Venice and Tampa FL March 15-18, 2018
Wednesday, March 14- Connie went to Venice a day ahead to
visit Kathy Muscarella and her sister. I don’t exactly know what went on that
night but Connie told me that she and Kathy’s sister got into a preposition
reciting contest and ended up disagreeing on what counts as a proper
preposition.
Thursday-
I flew into Tampa from Richmond (28 degrees
when I left, about 65 on arrival), rented a Chevy from Hertz (new deal to me-
you rent a midsize car, go to the lot and pick whichever one you want) and
drove about an hour 15 minutes to Venice. Google did not let me get lost except
when I went off on my own to try to find some lunch, without very much success.
A small side note- Between RIC and ATL there was a 104 (!!) mile per hour tailwind so we got there a little early.
A small side note- Between RIC and ATL there was a 104 (!!) mile per hour tailwind so we got there a little early.
We had early dinner reservations with John and Kathy so
we got going on a walk almost as soon as I got there. The walk took us around
the neighborhood or development which, although probably naturally a swamp and
so a lot of trees and wetlands were destroyed in making the development, seemed
very well laid out. There are lots of bike paths, nature walks, planting,
ponds, plus playgrounds, an athletic center, etc, but no shuffleboard courts.
Pickle ball seems to have replaced it. Kathy tried hard to show me the local
gator but he didn’t show.
For dinner we went to Fins which is the informal version
of its neighbor Sharkey’s, located right on Venice Beach. Kathy and John told
us about how during Hurricane Irma this past year all the water off Venice
Beach got sucked out for about a mile. I had something new- Lobster Nachos for
dinner. It was decadent and wonderful.
Then it was driving back to Tampa to go to Jim and Kaki’s condo for the rest of the weekend. The condo is on Harbor Island which
is mostly residential and right in the middle of downtown, near the arena where
the Tampa Lightning play ice hockey.
We watched basketball most of the evening and a whole lot
over the weekend.
Our family and friends bracket pool ended up with
probably 25 players and about 40 different entries.
Friday-
Connie and I slept very late for us while Jim got
up early, went for a 4 mile run and brought home the papers. After a breakfast
of new and different cereals plus fresh fruit, we all went for a 5.5 mile walk
along the River Walk up the Hillsborough River. We passed the distinctive
University of Tampa campus with its main building being the old Plante Hotel,
the new Municipal Rowing Center (judging from the graffiti along the sea wall,
a lot of university rowing squads come down to Tampa for training), lots of
banks, lots of construction, and then we ended up at an old factory now
converted to eateries called The Armature. An armature is the thing that turns
in a dynamo or electric motor. There was a tent outside the factory and a
pretty big gathering of parents and medical students waiting for the
announcement of placements in graduate programs on Match Day. We talked to a
guy going to LSU Shreveport in Urology and his parents. Seeing this made Jim
and Kaki wonder about how Chris and Martha’s daughter, Virginia, newly
married, Kaki’s niece, and W&L grad was going to do in her placement back
at Medical College of Virginia. It turns out she placed at her 5th choice,
Washington U. in St. Louis, which is a great program but probably a lot farther
from home than she really wanted.
Plaque from along the River Walk
Back at the condo after several thousand steps, we got
ready for our outing, which was supposed to be to the Wichi Wachi mermaid show,
but we figured out we were going to miss the last show. Luckily for me there is
a Hertz branch right in the Marriott within 5 minutes of the condo so I turned
in my car early and saved a few $. We regrouped, got a great lunch at a classic
old Tampa take out place called Wright’s, and went for a nice amble around the
waterfront at St. Petersburg. The highlights were a look (only) in a well
presented gelato shop, a chocolate shop, a spice shop, and a Russian store.
As if that wasn’t enough walking, dinner was a 25 minute
walk away at CENA (pronounced Chee- ena), a great Italian restaurant, where I
had butternut squash lasagna- total comfort food. Then I took my first Uber ride
since we ran out of energy for the 25 minute walk back to the condo.
The basketball continued with all of us pulling for the
underdogs in spite of what we chose in our bracket. The evening ended up with
Connie and me staying up to watch the first half of the overall number one
seeded UVA Wahoos/ UMBC Retrievers game. It was tied at halftime 21-21 but it
was also late so we went to bed. When I woke up in the middle of the night
Connie checked the game and found out UVA lost in a monumental defeat- the first
ever in tournament history that a number one seed has lost to a number 16 seed.
It was a sad way to end the season for a great group of players and a superb
coach. It also was such a shock I had a hard time getting back to sleep.
Saturday- March 17, St. Patrick’s Day
We slept in late again, getting over the sadness of UVA’s
loss. But we rallied for a 10 mile bike ride along Bayshore, so in the opposite
direction from the River Walk. I was last of course, had a hard time
negotiating the other bikers in both directions, the walkers and runners, the
strollers, dogs and people on their cell phones, and women yelling “share the
road”. I have discovered I really, really like a nice padded bike seat and heck
with the extra weight. Only Jim survived the ride without falling and
unbruised.
I grew a tree out of my head
On to the next outing, which was to Lettuce Lake Park,
admission $2 for the car. There is a boardwalk over the swampy land full of
water hibiscus, water lettuce, cypress knees, poison ivy and creeper and other
vegetation. We had great views fairly close up of Roseate Spoonbill, White Ibis
and a new bird for me- a Limpkin, sitting on a branch probably looking for his
favorite food, snails. We also saw a gator at a distance.
White Ibis
When we got back it was more basketball and Jim’s cooking
for dinner- air cooked French fries and water cooked grouper burgers. Grouper
sandwiches are apparently a big thing in Tampa. We loved watching Loyola pull
out a victory and Sister Marie.
Sunday- March 18
On our walk we saw all the leftovers from some heavy St.
Patrick’s Day partying along the River Walk and got a good view of the river
dyed bright green. The route was a little different today, with a trip across
the river to the University side and a walk thru the Office Exchange which is
now a restaurant but used to be a stables. Many photos of famous visitors to
Tampa on the walls.
We did not visit David and Katie and kids this trip
because they were on Spring Vacation up in DC but we did drive by their new
house.
The Babe, a babe, and a gator
Airport, home without problems, and GodSpell at FPC
before back to the routine and cold weather. Snow expected Wednesday!!
