Weekend Getaway...

James and I decided that we needed a nice long weekend to ourselves; so we decided to go to Tampa for the weekend.

The last time we were in Tampa was on our honeymoon; at the time one of the main highlights was the hotel we stayed in which is the Tahitian Inn & Spa on Dale Mabry. I highly recommend going there if you are in the Tampa area. I don't know a lot about Tampa, but I know that the hotel always seems to be just a few minutes from everything we want to do. I would also recommend getting the Queen Executive room. It may be a bit pricey for some at $160 per night, but it is well worth it. You stay in the main part of the hotel where the spa and the steam room is and they are very large rooms with balconies. The beds have down comforters, Jacuzzi tubs and island decor. There is a bar and restaurant downstairs, and the heated pool has a tiki bar. If there is no one on staff at the tiki bar, simply pick up the phone and call the restaurant...they will be more than happy to bring you a drink to the pool; a very nice place, and very relaxing.

We left Friday morning and stopped in Orlando for brunch, then made our way onto Tampa arriving somewhere around 1PM. After we checked into the hotel, and grabbed a drink at the bar, we went out to do a little shopping at one of the malls. Their malls seem to be more tailored to stores like Macy's, Nordstrom, etc. A rather expensive mall I would say, but since James wanted to take me to a nice dinner "somewhere on the bay", we needed something nice to wear. So - we handled that...later on we went to Romano’s Macaroni Grill, which had some really good food!

Saturday we went to the Lowry Park Zoo; and what a cool zoo that was. No lions, which I found interesting, but they had a few other things I had never seen at the Jacksonville Zoo. Starting with a Red Wolf; apparently at one time (in 1987 I think) the Red Wolf was endangered everywhere, but extinct in Florida. There were only 19 Red Wolves at the time and they started a breeding program. I am not sure what the Red Wolf population is up to now, but I believe they have been upgraded to endangered in Florida. So, I was very happy about that.

The Lowry Park Zoo also had this animal called an "Okapi" (pictured below). Although this mammal resembles a zebra, it is more closely related to the giraffe. The dark part of this animal is unbelievably shiny. It was probably the most deep, rich, beautiful coat I have ever seen. After the zoo, we came back to hotel and went for a swim and a cocktail, then onto the sauna.

Later that night we went to "dinner on the bay". It was Landry's Seafood House; a nice restaurant that overlooks Tampa Bay. We sat outside on the deck and watched the planes fly over the bay (the airport is very close by). The food was fantastic and the menu is similar to the Charthouse here in Jacksonville. We ended dinner with a rather large dish of Banana's Foster, which James handled the majority of, since I am not a big whipped cream fan. After dinner, we played a round of putt-putt, and retreated to the hotel.

Sunday morning we did the typical "breakfast downstairs and discuss the day’s events". We decided that on our way out we would go to the Museum of Science and Industry and watch Wild Oceans at the IMAX Dome Theater. I have been to the IMAX, but the dome theater is a much different experience. The show we saw was filmed off of the coast of Africa, and explains the impact that sardines have on the ecosystem; which is very interesting if you ever want to take the time to research it. Who knew a little sardine was so important.

We meandered our way home after that, stopping for lunch in Orlando at Red Brick Pizza. Another great place to eat.

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend, it was nice to turn our phones off and focus on each other for a few days. We are very excited to do it again, and highly recommend the Tampa area!

The next trip we are planning will involve the dogs, some camping and some diving. Off to Manatee Springs! We should have some photos from that trip in a couple of weeks!