Spring Break: Tampa (day 3, part 1)

For our third day in the area, we had plans to spend the entire time downtown, ending with the baseball game. We started in Ybor City, which is the historic area of town largely settled by Cuban and Italian immigrants involved in the cigar business:

We started our day at this highly recommended bakery and it did not disappoint

Just like in Key West, there were chickens loose everywhere. We seem to have caught them right at chick season, as we saw several little broods

SO many historical signs about cigar making, mutual aid societies and the planning of the Cuban revolution, which mostly happened in Tampa

Historic cigar factories

Dedicated to José Martí, the poet, journalist, and revolutionary leader who fought for Cuba’s independence, Jose Marti Park was donated to Cuba before their revolution and has plots of soil brought from different parts of Cuba. The park is still officially owned by the people of Cuba, making it one of the only pieces of Cuban soil in the United States.

It has roosters, like every other part of the city

We had lunch at the historic Columbia Restaurant:

The inside of the restaurant was really cool

After lunch, we took the street trolley back towards the parking garage. It is a cool historic replica:

More chicks

This is a a lot of pictures, so more on Tuesday adventures tomorrow!

Spring Break: St. Petersburg (Day 2)

On Monday, we drove over the bridge to St. Pete to see the Salvador Dali Museum, which was very interesting, both architecturally and collection-wise. We started outside in the garden, where we also ate lunch from the cafe:

Pretty gazpacho

The inside of the museum was just as pretty, with this cool spiral staircase to the exhibits:

The lobster telephone is a famous piece by Dali

Fun photo station

This picture actually looks like Abraham Lincoln at a distance, but I did not quite manage it right in my camera

More optical illusion -- Gala is looking at Voltaire, but close up you can see itis actually two Danish women

From the Dali museum, we decided to head to Sunken Garden, which is one of the last remaining roadside attractions from the 1920s in this part of Florida. The garden was originally meant to be a plant/fruit stand, but during the depression no one wanted to buy plants, they just wanted to see the gardens so the owners started charging admission. It is now owned by the city:

The flamingo is the symbol of the garden

the visitor center had old time commercials from the 60s, 70s and 80s that were fun to watch. Plus pictures of celebrities like Yogi Berra visiting the garden and its "bathing beauties"

Spotted a monarch!

We finished the evening back at the beach, where it was cloudy for the sunset, but we still enjoyed the surf and looking for shells. There is much more variety on the gulf coast then in west palm, and I found my first ever intact sand dollar!:

Spring Break: Treasure Island (day 1)

Every spring break we visit Grandpa Steve in Florida, but we try to add on exploring other parts of the state to round out the week. This year we decided to check out the Tampa-St.Pete area and booked a motel near the beach on Treasure Island. We got in late Saturday night and went straight to bed, but we woke up Sunday ready to explore. We drove the length of the island to Belleair Bluffs and started with tea at William Dean chocolates:

On the drive back, we stopped for mini golf at the first of two smuggler cove courses, where we also fed the baby gators:

We stopped again at John's Pass, and it happened to be the seafood festival which made it lively. We visited the various vendors, enjoyed some treats, and ducked into the arcade for a bit:

We ended the day at Sunset Beach, which was just a block from our motel. We took out from a taco truck near the beach, waded in the very clear water, and watched the sunset off the Gulf coast, which was a first for us:

The moon was the very tiniest sliver on the first day after the new moon