After driving north from Key West Julie and I were in need of a pit stop. As we did earlier in the trip when we stayed with my Dad for a month in Seattle and when we were back in forth while in San Diego for the holidays we decided to stay for the month of May at a family property in Tampa. As it wasn’t yet summer in Florida the temperatures were not too hot and it was just before the Florida rainy season. Timing for an extended stay in this area of the country was perfect. I had also gone to college and lived in Tampa for 6 years so there were plenty of friends to catch up with. Since we were in central Florida for so long I’ll break this post down to events that occurred during our stay.
Palm Bay – The first trip we took was on the way from Key West to Tampa. Here we were stopping by to see great friends Haze, Hannah and their son Heath. I’ve known Haze since high school and he was one of the groomsmen in our wedding. Even though Haze & Hannah live on the east coast of Florida we still see them frequently (although never frequently enough). While in Palm Bay we were able to treat the family to a ride in Bubbles to the beach. Heath loved it and we had a great day at the beach. We also cooked a few great meals and spent a few nights talking late into the night. It’s always a pleasure to spend time with the McClary family.
Ybor City – Our family property is in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tampa called Ybor (E-Bor) City. Cigar manufacturers who built this part of the city founded Ybor City. Everything from the factory to housing, grocery stores and movie theatres were built. It also has a very Latin flair to it with streets paved with bricks and chickens strutting around like they own the neighborhood. My family has owned a condo here since 2006 and its been a ton of fun being able to escape the harsh upstate NY winters from time to time.
Ybor has been going through a transition in the past few years from many bars/clubs to restaurants. One of our favorites and is now a western Florida staple is the The Columbia Restaurant. The Columbia is a Cuban/Spanish restaurant and the Ybor location was the 1st of them all. We ate here a few times during our month in Tampa. Julie even surprised me on my birthday with a surprise party with 7 of my Tampa friends coming. It was an awesome time!
Disney World – As we were in Tampa for such a long time our good friend, Jen from Rochester flew down for a visit. During her visit we wanted to go to one of the Disney parks. Back in January 2017 during a visit we had gone to EPCOT so we all wanted to visit a new section. It was decided that we would go to Animal Kingdom. The three of us had been to the Animal Kingdom when we were all younger but it had been at least 20 years since our last visit. Needless to say things were new for us. While at Disney our favorite section was Pandora – World of Avatar area. This was the newest area made to look just like the movie. It was pretty breathtaking. For the main ride, you were riding one of the beings from the movie through the world. It was set up almost as if you were riding a motorcycle and flying around. It was 100% awesome. While at Disney we also met up with friends Nick & Mallory, their two girls and Mallory’s father. We were only able to see them for a short while as their 2-year-old twins were a bit fussy and hungry but it was still great to see them. We had a blast at Disney!
Sarasota – This town was one of our daytrips while staying in Tampa. As it is only about an hour south of Tampa it doesn’t take much time to get there but it feels like a world away. The highlight of the town is its central St. Armands Circle. It is how it sounds, a circular road. It has a park in the middle with shops and restaurants all around it. We walked the circle going into a shop or two before heading back north. From Sarasota we drove along the coastal beaches. We stopped in Long Boat Key where my family would vacation when I was younger then headed to Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria Island where Julie’s family vacationed when she was younger. It was pretty neat to see where each other’s families were 25 years ago and walk the same paths all these years later.
Tampa Bay Lightning – As I’m a big hockey fan (Julie has become one as well), especially Tampa’s team the Lightning, it was great to be in town during the NHL playoffs. It seemed that there was a “Go Bolts” banner on every building and every other person walking around town had a Lightning shirt or hat on. We came into town just as the playoffs were getting underway and were able to see two playoffs games in which the Lightning won the series, 1st against New Jersey and 2nd against Boston. As playoff tickets are pretty pricey we decided to skip the 3rd round and see them play in the final. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out as they lost in the 3rd round to Washington but we still had a great time rooting them on while we were in town. We even got to meet Rochester native and Tampa Bay Lightning player Ryan Callahan when we were exploring one of Tampa’s neighborhoods. Julie may have freaked out a bit and become very nervous in his presence.
Indian Rocks Beach – When people generally think of Florida they normally think of the beach or Disney. As our property in Tampa isn’t near either of those things its good to have friends that are close to one of them…..in this case the beach! Indian Rocks Beach is only 45 minutes from Ybor and we visited our friends Jen & Dave. The strange part about this mini trip was that Hurricane Alberto was in the area creating rare waves in the ocean. While waves are not rare for those who normally visit the ocean (Atlantic or Pacific), waves of any size are pretty rare for the Florida gulf coast. We watched the waves in the ocean before visiting a few of Jen & Dave’s favorite beach stops for food and drink. It was a great time!
The City of Tampa – Going to school and living in Tampa from 2002 to 2008 I would have never called Tampa a major city in terms of size and amenities. It was by no means a New York, LA, Atlanta or even Miami. I always enjoyed it because coming from Rochester it felt like a huge city to me. In the last 10 years however Tampa has certainly grown up. In the early 2000’s downtown Tampa was deserted after 5pm. Now there is housing, shops and restaurants and people actually live there. New buildings have gone up, parks created and areas of town refurbished in new and creative ways. I loved being able to stay for as along as we did as we felt like part of the community. We met tons of new, great people in our building, were able to see friends on a regular basis instead of twice a year and were really able to explore new sections of the city. We loved it!
So many friends – While in the Tampa area we were able to see and catch up with so many of our friends. We loved being able to see everyone so here they are – Tyler, Nick, Dave, Byron, The Jens (Belden, Allen, Thayer, Schechter), Alexia, Haze, Hannah, Lily, Nathan and Mike. Toward the end of our time in Tampa we were even greeted by a new friend that came into the world. In the last days of May baby Lucy made an appearance for Tyler and Jen A. It was great to be able to meet her. Tyler and Jen will make super parents! If we missed anyone while we were there don’t worry, we will be back again soon!
Next up ….. Our last stops in Florida! We head to Sanford, St. Augustine & Jacksonville!
