30 before 30: Our Stay at the Don CeSar

stay at a world-renowned hotel somewhere

Well hello there, friends! Taylor and I are back from our vacation and I need to catch up on some blogging! First off, if you'd like to see some of our photos, here's a link to the pictures I posted on Facebook.

As I mentioned before we left, we had the opportunity to turn some lemons into lemonade and to check an item off of my 30 before 30 list and stay at the world-renowned Don CeSar hotel in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

The hotel was built in 1928 and was a favorite place of the likes of Al Capone, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and FDR. The hotel's builder died suddenly in the 1940's and the hotel fell into disrepair and was vacant by the end of World War II. From 1945 - 1967, the hotel was used as a military hospital and a VA Administration building. The hotel re-opened as a hotel in 1973 and has undergone multiple renovations since. Every president since Gerald Ford has stayed there (except Regan), and the hotel was the site of the filming of a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1985.

I first became acquainted with the Don CeSar when I spent the summer of 2005 living in St. Petersburg and working for a Christian mission trip organization called Youthworks. The hotel is pretty famous in the area, and since I've always enjoyed touring (though not necessarily staying at) nice hotels, I went there one Saturday with my team just to see the hotel. It was beautiful and I was really hoping to go back someday. About a year later, I read this silly chick-lit book called Mike, Mike and Me. In the book, the main character is traveling on business in St. Petersburg, FL and meets a fabulously rich, eligible bachelor (named Mike, of course) at the hotel bar at the Don CeSar.

That's the last I really thought of the hotel until a few weeks ago when Taylor and I found out that my grandparents wouldn't be in Florida when we were going to visit them and therefore we would have to make backup plans. We used some credit card points and booked the hotel about a week before our trip for just over $200 per night (average rates are about $450/night).

We arrived in Tampa on Friday night, but we stayed at a Ramada Friday night and didn't check into the Don CeSar until Saturday. Our luggage didn't make it to Tampa with us, and on Saturday afternoon, I had to go back to the airport to update our hotel from the Ramada to the Don CeSar. When I started to tell the woman the hotel and it's address, she was like, "Oh, the DON, why didn't you say so?" and another guy in the luggage office said, "Everybody knows the DON!"

When we got to the hotel, here's a photo from the parking lot:

From Curacao

We checked in and went up to our room.

From Curacao

Some of the reviews I had seen before we got to the hotel said that the rooms were too small. While I can definitely see how one might think that, especially for $450/night, we had no problem with it since we got a great deal on the room and also are used to living in 300 square feet!

Here's the view of the Gulf of Mexico from our room:

From Curacao

Some photos around the hotel:

From Curacao

From Curacao

After we explored a little bit, we went out for dinner and drinks. We came back and had a drink in the fancy hotel lobby, appropriately enough, it contained Curacao liqueur!

Late Saturday night, our long-lost baggage arrived from American Airlines! Yay!

Sunday morning, we woke up and went for a walk on the beach. We found a jellyfish!

From Curacao

Here's a nice shot of the hotel from the beach:

From Curacao

We spent some time at the pool:

From Curacao

The view of the pools from the 5th floor brunch

From Curacao

We checked out the brunch (but opted for Bob Evans instead :). Here are Ceasar salads in martini glasses.

From Curacao

And shots of seafood!


All in all, a great stay at a legendary hotel!

From Curacao

En route to some more 30 before 30 action!

Well hello there, millions of adoring fans. Hehe ok, maybe it's more like several loyal readers and a few creepers. Regardless.

So, as I'm sure you understand, it's been a bit of a whirlwind the past few weeks, and you don't even know the half of it (and to be honest, you won't know the whole of it for a few more weeks...that outta entice you to come back). Still, I'll do my best to fill you in in this post!

I'm writing this blog from about 38,000 feet on a flight to Tampa, FL. Taylor and I are going on a vacation that we planned way back in November, and the timing couldn't be better (or worse, depending on how you look at it).

We've taken to planning vacations within vacations and this trip is no different). We decided we wanted to go to the Caribbean and settled on the little-known but highly recommended island of Curacao. Last year, we tried to find time to go to Florida to visit my grandparents who live in The Villages, but we never were able to do so, so we decided to stop there on this trip. We would fly to Tampa, rent a car and drive to The Villages for a couple days, and then fly to Curacao for 5 days.

Well, last week, around the same time my grandma passed away, my Nana in Florida e-mailed me to tell me that they had a pipe burst and a huge flood at their home in Michigan and were coming back up to Michigan to deal with it.

So, not to be deterred, Taylor and I came up with some fantastic backup plans. First, we're going to see the Yankees play a Spring Training game in Tampa. Then, since we need to fill a couple days in Florida before we head to Curacao, I'm checking an item off my 30 before 30 list (stay at a world-renowned hotel somewhere) and staying at the Don CeSar hotel on in St. Petersburg! I lived in St. Pete a few years ago and had always heard about this hotel. I figure, what better way to make lemonade out of these lemons than to complete one of my goals!

Here's a picture of the hotel:
After I check this one off (I'll write a separate blog about it), we're driving to Miami on Sunday and staying overnight before catching our flight to Curacao Monday mornign, WHEW!

I'm also working on my goal to read 10 of the top novels of all time. I finished To Kill a Mockingbird a few days ago and I'm about 1/3 of the way through Pride and Prejudice (go me!).

And, just because i have the photo hand, I just thought I'd share a great photo of my whole family that was taken last weekend at Grandma's funeral. I already miss this bunch a TON!