Have you ever been to Treasure Island? No I am not talking about the Long John Silver tale by Robert Louis Stevenson. And I am not referring to the casino and hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. This Treasure Island is located in Pinellas County, Florida.
I had never heard of it. None of the other Nomads had heard of it either. When we went to The Florida Aquarium, we left in a different direction than which we came. We all wanted to see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It was listed as #3 out of the top 10 bridges in the world and it is considered Florida’s “flag bridge.”
In order to get to the bridge, we drove down the coast and went through a lot of small towns along the ocean. I am not sure what caused us to pull in and stop at Treasure Island. Maybe it was the name. Perhaps we had an urge to dip out toes into the Gulf of Mexico at that moment. It might have been a bathroom break. Or it could have been all of the above. I am not entirely sure.
But, we did pull over and stopped in Treasure Island. I will have to admit, I figured with a name like Treasure Island that there would be more pirate themed stuff around the area. We saw a pirate mannequin with a sign to buy oranges; that was about it. However, the beach 
seemed clean. The sand was soft. And we had an enjoyable walk down the coastline while the sun began to set and unexplained rain clouds began to form.
Our stay there was short. Just a little side detour of about 45 minutes. But, if you are driving along Gulf Blvd (Highway 699) and you need to pull over to stretch your legs, take a dip or take a bathroom break, Treasure Island has free parking areas, soft sand and relatively clean bathrooms.
Yep, I’ve been there! Many times. The part of your post that brings back the most memories though is the mention of the sunshine skyway bridge. Many of my nightmares as a child surrounded that particular bridge. It was hit by a barge and part of it collapsed, causing some cars to fly off the bridge and into the water. I still have heart palpitations when I go over tall bridges! You guys are making me miss my old stomping grounds.
So glad you’re making the most of your stay and getting to different parts of Florida. Miss you guys!
We only went there once. I was driving. I did not find out about the collapse until we were getting on the bridge and Mandy said something. So, we just sent out positive energy and prayed for a safe journey across. We crossed just fine and witnessed a great bridge! We are enjoying this part of Florida tremendously and look forward to many more adventures. We miss you too.