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Hometown vacation offers special treat
© St. Petersburg Times published December 8, 2002 Dick Crippen has seen much of America, traveling to major venues during his years as WFLA's sports director. But the chief community relations official for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays is a hometown guy at heart. We talked with him about his vacation favorites. Favorite weekend destination?"My wife, Penny, and I love the Tradewinds Resort on St. Pete Beach. I tell folks that to truly appreciate where we live, we need to take a local vacation once in a while. Too often we lose sight of how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful community." Crippen, executive director of community development for the Rays and the team's Rays of Hope Foundation, admits he needs a reminder himself once in a while. "Penny and I like to take walks on the beach at Fort DeSoto Park, and sometimes we look at each other and one of us will say, 'Why don't we do this more often?' "People from around the world spend a lot of money to vacation here. We need to remind ourselves why and not take it for granted." How did you learn about your weekend getaway?"When I was on the air at Channel 8, one of my colleagues was doing some marketing for the former chain of Fortune Hotels -- they had five small hotels that stood where the Tradewinds is now. "We used to take the kids out there for soccer team parties and birthday parties, and we just keep going back . . . I think it's important to patronize hometown businesses." Crippen notes a practical benefit of staying close to home: "What's great about a local getaway is that if you forget something, you can run just home and grab it!" Your last real vacation?"Two years ago we went to Banff, Canada, to ski. We stayed at the Rimrock Hotel, which is a block away from the hot springs. We've skied in Colorado and Utah, but the snowcaps of the Canadian Rockies floored me. It was just spectacular." Best all-time vacation?"Over 20 years ago, I was privileged to be part of the first Tampa Bay Buccaneers' broadcast team (and also) wrote a weekly paper at the time, the Bucs Bulletin. One of our advertisers was Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, so I got a trip in trade for ad space. "Frenchman's Reef resort (on St. Thomas, (U.S.) Virgin Islands.) was brand-new at the time and that was our final cruise destination. My wife and I flew to Miami, then sailed to St. Thomas . . . I paid a little extra to have an air-conditioner in our cabin but the thing never worked, I can tell you that," Crippen recalls, laughing. "When we got on the boat, a guy handed us thick wool blankets, and I'm wondering what the heck do we need these things for? So later I mentioned to somebody that our cabin is so hot I can't sleep and he says, 'Well, that's what the blankets are for: You're supposed to sleep on the deck!' "I remember . . . looking up at the swaying mast of the boat swinging back and forth across the stars like a pendulum, the sky lit up by millions of stars. I'd never seen so many stars." But that trip took an uncertain turn. "When we got to St. Thomas, we were dropped off by a banyan tree in front of a cinderblock building. The driver says, 'Here's your hotel,' and we were looking around, wondering what he was talking about. "When we went inside, the desk clerk was so thrilled to have guests, we started getting nervous. The clerk pointed to where we needed to go to get to 'The Cabana', and we ended up walking down a broken asphalt road, lugging our belongings. "Penny's looking at me like she can't believe where I've taken her, and I'm thinking I'm in big trouble. "When we got into our room, it was dark and the smell of disinfectant nearly knocked us out. Then Penny opened the curtains. It was spectacular: "Outside our room was Morningstar Beach, our own private beach. A seagrape tree, with a small sailboat propped against it, was waving in the breeze. "The view was staggering. We ate dinner on the balcony with the moon hanging over our heads -- it was like being in a postcard."
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From the Times Travel page
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