Labor Day Weekend: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Hi All -

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. Glenn and I had an overall great time, though some of our adventures were not as good as others.

Saturday, we wanted to go to the beach, but fearing holiday tourists, we went to Picnic Island which is a park with a beach on the bay. We quickly renamed this Poopy Island, because the whole place smelled like sewage. We beat a hasty retreat, and went instead to Pass-a Grille Beach on the Gulf.

1000 times better. And not overly crowded at all. A beautiful day at the beach.

Saturday night, we opted to go to the ridiculous "Hogan's Beach" which is a restaurant / bar owned by none other than Hulk Hogan.(Oh yeah, Brother!)

Of course there was a bikini contest (along with a nearly naked spectator), a mechanical shark to ride (no, we did not ride it), and lots of other silliness.

Still, it was amusing and a nice spot to see the sunset.

On Sunday, we went to the USF Botanical Gardens, which were surprisingly lame. Worst. Botanical. Gardens. Ever. Glenn was angry the whole time, and was tempted to pick up sticks everywhere.

Here's a couple pics, but really, the place was not as nice as many of the parks we've been to and we had to pay $10 to a bunch of hippies to get in.

That night, we went to our first community event -  Tampa's Labor Day celebration, featuring bands, fireworks and a "Light Up the Night" boat parade.

Glenn and I got great seats at the Sail Pavilion on the water.

We had a fun and relaxing time people watching as the place filled up, and the band was really good. It was a pretty night, as you can see.

However, we could not see the fireworks from where we were at all, which is probably just as well, because they only lasted for about 5 minutes. Any true Pittsburgher would be shocked at such a poor display.

And then, there was the boat parade. Such a fabulous idea, but really poorly executed. We only saw three boats with lights, and I've seen more impressive lighting inside my refrigerator. But here...I think we got all three boats in this shot.

woo.

Ah well. Still had fun.

Monday was perhaps the best day, in that we discovered that the Marriott Tampa Waterside has a rooftop pool that is open to the public. You just need to pay to park there. I am thinking if they have Wi-Fi, I may make this my new office. (I couldn't find any pics Glenn had taken from here, so here's a pic of it I found online.)

 It was awesome, although we discovered that spray-on sunscreen provides rather spotty coverage, and Glenn is burned in patches making him look like a leper.

Monday night we went to the waterfront in St. Petersburg. We decided to make it a day of rooftops, so we ate at a rooftop place called the Canopy, which was very nice.

You can see the St. Pete Pier in the distance, which is slated to be torn down soon, and there is much controversy as to what is going to replace it.

 

After dinner, we walked around the waterfront and the marina. The colors as the sun went down were just gorgeous.

So that's it for this holiday edition of Adventures in Florida. Stay tuned! Love, Us

Lettuce Entertain You!

Hi All -

So, let's see. First, the medical updates. I had my allergy tests done - was tested for 49 allergens (ouch, ouch, ouch) and was negative for all of them (mold, dust, ragweed, etc.) - everything but one....DOG. I can't believe it.

I am still on a bunch of meds, am treating the dogs with dander-reducing solution, and have banned Deuce from our bedroom. He was not amused.

Say What?

We had an epic battle of wills the first night we kicked him out of the room, which lasted until 1 am. But since then, he has been a little angel, and has slept peacefully downstairs with Miss Mo.

I still may have to take allergy shots, but I'm trying the other options for a while first.

Meanwhile, Glenn got his MRI results back and not only had two bulging discs, but also two ruptured discs in his neck. He is now undergoing some physical therapy which he thinks is helping, and has a back brace that he wears on occasion, which makes him look like he just parachuted into the living room.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. We went to Old Hyde Park Village on Saturday to walk around and window shop, which was fun. And on Sunday, we went to Lettuce Lake Park, a park near Tampa that was recommended on TripAdvisor.

The park had lots of nice trails. Back in this area, the cicadas were so loud, Glenn and I had to yell to hear each other.

Dora the Explorer

It's hard to believe we were just minutes from the expressway.

After much walking, we found the raised boardwalk that goes around the lake and through the swamp area.

At the lake, you can see these huge cypress trees coming out of the water.

And that's not all that was coming out of the water!

Our first alligator sighting since we've been down here. This guy was very close to us and nice enough to pop out on shore. He was probably 5 or 6 feet long.

We also saw two baby alligators. This little guy was a cutie. I wanted to take him home to be Deuce's playmate. (Plus as my friend Julie said, alligators don't have any dander. They're hypoallergenic!)

Anyway, it was a great place to walk around and commune with nature.

Anyway, you get the idea.

Signing off, from the wilds of Florida - Us

Davis Island and Clearwater Beach

Hey all -

Another beautiful week in Florida. I was just thinking this morning how amazing it is to come out of the gym and hear seagulls. I really do love it here.

As I may have mentioned, Glenn and I have been having some minor health annoyances. He had an MRI this week due to some ongoing shoulder pain (he fell asleep in the machine, which apparently is unprecedented). I have also been seeing the chiropractor and apparently have a pinched nerve and some wayward discs in my neck, which has caused my thumb and index finger to go numb.

Additionally, I am having allergy tests done tomorrow. We'll see if I am allergic to alligators or what.

Still, all of this has not stopped us from continuing to explore.

Saturday, we took the dogs on an extremely hot walk around Davis Island. I kept dumping water on Deuce and Mojo because I was worried the heat was too much, but they did fine.

Davis Island is a cute little man-made island just over a bridge from downtown Tampa. They have a little airport and harbor, and lots of very nice homes. Lisha and Chad are considering moving here.

You can see it's quite lovely.

And you can see downtown from here.

That evening, while the dogs were peacefully sleeping, we headed to Clearwater Beach.

The Pier you see here is Pier 60. They have a sunset celebration here every night with acrobats and different performers. They also have a little market of junky stuff they sell on the pier - glowsticks, bad manatee figurines and homemade candles.

We went to the roof of the Pier 60 hotel, but didn't stay long enough to watch the sunset as it was a hot and shadeless location. Plus we were hungry.

Clearwater Beach is a lot more touristy than a number of other beaches we've been too. It's pretty impossible to not feel like you are on vacation when you are here.

Anyway, we ended up having a surprisingly good dinner of snow crab legs at a place called Cooters. (That's right, for those of you keeping track, we've eaten at a place called Crabby Bills, Sea Critters and now Cooters. There is apparently no limit to silly restaurant names.) The place had a Terrible Towel hanging from their ceiling, and lots of Steelers and Pens stuff, so Glenn felt right at home.

Afterwards, we walked along the Pier and got some lovely beach breezes.

We witnessed some drama as a ton of emergency vehicles and boats showed up, apparently to rescue a person(s) who was swimming (or failing to swim) way out on the ocean. We saw one girl picked up on a jet ski and returned to the beach, but then the search continued. We didn't hear what happened anywhere, so I'm just going to assume everyone got out okay.

Still, it was a lovely evening and a full moon.

Anyway, that's all the news from here. Hope you are all well and enjoying the end of your summer. It just keeps going here. ;-)

Party Bus to Lakeland

Hi All -

So in case you've worried about the fact that Glenn and I are in a whole big weird new state and have only our dogs and lizards for company, let me allay those fears. Chad and Lisha have lovingly invited us into their social circle, and this past weekend, we got to go with a bunch of folks to Lakeland.

Our new friend Rachel had a friend who had opened up a winery/restaurant in Lakeland (The Red Door Wine Market), and wanted everyone to go together to check it out. Since Lakeland is a long ways north in cow country, everyone pitched in and rented a bus for the festivities.

Here are the girls:

(Lisha, Kathy, Rachel, KK, and myself)

And here are the guys:

 (Ken, Brit, Chad, Glenny, and John)

Here we are on the road. It was a pretty posh bus.

There was one more couple - Erin and Xavier (below), who showed up a tad late, so they aren't in some of the group shots. We went to Erin's birthday party about ten years ago, and she was in Lisha's wedding with me - we've been good friends with Erin ever since. She recently adopted a baby boy, named John Patrick (JP), and we'll be going to his first birthday party in September.

Glenn and Xavier were wearing very similar shirts, and hence made quite a cute couple.

Anyway, the restaurant brought us 3 or 4 courses of food, along with a wine pairing for each, and we had a very fun, relaxing evening.

Upon arrival, I told Glenn I wanted to finally get a decent photo of Lisha and I together, and this is what he came up with.

You see what I have to put up with here?

On the way back, there was much hilarity as Chad attempted some sort of wild dance move and accidentally kicked out one of the sconces on the bus. Here is that special moment. You can tell Lisha is proud.

So that's pretty much it. Some new friends and a fun night in Lakeland. I suppose I'll sign off by letting you know that one of Glenn's new favorite talents is taking pictures of himself making funny faces. Enjoy!