On the way back to the hotel we detoured to the Indian Rocks historical museum. There we were greete

We arrived after a mostly pleasant plane ride at least as far as such things go these days. What made it pleasant was the fact that it wasn t full, so we actually got to spread out a bit. There were more kids than we d ever seen on a plane before, and when the pressure changed, they started howling.  The ride from Tampa airport in our Pontiac G6 rental was considerably longer time-wise than we anticipated. cruise boat jobs It seems that the traffic cruise boat jobs lights are timed to be red for anyone heading towards the beaches. Terri was famished, so I pulled into a mall and we arrived at the Celebrity Deli . Although we didn t realize it until the staff frowned at us, we had come through the door 2 minutes cruise boat jobs before closing. But they served us some delightful (and enormous) sandwiches, so Terri s mood lightened and we headed across the causeway and onto Indian Rocks Beach, our first Tampa Bay home.
Our first hotel (of two) is the Holiday Inn Harbourside. (Yes, they do put that u in. Pretension.) The rooms are more than spacious. Ours came with 2 queen beds, a kitchenette including range, microwave and fridge, and a very nice bathroom setup. Two closets! The grounds are lovely. There is a huge resort-style pool for kids with slides and such. Beach volleyball. The hotel sits on a narrow barrier island between a canal and the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately for the hotel, it is huge and practically empty.
Terri and I walk to the beach, about two blocks. We head south for a distance of about a mile and a half before heading back on the canal side of the island. It is a lovely, cruise boat jobs sunny day. The beach is inhabited mostly by sea gulls of several species, although we also see cormorants diving for fish. Lots of shells, and every few hundred cruise boat jobs feet we find impressive sized domes of some sort of jelly fish that had the bad fortune to be stranded by the tides.
cruise boat jobs On the canal side of the island the walk back is marred by the total lack of pedestrian accommodation. A car blasts its horn at me in irritation at the fact that I am walking too close to the pavement. But the restaurants and bars are getting into gear, and although cruise boat jobs the hotel doesn t seem to be doing good business, the seasonal and year-round residents are in evidence.
Back to the hotel to consider dinner options. Although there appear to be many upscale restaurants, Terri and I have come for a relaxed, beach-oriented time, so I m in shorts and she s in jeans. Luckily, we noticed one Mexican cruise boat jobs restaurant cruise boat jobs that seems in line with our expectations, Los Mexicanos. cruise boat jobs Seems to be part of a small chain or maybe just three restaurants owned by the same family. Terri ordered tortilla soup, guacamole salad and a burrito. I ordered the fajitas. The salsa better resembled V8 juice than what we re used to, but the chips were salt-free cruise boat jobs and obviously home made and after a while, the salsa grew on me. Terri s tortilla soup was enormous, enough for a meal in itself. My fajitas were excellent, and possibly the largest portion I ve ever seen. The add-ons were all fresh and very well done. Given the prices in other restaurants we d seen, Los Mexicanos deserves some sort of award for best value in the Clearwater region.
We ve made our 10,000 steps, so time to slow down. Terri stayed in the room while I wandered over to the Jimmy Buffet style live music at our hotel. The musician is talented cruise boat jobs and doing covers of Johnny Cash, 60s, 70s and 80s rock, and even a Warren Zevon tune or two. I had a reasonably priced shot of Jameson and trundled off to a good night s sleep.
First full vacation day, have to do something good! Although Terri and I aren t boat people almost every vacation we seem to wind up taking a boat trip somewhere. So I suggested we spend our day at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa and take the dolphin cruise out into Tampa Bay. The aquarium is very impressive. Not as original as Monterrey, nor as spectacular as Baltimore cruise boat jobs s, but well worth the time. One impression is that they have many rays. The coral reef exhibit is extraordinarily well done, and they have one of the few facilities for growing coral and exporting colonies to other aquaria. There is a Sea Dragon exhibit of specimens from Australia that is truly breath-taking.
After lunch in the cafeteria kosher hot dogs are available! (although Terri won t touch them) off we went on our 90 minute Tampa Bay cruise. The dolphins were so numerous that they had to cut out one part of the tour because we had spent so much time observing them. The tour guide was a retired gentleman doing volunteer duty and his knowledge of the area was quite impressive. Less so marine biology, but he made up for that by reading accurate information from cards in a manner that was less soporific than it could have been. It was pretty obvious where his heart was tales of giant ship repair cruise boat jobs facilities, coal and gas industry, military bases, and glee at reporting cruise boat jobs that a house that had been demolished by an airplane crash had been completely rebuilt by the television show Extreme Makeover . But his knowledge of birds was also impressive, so we had a good introduction to the varieties found around the Bay.
After the tour, we decide to head to Tampa s Ybor City. Instead of driving, we elect to take the streetcar. Its a real streetcar, not one of those gas powered buses decorated to look like a streetcar. Evidently Tampa didn t make the same mistake cruise boat jobs as other municipalities and tear up their streetcar tracks. The streetcars themselves are new, immaculate, and comfortable. They do have one of the original streetcars, but its basically a museum piece. So not quite the historical wonder of the San Francisco system, but fun nevertheless.
Ybor City is the historic district cruise boat jobs of old Tampa. At one time it was the cigar capital of the US, and they still have many cigar shops and even places cruise boat jobs where cigars are hand-rolled while you wait. Neither Terri nor I smoke cigars, so this is mostly a matter of historical curiosity for us. We strolled most of the streets of the district. Its obvious cruise boat jobs that nothing much starts up until nightfall, but we elect an early evening anyway. We had a pleasant enough dinner at the Green Iguana followed by treats at the Marble Slab Creamery. From there it was back on the trolley to the Aquarium parking lot, and then the long drive back to the beach. We listened to some more Jimmy Buffet style music and crashed.
Breakfast the previous day had been more than forgettable, so Terri and I walked about a mile over the canal drawbridge to a restaurant that advertised the best breakfast in town. Maybe. They featured home made biscuits (not available because the oven wasn t hot enough yet), and were out of numerous other things on the menu. We were the only people cruise boat jobs in the place, but the (very nice) server explained that they had been inundated for Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday and were pretty well depleted. So after an infelicitous start, the breakfast food they brought to our table was fresh, properly prepared and much better than I was beginning to fear. I don t know good grits from bad, but these tasted good to me.
On the way back to the hotel we detoured to the Indian Rocks historical museum. There we were greeted cruise boat jobs by Bill Carter, a bear of a man with a lush southern accent. Among other things he told us that he was Bill Clinton s pastor back in Arkansas when Clinton was a young man. I replied that it hadn t stuck. He grinned and said, Didn t do any good at all! Clinton, cruise boat jobs he related, made a beeline for the beautiful and talented pianist and was banging her throughout whatever period they were together. While this was definitely the high point of the visit, I thought the rest of the museum was interesting cruise boat jobs enough. Terri didn t.
We plan a down afternoon work, email, maybe a nap. Terri heads for Jimmy Buffetland cruise boat jobs with her laptop. I take a soak in the Jacuzzi. The hotel is starting to fill a good thing, as you can start to doubt your sanity wandering around a huge, deserted resort
If I had had an idea of how wonderful the Dali museum would be, I would have tried to get there earlier. I hope we can get back to Tampa Bay for another visit to this terrific little museum. The first few galleries were devoted to the relationship of Dali to Freud. Whether you care about Dali, Freud or even neither, the exhibit is still fascinating! Dali first became enthralled with Freud after reading The Interpretation of Dreams . Given the dream-like quality of so many of Dali s paintings, its no wonder that he was inspired by Freud. The exhibit notes that Freud knew of Dali s art and disdained it for most of his later life. But in 1938, a year before Freud s death, Dali met him and presented him with a painting. Freud wrote to a friend about being wrong about Dali s work, but since he was close to death, he never prepared any sort of analysis of Dali or his work, something that would have made an interesting read.
The galleries continued cruise boat jobs with a number of remarkable Dali paintings, sketches, and sculptures. cruise boat jobs The last gallery devoted to Dali contains several floor-to-ceiling masterpieces. cruise boat jobs We were fortunate cruise boat jobs to get in on the docent s interpretation of several of these, and the next time I visit, I ll make sure I can be there for a full tour.
Following cruise boat jobs the Dali visit, we headed for a restaurant called Moon Under Water . It turned out to be near another St Petersburg institution, their Museum of Fine Art that will have to wait for another day. The restaurant takes its name from tales of the English shanghai system. According to the tale, unwitting pub crawlers could be pressed into service when they drank a mug of ale into which a recruiter had dropped a coin which contained the royal portrait. Bar keepers began using pewter mugs with glass bottoms so patrons could examine their drink and ensure that no coins had been dropped in. The appearance of such coin under the ale was said to have the appearance of a moon under water.
The restaurant is decorated in the style of an old English pub, and the food is Indian! The idea is supp