Come October 24th (well…I guess I’ll be flying down the 23rd) I’ll be in the greater Tampa/St.Petersburg area (I believe the actual city is Largo.) I’m headed down there for job training (learning how to service hemodialysis machines.)
Although I’ll be in class Monday through Friday, I will still have the evenings free, as well as Sunday night, and maybe Friday night if I can convince my boss to let me fly out Sat. morning.
So if any dopers around that area can recomend things to do that can be done in an evening, or places to eat (I get to eat for free, so might as well eat some place good, right?) that would be great. And Hell, if any dopers want to meet up for some drinks or dinner, I’d be up for that, too.
About 20 miles South of St. Pete is Anna Maria Island. Bradenton and Coquina Beaches are beautiful places for a day trip. The Beachouse has good fare and is moderately priced, dining beachside is the best part of the experience, though.
Also, just off I-75 about 15 miles from St. Pete in Ellenton is a really good restaurant called The Crabtrap. Awesome seafood with “swampfront dining”!
Of course, if you’re going to go there you might as well go another 10 miles or so to Bradenton and have a truly unique dining experience at The World Famous Linger Lodge. The place is filled with local FL wildlife taxidermy- Snakes, gators, wildcats, and furry fish abound. It has been featured on the Food Network and several other “Weird places” shows. Great “old Florida” flavor and homieness. Pretty good food and very reasonable. If you’re lucky, you might see a gator in the Braden River out back.
Hey! We are planning a dopefest around that time, maybe we can push it back a little to include you. What dates will you be here for? Guavaween is going on in Ybor on the 29th. The Dali Museum is good I hear, there’s some fun stuff downtown in St. Pete like Baywalk for touristy stuff.
Let us know, we’d love to have you!
-foxy
The only dates I know for sure I will be there are the 24th (Monday) through the 28th(Friday.) Though I imagine, unless my company is super cheap and doesn’t want to spring for an extra night at the hotel, that I would arrive the 23rd (Sunday) in the afternoon and check into my hotel. There’s also a much smaller possibility that they would have me fly out Saturday (the 29th) instead of Friday night, but I doubt that. I won’t know my exact itinerary until I get my packet of info from the place I’m getting training, and then have the woman who makes all those arragements make those arrangements.
Speaking from personal experience, Anna Maria is (and the rest of the Key Islands are) gorgeous–blue waves, golden sand, children playing, perfect sunshine. It’s a daydream in itself just to sit on the beach with a blanket and a good book.
Get in a trip to Disneyworld if you can. Just because, you know, Disneyland.
My wife and I will be down there the 28th through the 31st for Halloween at Caliente Resort (a nudist place). I’d say “We’ll be the naked ones,” but it may be easier to say “We’ll be the ones in leather and wings.”
