Dali Fest, St Pete Beach, Tampa GreenFest

Another great weekend come and gone - Saturday morning, made the trip to Home Depot to complete the Spring Yard Cleaning, and plantings. Lisa and Bryan came over and we headed to Dori and Darrin's in Roser Park to go to DaliFest in downtown St. Pete at the Dali Museum. Dori and Darrin have an awesome 1920's home is the Historic Roser Park section of downtown St. Pete, just south of Bayfront Hospital. I'd recommend a walk or at least drive thru this VERY unique historic neighborhood. Lots of hills, older homes. DaliFest was celebrating its 25th year, with live bands on some vendors along the waterfront. Weather couldn't be more perfect. The museum was having 1/2 price admission and free guided tours, so Bryan and I went in to take a look at Salvador Dali's amazing collection - this museum in St. Pete boasts one of the largest Dali original collections in the world.
After the Festival we headed to St. Pete Beach for dinner and sunset. Driving down Gulf Blvd from Central Ave towards Pass-a-Grille, we could tell there were LOTS of people in town, the Blvd was very busy. We finally made it to Pass-a-Grille beach and ended up watching the sunset from the Hurricane rooftop bar, then went over to The Brass Monkey for dinner. Had a great table out on the deck over looking the Gulf of Mexico. Lisa had the Fish n Chips, Huge piece of White Fish with Fries, and 5 Onion Soup which was very tasty. Bryan got a Burger, and I had the Salmon with Pesto Sauce. All in all, an excellent spot!!
We then headed to Georgi's Alibi in St. Pete, as Bryan had never been there before, he just moved to Tampa from Dallas 6 weeks ago and was getting to know the area. Nice crowd, not too busy, but it was just before 11pm, and i was told it gets very busy by midnight. Green Iguana Westshore was next on our list, as it was walking distance to my house. We hung out on the Tiki Bar deck, checkin out the people, and listening to an all time fav band, Velvet Jones.

Sunday was Family Fun Day - it seems a term me and my bro made up as we have been spending the last few months getting together every Sunday, usually with my mom, aunt and uncle, and of course his wife and new baby boy. Today we went to the Tampa GreenFest, at Plant Park downtown. Plant Park is a beautiful park on the grounds of the University of Tampa along the Hillsborough River. Great photo ops of downtown skyscrapers, lots of shade trees and plams, and of course the UT famous minarets and historic buildings around the University as a backdrop. The festival had numerous nearby nursery and garden center booths, i had no idea Tampa had so many small mom n pop type garden centers around town. After a few hours here, we were hungry and headed to Hawk's on Bay to Bay near MacDill Ave. Great choice we sat outside, the NCAA games were on (Florida and Oregon), inside was packed with Gator fans. Sandwiches were big and extremely tasty, excellent Quesadilla's with lots of chicken. The Beef Melt is one of my favs, lots of Cheddar Cheese and Grilled Onions on a Garlic Buttered Cuban Bread. We then headed to Dairy Joy, my local neighborhood Ice Cream shop on Manhattan Ave, just south of Euclid Ave, with Soft Serve, and Sundaes. They have a walk up window, and picnic tables outside. We relaxed at my house in the backyard, and watched videos and pictures from the days adventure. The weather over the next few weeks through May is my favorites time, very low humidity, clear blue skies, breezy, and temps from the upper 50's at night to about 80 during the day....PERFECT!