Also, the beaches in Sarasota are nice as well. Forgot to mention in my previous post.
Most likely I will not be in Tampa when you visit. But if you are a 20 something and you’re looking to go to some nice clubs, then start another thread or something the week you are going.
I’ll make sure to put you and some friends on the VIP list at a couple kick ass night clubs. Also, in the unlikely event that I am still out of the country and not just out of the state, I will consider lending you my Mustang Convertible for the week you’re in Tampa. I could have it dropped off at the airport for you and let you know where to pick up the keys. You know… like in a hiding place or something.
… you’ll have to wash it and stuff, of course. I trust you’ll be respectful and not fuck it up. And I’m all about Dopers hooking up other Dopers. The more we do shit like this for each other, the more powerful we become.
Oh… and hopefully I’ll be back in the country anyway. If that’s the case, then don’t worry about having a good time in Tampa. I’ll drive down there and make sure you have the best time of your life. Tampa is always worth the drive…
Oh… and back to the OP.
If ever there was a city in the world where you absolutely must have your own vehicle, it’s Tampa. Save for some aestecically pleasing trolleys down town, public transportation is practically non-existant.
I’ve been meaning to get back to this thing all day but my internet connection has been down. Anyway, I will certainly post a thread up before I go. Very kind of you to offer all those things, Bear_Nenno. What country would you be going to?
I still remember your Bear_Napples thread! I get a chuckle out of it still.
She said that she’s here the last week of the year. I take that as the week betwixt Christmas and New Years. For the most part $70/night that week won’t get you much. Very high season.
Bear is, IIRC, in Korea at this point. He’s military and so can be called away to various destinations. If you need help coordinating a car hookup I can help facilitate and probably do airport pickup duty that time of year. The weather that time of year is variable, but sometimes very nice so it would be cool to have a ragtop if the weather cooperates.
Elyssian, what do you like to do? Already lots of good mentions, but more of a feel for your interests could help. Sorry I missed this until now, been busy. BTW, while I was typing a couple of Dopers called to find out why I’m not up having beer with them. So you might get to meet some of us while you’re here if you want to.
I didn’t realize there were so many Tampa Dopers. Maybe we should start another thread to get a Dopefest going. Anyone interested?
I’m always interested in meeting more people. So long as ShibbOleth can guide me in via cell phone to the destination. Internet directions can bite me.
I had fun at the last meet. More!
Good idea - I’m in 
I would love to meet all you Tampa dopers when I’m down there. I thought about calling for a Dopefest but didn’t want to be too presumptuous on your home turf. Yes, I’m going to actually arrive down there on December 26th. I’m not sure what time yet because the airlines keep switching the flight times and numbers. I get about a message per week on my phone telling me my flight has been changed.
As to our interests: we love eating and drinking. I also am definitely going to drag him to Busch Gardens because I remember having a lovely time there in my early teen years. We aren’t all that keen on museums, unless we have an empty afternoon sometime that we want to keep out of the sun. We love the ocean, specifically at low tide where we can wander around and gawk at stuff that gets exposed. Shopping is nice, sometimes. We love going to aquariums so we will definitely hit the Florida one. I’m sure it’s spectacular.
I’ve got a whole list here…maybe we will hit the space center, maybe. We do like botanical gardens, so we might visit Cypress Gardens, but it’s kinda low on the list. Manatee viewing sounds awesome. Zoos usually make me a little depressed, so that’s low on the list.
Clubs, of course! And a dopefest, if there is one. I will try not to go to sleep too early – I’m such a party pooper.
Ooooooh! Count me in too!
Eating and drinking we’ve got in spades. The Colombia Restaurant is cool for the floor show (flamenco), although I think you can get better Spanish style food for much cheaper in many places. But you can do that and then take a look through Ybor. There’s a trendy place not far from me, but I’m drawing a total blank on the name right now. I’ll let you know. South Howard is also a good place for restaurants and clubs, maybe a slightly older clientele on average.
They seem to be adding a lot of extreme rollercoasters there lately, so if that does it for you it’s worth a day.
I’d say if you do that then the Dali Museum is the best bet, but it’s over the bridge in downtown St. Pete. Check out Baywalk, the Pier and the Vinoy Basin while you’re over there. There are also some cool old houses/mansions and banyon trees on Coffeepot drive in old Northeast St. Pete.
Our tides are not as dramatic and revealing as west coast tides. We don’t have tidal pools per se. More on this in a bit.
A nice upscale mall at International Drive, near the airport. I’m not much of a shopper myself so I can’t point you towards too much in the way of boutiques. Maybe some places in Ybor during the day or in Hyde Park area?
I like it, it’s nice, but I’m not sure “spectacular” is what you’ll get. Maybe interesting and semi-educational. There are, I believe, some boat tours that go out from there. Bear, don’t you do some work there?
I can find zoos depressing but think that the Lowry Park zoo is one of the nicer small zoos in the country. Not too big, although they’ve expanded a bit lately, and some nice touches, like interactive exhibits with kangaroos and wallabies, lorikeets and skates/rays (they’ve been “destinger” so they can be petted. Cypress Gardens has been redone and is more “theme parky” and a little less “gardeny” these days. Just re-opened.
I’d recommend a day trip up to Homosassa Springs or one of any number of springs and parks to the north. Homossasa is a manatee refuge that has nine or so resident cows (females). They have a “show”, which is really just a feeding and talk about manatees (closest relative is the elephant) and you can see these beautiful creatures up close. They also have a zoo-like area, which is mostly a bird refuge, mostly with injured raptors and some other large species like sandhill cranes. Maybe a canoe rental to go along through some cypress swamps would be a nice way to see some local flora and probably some fauna.
Mostly discussed already, not so much what I know. A Dopefest would be nice if we have a decent set of folks in town.
Well, crap - now you want to impose personal standards on us? 
In your case we’ll settle for indecent.
I stayed in that hotel just this weekend. They accepted my $55 bid on Priceline. I got a suite with a king bed and a view… of the porch of the Carabba’s next door. Nice courtyard with a pool, though, if screaming children are your thing. Oh, and they have free copies of the Tampa Tribune. Nice staff, decent-ish looking neighborhood, CVS up on the corner in case you need anything. Just FYI.
And if you’re lucky enough to stay in my room, you can have the cans of Coke and Dr. Pepper and two bottles of water I left in the fridge! :smack:
Well, that’s a very glowing review of the Doubletree. 
I guess it’s back to square one as far as hotels go. Maybe I’ll just put in a bid at Priceline and see what happens.
Are manatees seriously cute or is it just me?
That’s a bummer about the tides not being as cool as the west coast. That was our number one entertainment the times we visited California. I have several pictures of starfish that I snapped in my touristy enthusiasm. Jellyfish are also neat.
I guess having a dopefest at the time I’m down is probably not a good thing, seeing as how that’s the holidays. But if anyone wants to meet for drinks during that time I think we’re up for it.
Random thoughts:
[ul][li]Definitely rent a car. The bus system is just not workable.[/li][li]Throwing in another vote for staying in St Pete Beach or Clearwater Beach, because that Gulf view’s really spectacular, especially at sunset. Do you know where in Tampa your family lives – general neighborhood sense? In the right areas of Tampa, it’s really only a half-hour or so from St Pete Beach, most of it on interstate highway that moves fairly rapidly.[/li][li]In St. Pete, the Dalí museum is a definite, and I like the Museum of Fine Arts and the Florida Holocaust Museum. [/li][li]In Tampa, the Florida Aquarium is pretty good, and the last time I went, I loved Lowry Park Zoo. Not a huge fan of Busch Gardens, and I’m pretty sure Adventure Island will be closed in late December – it’s a frigid mid-60s that time of year during the day, so the water parks aren’t real big.[/li][li]My favorite beach as a beach is in Ft DeSoto Park. My favorite beach as a walkable 5/$10-t-shirt get-some-snowglobes tourist haven is Clearwater Beach. My favorite place to watch the sun set along the waterfront is Pass-A-Grille.[/li][li]I also think a day trip to one of the springs up north would be good. Rainbow Springs, where we had a gathering about a year ago, was one of the prettiest little places I’ve been in a long time. Swimming and canoeing along the spring was just so relaxing and the park was just beautiful. About 1.5 hours north of here.[/ul][/li]
As far as getting together, definitely down for it. I’d just need ~2 weeks notice to get the time off work. Hope you have a good time when you get here, and be sure to keep us updated!
And manatees are fascinating to watch. Very engaging. Occasionally, they surface off the seawall of my university’s campus in St Pete, and they are just as entertaining in the wild.
I never worked with the Florida Aquarium. But I volunteered a lot at the Dolphin Hospital at the Mote Marine Labratory. They have dolphins, sea turtles and manatees an aquarium there too. But honestly, if you dont get the Special Bear Nenno 3am tour, then it’s not worth the hour drive. Stick with the Florida Aquarium.
A good place to watch manatees for free (especially since you dislikes zoos) is over by the Big Bend Power Plant. December is an especially good time to view them because they flock (school? herd?) to the warmer water created by the power plant. There is a little viewing board walk there. I usually bring a couple heads of lettuce for them to eat. Just break it up and toss it in the water.
The Space Center is a bit far from Tampa. It’s a couple hours away on the other coast. So if you’re not staying that long, you probably wont want to go that far out of your way.
Oh… and manatees are hideous. But in a funny sort of way. And their skin is VERY rough, not smooth like you’d probably think. But they’re still neat to play with, and the course whiskers will tickle your hand when you feed them. If I’m in town, I’ll make sure you get to pet some manatees and play fetch with the dolpins.
No don’t try the Doubletree. The courtyard pool was nice, the hot tub was lukewarm, the elevator (only one for the hotel) broke several times when I was there. The cooked to order breakfast (part of the daily “island option” or some such name) and two drinks in the teki hut was abysmal. My real problem was the suite was damp, no matter what the AC was set on. They do give you a hot cookie on checkin, though,
Look at the extended stay hotel on Telecom parkway (right off Fletcher) it is less than 3 miles from the Doubletree.
Right up the street that the Doubletree is on (Bruce B. Downs), turn left at the light (onto Fowler) and then the first right into the parking lot is a wonderful Japanese restaurant call Ichibans, good sushi, great tempura.
Bed and Breakfast? Try the VicenteIt’s right in the heart of Ybor. So you have access to all the nice shops, cuban food, shopping, movie theatre, and all that stuff during the day. You’ll also be a trolley’s ride from the Aquarium and even MORE bars and restaraunts and another theatre. Then at night you can stumble from the clubs at 3am to your room just a block away. It’s really got everything you want.
…except for the beach and Busch Gardens. You’ll have to drive to those.