One of the big draws for downtown Dunedin is the Pinellas Trail (pinellascounty.org/trailgd/), which runs right across Main Street through the heart of Restaurant Row. Unfamiliar with this 34-mile long linear park that runs from St. Petersburg all the way to North Tarpon Springs, linking parks and green spaces and incredible views the entire way? I was, too.
Then I realized I could combine exercise with — eating! Brilliant.
Here's the plan: Start the trail in the morning at the St. Pete end, right next to Gibbs High School on 34th St. S. After a short jaunt, just a mile or so to get the blood flowing, head a block east on 58th to have breakfast at Nick's Family Restaurant. It's a local joint with hot coffee and eggs the way you want them.
About 10 miles north is Seminole, where the trail opens up onto Seminole City Park and a slew of chain restaurants. Skip those and walk the two blocks off the trail to Bangkok (9107 Park Blvd.). It's a typical Thai joint that can feed you enough stir-fried noodles and tom yum to fill your carb quotient. Fried noodles? Yeah, you'll burn those off before the next stop.
After pad Thai, and perhaps a brief nap in downtown Seminole, you'll proceed through Largo green space until you hit Clearwater, where the trail gets a water view and begins hugging the coast. Twenty miles from where you hit the trail in St. Pete you'll hit lovely downtown Dunedin — about six to eight hours of walking and about 1,800 calories burned through your vigorous activity.
Want to eat in Dunedin? Of course you do, you have to regain those calories somewhere. Just check out the rest of the page to see where and what. After that, you could keep going another 13 miles or so, all the way into Tarpon Springs (which, of course, has more than a few restaurants itself). Or you may want to reward yourself with a few cold ones at Dunedin Brewery — before you start figuring out how you're going to get back home.
Restaurant row: Downtown Dunedin
This article appears in Jun 13-19, 2007.
