we got up so late, we ended up spending the morning catching up on blogs and bibbles. After lunch, we decided a bike ride was in order. One place we have longed to get back to was Dunedin. It is unique among the Florida towns we visited, as the downtown business district is notable for its absence of large commercial signage, corporate franchise restaurants or chain retail stores. It is also home to Dunedin Brewery, Florida's oldest craft brewer! Need I say more?

To get from Clearwater to Dunedin, we planned to take part of the Pinellas Trail, a 39-mile-long bike trail that traverses all of Pinellas County and bisects downtown Dunedin. A large portion of the trail lies on the former roadbed of the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad in Pinellas County, which arrived in 1888. From our campground to the brewery is 9.3 miles. Here Dave turns north on the trail from Cleveland Street:

Much of the trail in Clearwater runs on city streets. We have to be careful not to miss the turns. Luckily, this brightly colored turtle drew our attention, and we saw the turn sign for the Pinellas Trail.

We stopped at Stevenson Creek to see what we could see. There were white egrets, little blue herons, tricolored herons and ducks. A local fisherman was trying his luck.

The trail takes you right next to the spring training camp of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The old train station has been repurposed into a book store.

Upon arriving at Dunedin Brewery, we each ordered a sample flight with four different beers. This gave us a chance to try 8 different beers - St. Jambrinus (abbey double), Milk Stout, Founders Imperial Stout (guest beer), Mundofolbick (imperial stout), Apricot Peach, Phloribbean (farmhouse ale), Fox and Walter (scotch ale) and Leonard Croon (stout).

We really liked six out of the 8, but when it came time to order a second beer, we decided to share the Vanilla Mundofolbick on cask.

Let the tasting begin!

Having satisfied our thirst, it was back to the trail. We wanted to vary up the ride, so we left the Pinellas Trail and rode cross-town to the Ream Wilson Trail. The sidewalk along Sunset Point made a great bike path.

This punch-buggy guarded by the tin man caught our eye.

The Ream Wilson Trail passes through Coachman Park.

We noticed that most of the county parks have disc golf (frolf)  courses. Dave is on the lookout.

At Kapok Park, we stopped to watch a couple turtles climb up on a log.

Before long, we were back at the campground, letting Baxter out to explore. Not sure when we will be able to blog again. We have back-to-back family visits starting this Monday. Until next time, stay thirsty, my friends.