Getaway to Tampa Bay

The madness of work and city life over the last couple of months prompted me to make a quick weekend trip to Tampa, Florida in early December 2018. I was visiting my best friend, Alice, who moved to Tampa earlier this year. Alice and I met in high school and have been buddies for 15 years and counting! It’s always an adventure with her, and I am truly blessed to have her in my life. This trip was a much needed break from the wintry cold in Chicago. The weather was in the high 70’s and low 80’s, and it got down to the 50’s at night. I stayed with Alice in her apartment and she had a stool for me to use.

After Alice picked me up from the airport on Friday evening, we had dinner at Whiskey Joe’s Bar and Grill. One of the things that Alice enjoyed about living in Tampa was everything was in close proximity of each other. The airport was only 10 minutes away from her home as well as her work and the downtown areas. The restaurant was on the Ben T. Davis Beach and extends right on the water of Old Tampa Bay. My entree was the barefoot baha tacos, which were fried mid-atlantic mahi with shredded cabbage, corn salsa, and special Whiskey Joe’s sauce. It was quite delicious but the filling was bigger than the tortilla so everything kept falling out!

The first item to do for our Saturday of exploration was a stop at Waffle House for breakfast. Their waffles are my favorite, they have just the right thickness to them. Plus Waffle Houses are nowhere to be found in Chicago, so whenever I come to a place with one it’s essential for me to go there.

Our original plan was to spend the first part of the day in Clearwater. However, when we were about 8 miles away from the beach there was a down power line, which put traffic at stop and go. We decided to turn around and go to St. Petersburg instead. Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Pete make the Tampa Bay area and are within 30-40 minutes of each other. We checked out a farmer’s market in St. Petersburg, walked around by the harbor and explored Vinoy Park. We even got a glimpse of dolphins along the bay! Our last activity in St. Petersburg was dessert and drinks at Swah-rey, which is a dessert bar.

We then reviewed the situation in Clearwater to see if traffic “cleared” up (no pun intended). There were no more hang ups, so we headed back to Clearwater to watch the sunset on the beach. Clearwater is very pretty; it reminded me a little of Honolulu.

Dinner was at Armature Works in Tampa. It’s a a trendy food court with outdoor seating along the Hillsborough River. Both Alice and I had a karage chicken rice bowl, which is Japanese fried chicken with rice, spicy mayo, scallions, and seafood seasoning. Yum!

It was raining in Tampa on Sunday morning when Alice took me to the airport for my flight back to Chicago. My flight was on time thankfully, but Alice said Tampa gets a lot of rain, including thunderstorms mainly in the summer. Which means that I will plan on coming back to Tampa in December again next year. This trip was awesome!!!