A December Tampa Bay Weekend

The weekend kinda got started on Thursday, with tickets to the Lightning game against Colorado, our tickets included a trip to the Champion Club..all you can eat and all you can drink, great views of the game from a private Lounge...unfortunately, the game ended in a shootout, and we lost.

Friday, even though I was supposed to be on vacation, I worked most of the day, but took the kayak out for a few hours down the street at Picnic Island, it let me get out some stress from end of the year, and dealing with my new promotion..all is good!! Later Friday evening, we went up to Hyde Park neighborhood for some eats, and grabbed some excellent Burritos and Quesadillas at Taqueria Burrito Joint on Howard Avenue...lots of outdoor seating, great to watch people getting out and about in Hyde Park going from bar to bar, getting their Friday's on....we then met some people at Dubliner across the street, and decided to check out a new Wine/Beer Lounge called Cork, across the street from MacDintons....GREAT place, they re-did the old Gelato place, and made into a swanky, loungy wine bar, very good selection, not expensive..we did a few bottles of Kim Crawford Savigone Blanc, perfect, and also decided on some late night munchies(some of us had not eatin'), so they had some pizza's, and garlic bread appetizer with different dipping sauces....VERY GOOD!! Service was excellent, i look forward to when they get the outside tables and chairs. A short two block walk to Mangrove's for some DJ tunes....and then it was a cab ride back home.

Saturday, we went up to Wrights Gourmet Deli for some early lunch...as usual this place never disappoints..grab a menu, get on line, and order away...large sandwich's, fresh homemade soups, and tables outside for taking advantage of this perfect December Florida weather.
Then headed over to St. Petersburg for the Inaugural St. Peterburg Bowl, my alma mater USF Bulls, vs the Univ of Memphis Tigers....was interesting seeing a football game in Tropicana Field, we had great seats, but watching the game was kind of awkward...in addition there were so many commercial breaks, it made the game very slow moving, and on top of that, USF killed U of Memphis...41-14. Taking one of my buddies back home after the game was a treat, he lives with his family in the Roser Park neighborhood of downtown St. Petersburg...very old historic area, they were having the Holiday Neighborhood Party, there were luminaries lit up all along the creek. We stopped by Georgie's Alibi for a few appetizers(never will be eating in that place, just the greasiest of fried foods...it is a bar afterall).....

Sunday was a great day to watch the Bucs at home, but they lost to San Diego..before the game we went over to Nina O's for their Sunday Brunch menu...food was good, service was Extremely slow.

Im looking forward to spending Christmas in town with some family this week.
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