Hyde Park Village Music Series

Me and a good friend went up to Hyde Park Village Wednesday evening for their monthly Music Series. Its a great gathering of people from the local area, and the beer sales are always for a good cause. Easy parking in the neighborhood behind the Village, we walked into the event, maybe a few hundred people, and a live band entertaining the folks. My friend did not drink beer, so we had to go to several places to find her a non-beer beverage. Timpano's was selling mixed cocktails, but only allowed to drink inside the restaurant and also they would only allow you inside the restaurant if you had ID(she is 36, but left her ID behind)..so we wondered over to Wine Exchange, a livelier crowd here, and a very friendly bartender allowed us to purchase her a wine, and gave us a to go cup so we could attend the festival....lots of good people watching, we both ran into many people we don't see often, so it was great catching up with people's lives on a monthly basis in an event like this.

After the event, we headed closer to my home for some eats, and ended up where else, but the Green Iguana Westshore. Bar Manager John was just married last month, and heading out to Seattle in the morning with his new wife for a nice long weekend getaway..we stayed a while to help him celebrate(we did the celebrating while he worked)...again, the burger I had(Portabella Cheese burger), was awesome, juicy, meaty, and love the crinkle cut fries...she ahd them prepare a grilled chicken breast and mixed veges...cooked and seasoned perfectly.....and of course there was live music and the crowd for entertainment purposes.

Heading out to see some buddies in Kansas City Friday for a long Labor Day Weekend, be back in Tampa Wednesday!!

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Some GREAT hot dogs and Hiking(not biking) Brooker Creek Preserve

I was craving a hot dog, a good hot dog, and came upon Frankies Hot Dogs 'The Gourmet of Fast Food', located on Kennedy Blvd, just west of the University of Tampa campus. One of those places you order, they give you a number, and then bring the food out to you. Nice menu, mostly fried everything(cheese cubes are amazing), and all kinds of Hot Dogs...the very very long skinny kinds are grilled and served on a toasted bun...then you have complimentary help yourself toppings like NY style onions, raw onions, hot relish, relish and sauerkraut. The place is very Chipoltle like, modern comfortable booths and tables, plenty of large flat screen tvs throughout. When craving a wiener(Happy Hour is 3-5 two for one hot dogs), this is THE place to go one near downtown Tampa. They also serve wine and beers(Peroni on Tap).


Sunday, the sun was finally shining after quite a few days of Tropical Storm Fay lingering around to the north of us, so I went to do some off-road biking just north of Tampa at Brooker Creek Preserve. They have numerous trails, but I found out as I got there that the trails are for HIKING only(no bikes allowed). No problem, went through some beautiful trails, immediately I saw several deer, wild turkey's, a few snakes, very interesting flowering bushes, a lot of different types of topography, and best of all, it was so PEACEFUL. The trails can have you hiking through this 9000 acre wildlife preserve, less than a half hour from Tampa, all day long. A nice escape.

After wards, I met a few friends at Westshore Pizza a few blocks form my house to catch the ending of the Tampa Bay Rays game against the White Sox, where they were all par-taking on the $1 Yuengling drafts which they have during all Ray games.

Tropical Storm--I.O.U.S.A. Movie

Got back from a great trip out west in Colorado, only to prepare for Tropical Storm Fay, which actually never hit here in the Tampa area, barely a breeze or a drop of rain, but south of here and the East coast got hit, some areas with over 25 inches of rain, Fay is still stuck over Florida, and now we are feeling some of the effects(20-30 mile and hour winds and heavy down pours now and then) as it comes back over Florida now towards the west, just north of Tampa(first south of us, now north of us...we get sooo lucky here in the Bay area)....

Tonight, I met a buddy of mine at Citrus Park Mall to see a one night only movie playing in select theaters across the country with live interviews from some of the country's top economic and business people...called I.O.U.S.A. from the people that brought us 'Super Size Me', it was a great film detailing just how much Debt this country is in, and what will happen in the future if we don't take action now..of course we live in the best country in the world, but we've got a bit of a Financial Problem that needs to be dealt with....this movie should play on TV for all to see, a bit of an eye opener....

The weekend is here, and quite a few things happening--
My Uncle turns 61 Friday
MAD Theater presents The Full Monty is on Stage in Ybor City
Broadway Play Mama Mia is at the Performing Arts Center
Bucs Preseason Football Saturday against Jacksonville

Back from Chi-Town; Off to Denver

Got back from an incredible four day weekend in Chicago..both the White Sox and Cubs were in town, Market Days, the mid west's largest outdoor street festival, and a relief from the Florida heat..temps were mostly in the upper 70's. with blue skies, reminded me of what Florida weather is from mid October to Mid May!! Was great seeing lots of friends and familiar faces, this was my 7th trip during this same weekend each year. Highlights also included a concert by Powder, Annual Rooftop party overlooking Wrigley Field in Wrigleyville, Great Eats at Uncommon Ground in LakeView and Athenian in Greek Town, and the 4am stop at the Golden Nugget near my buddies house in Andersonville.

Took a buddy to dinner this eve to my fav Southwest/Tex-mex type place, Red Mesa, in St. pete on 4th street. Again the Sangria was at its best, and large portions of delicious food, the best service.

Now its off to Denver Wednesday morning for work and Play, and see my brothers and there families in Golden and Colorado Springs.

Tampa's WaZoo, a 70's Disco Party, and Birthday in Stoney Point

Saturday, a bunch of us got together at a friends up in Tampa's Wellswood neighborhood for a graduation/pre-Wazoo party, the evening was nice, as we had major rain showers earlier in the day......dropping my buddies truck off at his South Seminole Heights house, it was a short cab ride to the 13th annual WaZoo at Lowry Park Zoo, one of the 10 best beer tastings/festivals in the country. They were expecting close to 4000 people this year, it was easy getting in, and there were live bands staged throughout the park, and PLENTY(over 250 varieties) of free flowing Beer from Breweries all over the country as far away as Seattle and Food from many local neighborhood eateries. It was very spreadout throughout the park, and they had put the animals to bed so they would not be too disturbed. Tank's had the best eats with their BBQ Pork(need to get up to Carrollwood and check that place out), and as far as beers, there were so many samples..we couldn't pin point just one favorite.
It was then a cab ride to a 70's Disco party being held in the North Hyde Park neighborhood....some of us didn't have any 70's clothing, but it was fun to see a large group of people all dressed up, some with roller skates, Burt Reynolds mustaches, Farrah Fawcett hair, etc....Good Times!

Sunday we went up to Channelside for Brunch at a friends place in Grand Central Condos. Living in this brand new condo building, very modern, he has a corner unit with glass floor to ceiling windows that gave one views from the Sunshine Skyway and Tampa Bay, downtown Tampa, Ybor City, all the way out to Brandon...Sunday evening was a birthday party in the South Tampa neighborhood of Stoney Point...just some BBQ'ing with about 40 good people out by the pool, they live on a canal which leads into the Bay...made for a nice ending to another great summer weekend.

Work takes me to Fort Lauderdale for the day on Tuesday, and then im off to Chicago for Market Days weekend on Thursday....my eighth year at one of Chi-town's largest outdoor street festival.