Day 7:
We woke up late on Thursday morning which is what we needed since we hadn't had the best sleep or beds during the vacation so far. We headed up to Tampa but on our way we made a few pit stops. We first stopped in Punta Gerda for lunch. We ate at a place called Dean's, which was really good. After lunch we stopped in Ellenton and visited Jenni, who had just moved to Florida from Minnesota in December. We spent about an hour at her house checking it out and visiting with her before finally reaching our destination in Tampa for the night. We checked into our hotel on Harbour Island, a Westin. The hotel was very nice and very affordable thanks to naming our own price on Priceline. Our room was on the top floor overlooking the harbor. We stayed in the hotel for less than an hour before venturing to our next destination.
We went to Ybor (EE-borh) City, which is a neighborhood/district of Tampa full of different shops, restaurants and bars. We went to the Improv Theater to satisfy M and I's monthly Quest for Comedy by seeing Pauly Shore. There were two comedians that opened up for him. The comic right before Pauly was pretty funny but I can't really say the same about Pauly Shore. He wasn't funny at all but goofy like he was in the past and seems to be still trying to be stuck in that moment. We met him and took our picture with him after the show but he was NOT friendly at all. He definitely seemed annoyed by anyone who wanted their picture taken with him, even though the club announced that he would be available after the show to get merchandise and photos with. After the show we just bummed around the area trying to find a restaurant that was open but it was after 10 pm and most places were already closed. We stayed in the area walking around for awhile before finally driving back towards our hotel. We parked our car and walked from the island across the bridge to the Marriott that had a sports bar called Champions and ate there, even though it was about midnight at this point but we hadn't eaten since around 1 pm.
Dean's Restaurant
View from our hotel
Ybor City
The had a huge mural of people on the wall at Champions so M joined in with them
Day 8:
Friday was supposed to be a day of sun and fun at the Florida State Fair but we woke up to cloudy skies. Since I have been watching my diet, we decided to eat at a restaurant first and then go to the State Fair so I wouldn't be as tempted to eat all the bad (good) food there. Of course we had to to Grillsmith for Lunch. You probably don't recall but we went to that restaurant last time we were in Tampa in November 2008 and we were really impressed with it so we decided to go again. We went right about noon when there was a moderate lunch crowd however our service was fast. I had the mahi mahi, which was the Chef's selection of the day with broccoli and M had a bacon cheeseburger. M had a burger last time he was there that he said was one of the best burgers he's ever had and this time was the same. He just loved the burger and the fish was very good. Our server, Ayndre was new but she was just great. I have to recommend anyone going to that restaurant while in the Tampa area. It is the same parent company as The Melting Pot and they have multiple locations in Tampa area. After our lunch, we came out to a good rain, changing our plans for the afternoon. The State Fair was out so we decided to bum around the mall. We wouldn't have even stayed in Tampa for the afternoon and just headed back to Fort Myers however M really wanted to take me to a restaurant for dinner called Charley's. Again when we were in Tampa in November 2008, we wanted to try this place but didn't due to lack of time. The plan was to go to Charley's before seeing Pauly Shore the night before but we were really pushed for time so we stayed in Tampa for another afternoon to eat at Charley's. Charley's has been rated one of the top 10 steakhouse's in the country for many years, including number 1. The steak was different than what I have ever had. It almost had a smoky taste to it and while it was different, it was good. M's dinner plans with me was a very good ending to a not so great mini-trip for weather in Tampa. As soon as we left the restaurant and was just about to head to back south, the rain had stopped and the sky was clearing. We would still deal with the rain almost the whole way back to Fort Myers.
When we got to Fort Myers, we relaxed for a short period of time and M wanted to go up to the bar with some of his relatives and I didn't want to go so I was going to go to a movie. I dropped him off at the bar and drove to the movie theatre but the line was so long down the stairs and halfway down the side of the building that I turned around and went back to M's parents house to read my book and eventually fall asleep.
