Going to Tampa FL for the weekend. My daughter tricked me into it.

her favorite band is Anberlin. They disbanded four years ago. She told me that they were doing a reunion concert so I told her go buy two tickets and I'll take her.

Well, she didn't tell me they were reuniting for one night in Tampa, so well, she's doing good all year, she got her license, her grades are great and she went and got herself a part time job without being told to so I decided, fine we'll fly to Tampa for the weekend, hit the concert and do some stuff.

What's good to do on Saturday down there? Tomorrow's the concert so tomorrow is all planned out.

Thanks in advance!

This will be her first time flying too.

When we passed through with the grandkids we did Busch Gardens Amusement Park and the beach / pier at Clearwater.

But that's not much help I expect...

Tampa - Aquarium, downtown Tampa, is good. If she likes shopping, International Plaza is fancy & near airport. Busch Gardens for rides & animals.
Across the Bay, downtown St. Pete is lovely. The Dali Museum is great. If you want beaches suggest Fort DeSoto State Park, St. Pete Beach or Clearwater Beach.

Big Cat Rescue is in Tampa. They care for animals taken from road side zoos, drug dealers, people who bought “pets” and found out not such a good idea, etc.

Pretty cool tour - watching a tiger take off into their ~20 acre “playground” (they rotate the animals into it for ~2 weeks out of the smaller enclosures) and run full speed was very neat.

https://bigcatrescue.org/contact-bcr/?amp

Busch Gardens is awesome both for the roller coasters and rides and the animals and zoo part.

Burns steak house is incredible

Ringling brothers house/ museum is about an hour drive.

Ybor city = cigar shops

I lived in the area for years. Can recommend restaurants.

Another vote for the Columbia restaurant. Great Spanish food and at a historic site.

For the best steakhouse in Tampa it's Bern's Steakhouse, but you will need to call ahead for a reservation.

There's also a Ruth's Chris in Tampa not far from downtown.

West across the bridge toward the beaches and my favorite for steaks and seafood is Bascom's Chophouse.

Drive all the way west to the beaches and catch a stunning sunset. For the best seafood it's the Salt Rock Grill on Indian Shores.

For rustic seafood dining and lots of crab it's the Original Crabby Bills on Indian Rocks Beach.

Look for Spanish / authentic food.

Enjoy the traffic, it suuuuuucks....

Sorry no suggestions, but good job Dad on raising a great/responsible kid.

Fantastic gun store called Shooter's World near Carrolwood in Tampa. Can't remember the street, but it's a monster of a gun store.

Have lunch at Frenchie's on Clearwater Beach. Rent a convertible, that area is a lot more fun with the top down.

The weather is most likely nicer in Tampa than Cleveland

quote:

Shooter's World near Carrolwood in Tampa.

https://www.shootersworld.com/

The original Hooters is in Clearwater,

http://www.originalhooters.com...ampa-bay/clearwater/

I am supposed to be in Tampa the week of Jan 04 for an interview with the ME Office.

We travel to the St Pete and Tampa area a couple of times a year to watch the Rays (Usually when they are playing the Orioles)

On Saturday mornings we always hit the Farmers Market that is held in the parking lot of Al Lang stadium (I think that is the name of it), which is near the Dali Museum.

We always get fresh hot macaroons and there used to be a family that sold incredible paella.

(That was also the place I first tried paella.)

Go up to Ybor City...beautiful, old community w fantastic Cuban food. The few times we’ve been, we haven’t had the patience to wait at Columbia Restaurant in Ybor...I failed to make reservations. We did discover The Stone Soup Company down the street...loved it so much, we’ve gone to it all 3 trips there.

Thanks everyone! She decided on bigcatrescue and ybor city.

Traffic seems normal to me. We have alot of construction in Ohio so traffic is always heavy.

It’s raining all day today and tomorrow so I skipped the convertible. She doesn’t like it anyway. My daily driver is a convertible and so is her mom’s.

Cigar city brewery.

So would love to be at that show!!

What venue are they playing??

She is just turning 16 I presume? That is a little young to be an Anberlin fan since they were big in the early 2000s. Had a couple decent albums a few years back.
None the less great taste in music.

On top of that you’re an awesome Dad for taking her.

Enjoy!!

Ready Fuels is still my favorite!

We saw RED a few years back in Tampa at an outdoor venue but I can’t recall the name. And it was a good time. If your daughter like Anbelin she’ll likely enjoy RED as well.
They played with Nine Lashes who I had never heard of and they blew me away for an opener that had just released their debut album. Sadly I have not been to excited with their subsequent albums.

The venue was called the Florence or Tropicana maybe I can’t recall.

Me

Seriously, where are you staying? Would like to meet another invisible friend. Will send a note to you profile email