Florida - January 2023

Given the cool weather that we knew was going to start to set in yesterday and become increasingly chilly up to our departure time today, we had a very simple plan for this, our last day in Florida: enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, pick up a rental and drive south to see manatees, check out and head to the airport.  By 8:30AM, we had settled into the continental breakfast at Waterside in the hotel.  The fresh fruit and pastries and the oatmeal were washed down with hot coffee and freshly-squeezed Florida OJ.   We then picked up a rental car from a Hertz location in the hotel.  However, with 500 rooms checking out today after the FMEA conference (according to the waitress at breakfast anyway), the hotel was a zoo, and the Hertz desk was also a zoo.  It took an hour to organize the car and have it brought around to the hotel entrance.  It was 10:30AM by the time we got away.  We headed south on State Highway 41 and soon came to a standstill: ...

While Pam was attending the second full day of the FMEA conference, I had two items planned for my day in Tampa.  The first was to visit historic Ybor City in Tampa’s northeast by streetcar, and the second was to take in a second museum/gallery - namely, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. The Ybor City of yesteryear was home to many immigrants, including significant Cuban, Spanish and Italian populations.  It was also home to one of the USA’s most important cigar manufacturing centres.  Tampa Sweethearts and Hav-a-Tampa were the most famous brands of the early 20th century.  Key West had been the USA’s cigar capital until 1886, when workers there started to unionize and the cigar kings moved their operations to Tampa. A nice stroll around Ybor City to see its top sights was followed by a visit to the Photography Museum near the Tampa Riverwalk. And, of course, the evening was topped off with another amazing FMEA concert! A “David” day of touring is not for the...

Today was the first full day of the FMEA conference for Pam, so while she was jumping from workshop to workshop, I was jumping from pool to Conceirge Lounge (for lattes) and back! In the afternoon, I did venture out into Tampa, however, taking the famous Tampa Riverwalk north from the hotel to the west side of Downtown Tampa, to visit the Tampa Museum of Art (TMA).  Designed by architect, Stanley Saitowitz, TMA sits on the Hillsborough River, adjacent to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park (which was cordoned off, as the park was being turned into a festival venue). The TMA isn’t an overwhelming place.  It does have six galleries, from Greek and Roman antiquities to photography and new media art pieces, but it was all very enjoyable and didn’t leave me with a headache by the time I was finished!  I walked halfway back to the Marriott and then jumped on the TECO Line Streetcar back to the hotel.  Getting around central Tampa is incredibly easy, thanks to this historic, exci...

One of the nicest things about a trip south in the winter is the feeling of waking up on your first day after arriving and just realizing, “There is no snow out there!  It is not -10 degrees!”  And so it was this morning.  Since we arrived in the evening, we decided just to take a Best Western for the night, near the airport, and to settle into the Marriott this morning.  We had breakfast at the Best Western then took a Lyft (similar to Uber) to the Marriott at 9.  Our room is on the top (27th) floor of the hotel, granting amazing views of downtown and all over Tampa Bay. It wasn’t a complicated day by any means.  We met up with our friends, Karen and Mike (also here for the conference, and actually, the ones who told Pam about it - had it not been for them, we wouldn’t even be here!) and went to the Tampa Convention Centre to register mid-morning.  The afternoon was then spent around the hotel’s pool, followed by a stroll on the Tampa Riverwalk - o...