Forget Miami. This year, discover St. Pete on Florida's under-the-radar west coast

You want a winter escape to Florida but are tired of the same-old same in Miami and Orlando. I love an old, grand hotel full of history and mystery, and when I saw a picture of Don CeSar — The Pink Palace built in 1928 — we had our destination: St. Pete Beach and St. Petersburg. Along the wide, fine white sand of St. Pete Beach, you find kitschy mid-century resorts with tiki bars and shuffleboard courts, '70s hotels with rooftop bars, strip malls, and fried seafood joints with names like the Drunken Clam and Sea Hags. A ten-minute highway drive, and you're in what feels like a cheerful, recently-endowed college town on a bay — St. Petersburg — with new world-class museums, bike paths, sidewalk cafes, gluten-free bakeries, live music spilling out of craft breweries, seven arts districts, and the state's largest farmers' market, held every Saturday. My mom and I bummed around the beach and pool until early afternoon, then drove into St. Pete to visit a museum or galleries before dinner, then took in a play or a concert, before the easy drive under the stars back to our room at the pink palace, both of us happy with our new Florida find.