Sunken Gardens, Sucky Steelers and More!

Hi All -

Another lovely week has passed here in Tampa, and we've found some new favorite spots and things to do.

On Friday, we returned for the third time now to the Sail Pavilion, an outdoor bar downtown that sits right on Tampa Bay. It has become one of our favorite places to just sit in the warm air and watch the world go by. You can take your dogs there, too, but we just like watching other people's dogs instead.

On Saturday, despite our earlier failure with the USF Botantical Gardens, we decided to go visit the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg. They were beautiful, just like the sign says.

Glenn again took about a thousand pictures here, so I will just give you a sampling.

They also had some birds there, including some Kookaburra. You'll be pleased to know that I sang them the Kookaburra song.

Saturday night, we returned to Pass-a-Grille Beach to enjoy another glorious sunset.

Because we rarely are able to get the Steelers games on TV here, on Sunday, we went to an Irish Pub called O'Brien's that advertised itself as a Steelers bar. They were not kidding.

The whole place was reserved for the Tampa Bay Black and Gold Club, which Glenn and I joined for $10. It was fun. We met a guy from Murrysville (Franklin Regional Class of 1977) and another nice guy from Squirrel Hill. It would have been great, except that the Steelers were again terrible, and it was a gorgeous day outside, so I was mad about being inside and watching another crappy game.

Sunday night, we went to Ybor City (pronounced EEE-bore) for dinner. Ybor City was founded by cigar manufacturers in the 1800s and was populated largely by immigrants from Spain and Cuba.

It's a cool and historic neighborhood, and Glenn and I both found it charming. We had been warned however, not to go there after about 10 at night. Unfortunately, that warning should probably apply earlier, as a large African American gentleman followed us back to our car. Glenn and I both jumped in and locked the doors, and he banged on the window and roof  as we drove away. Not sure if he was going to beg for money or outright rob us, but it's unlikely that we'll be spending a lot of time in Ybor City in the future. At least not after dark.

So that's about it for this week. Hope all is well with all you northerners!