March 12, 2020 – March 14, 2020 …
Should we stay or should we go? The coronavirus has just “begun” to impact the United States. We have a 12 year old that has been looking forward to this trip for years. It’s a “quick trip”. Fly in on Thursday, we have tickets to see the New York Yankees play baseball games (outdoors) at Steinbrenner Field Friday, Saturday and Sunday and fly home on Monday. The plan was to go to the games and hang out at the practice fields and fences in hopes of getting some autographs, enjoy some fresh air, blue skies and 80 degree temperatures. We go!
Thursday … 1:45 p.m. We fly out of “business as usual” Bradley Airport in Hartford on Jet Blue Airlines, non stop to Tampa International. Full flight, disinfectant aroma in the air, a few people wearing masks, flight attendants wearing gloves. A little different than usual, but kind of in a nice “clean” way. Arrive on time, pick up our rental car and our first priority is finding a sports bar to eat at and watch the second half of the UCONN vs Tulane basketball game that had started at 3:00 p.m.. If you haven’t guessed we are big time sports fans.
Prime Time Sports Grill 14404 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Tampa Florida 813-908-0780 … Family owned and operated, delicious food, great staff … UT! OH!, the UCONN game has been cancelled, All NBA and College Basketball … cancelled. We watch golf 🙁
Next stop … Walmart, for a few essentials. Whoa! There is not a parking place to be had, there are people of all ages everywhere, isles are full, carriages are loaded. People are chit chatting nicely as they wait in looooong lines at the registers. The woman in line in front of us at the register, has a baby in her overfull carriage that is sucking on a clothes hanger and a toddler at her feet that is eating goldfish crackers off the floor that has obviously not been washed in a loooong time. No panic here. The woman sees we only have a few items in our carriage and offers to let us go ahead of her. If the public reaction to the coronavirus isn’t confusing enough, this scene definitely has me wondering.
We check into The Fairfield Inn and Suites Tampa Westshore/Airport 2215 North Lois Ave Tampa, Fl 1.8 miles from George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Friday … What a difference a day makes! Major League Baseball cancels all Spring Training games for the rest of the season. Wow! have we been thrown a curve ball! We head over to Steinbrenner Field in hopes that something is going on. Maybe there are some pre signed baseballs available. Nothing .. We take a few photos and chat with a few other disappointed fans. Funny thing, almost everyone said the same thing … “just have to come back next year”.
Plan B … making the best of a disappointing situation. The sun is shining, the weather is gorgeous and we’re in a beautiful area of Florida.
We had planned on having dinner one night after a game at The Tampa Riverwalk. This is a 2.6 mile pedestrian trail along the Hillsborough river. We stopped and walked a bit of it. It is definitely a “my cup of tea place”, but a little too relaxing (aka boring) for my travel companions. I’ve put a relaxing bicycle ride along the river on my list of “next times”.
My travel companions want to go looking for Alligators in their natural habitat. In downtown Tampa you say! I say, Dorothy, we are not in Kansas! This is Florida, home of the “Gators”! We were given two nearby locations by a tour guide at the Riverwalk … Rowlett Park 2401 E Yukon St Tampa, home to one of the largest (maybe 16 ft) alligators in the area. The other was Lettuce Lake Park 6920 E Fletcher Ave Tampa. We picked the one closer to us, Rowlett and “struck out”, but we had fun looking.
Next on our list is Jet Skiing …. Bada Bing Water Sports 101 Bay Shore Dr NE St Petersburg, Florida 727-592-1111
This is a great business, in a super location, with a fabulous staff. There is something fun to do here for everyone. My son-in-law had booked a jet skiing tour for him and my grandson. Not “my cup of tea”, but if my grand daughter, aka my paddle board buddy, was with us that’s what we would have done. My plan was to walk to nearby Demens Landing Park and watch the jet skiers head out on their adventure. Then walk (.4 miles) to the Salvadore Dali Museum 1 Dali Blvd, St Petersburg. My plans changed when, Dante, one of the Bada Bing owners, offered me a boat ride, following the jet skiers, so that I could take photos from the water. He would leave me off at the Demens Landing Dock. Wow! Talk about being nice! Thank You, Dante, you made my day! I’ve added renting one of your awesome electric motor boats to my “Next Time” list!
Demens Landing was so entertaining that Salvadore Dali was also moved to my “next time” list.
The “boys” had a blast, I had a blast. Dante gave us a card for a 15% discount at Frescos Waterfront Bistro, conveniently located next door to Bada Bing. Delicious food, reasonable prices, wonderful atmosphere.
We have one more stop for the day … St Petersburg Beach … can’t go to Florida without visiting a beach!
Things had gotten a little scary on the coronavirus scene. Schools and businesses were closing. Events were being cancelled. We decide to cut our trip short and were able to change our flight home from Monday to Saturday night. We had time Saturday morning for one more fun activity. We book a Clear Kayak Tour of Shell Key Preserve out of Billy’s Stone Crab 1 Collany Rd Tierra Verde Fl (Tampa Bay Area) a half hour drive from the Tampa International Airport. This was all of ours “cup of tea”!
A short but fun filled adventure.
Note: There was a LOT of hand washing and sanitizing on this trip. Once there, we were able to limit our close contact socializing. The scariest part was flying. The flight to Florida was uneventful. Coming home their were 2 people that were coughing and sneezing. They had left their brains home with their face masks, as well as, their common sense to not cover their coughs and sneezes into their open hands.