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We flew down on TransMeridian for $179 apiece to the Orlando-Sanford Airport on Saturday, 5/22. It was very nice to get a decently priced flight down to central Florida from HIA. TMA is nothing to write home about service-wise, but they get the job done. An annoyance on both flights was getting the flight attendants to "OK" the use of Ryan's car seat on the plane. Never have I seen a sticker (you know, the one located in an obscure location of the seat that says "certified for use in aircraft") have so much power. And there were very little frills with food and drink. But for a 1.5-hour flight, that's OK.

Driving from the northeast side of the Orlando area to St. Pete Beach took about two hours. We arrived at the Plaza Beach Resort Motel around sunset, so it was straight to the room for us; Ryan goes to bed by 9PM. The suite was as advertised; one bedroom with two double beds and a bathroom (with shower, no tub), a kitchen area, and a combo living/dining room. It had a nice full-size fridge and a 32" TV with about 75 cable channels. It was in good shape but there were some rough spots: one of the matresses was a little old and klunky; the bathroom fixtures were a bit rusty; and the walls were thin. We could hear our next-door neighbors quite easily; it was helpful that we were on the second floor, above the office area, and we only had one adjacent neighbor. It also helped that Ryan was a relatively heavy sleeper. :) One disappointment was that the advertised "high-speed Internet access" wasn't included in the rental price; it was pay-as-you-go starting at $2.80 for 15 minutes, and was open to the public. I would have been happy with 15-30 minutes of complimentary access; but there's something to be said for being unjacked for a week. I hadn't done that in a long time.

On Sunday we checked out the beach and were very happy with what we found. Pleasant, clean, and at about 80°, the water was very comfortable. And the air temp wasn't that bad either; our weather for the entire week we were there saw no rain, hardly any clouds, and daily highs of around 90°. Just beautiful.

(Aside: Calgary just went up 2-0 on the Lightning. Cool.)

We were pleased with the location of the Plaza Beach; situated on Gulf Blvd., it was within a block of a full shopping center and several restaurants. We went to the local Publix to stock up on breakfast and lunch foods; we ate breakfast in the room every day, and lunch for two of the days. We had a nice Italian dinner at the local Gigi's restaurant, and had a predictably OK dinner at the Bennigan's across the street. While we were there, we also ate at The Hurricane, Opa Family Restaurant in Tarpon Springs (where everything is Greek; this was my first taste of souvlaki), and at The Pub in Indian Rocks Beach. The food was enjoyable everywhere, at least for me; but I'm pretty easy to please. There are plenty of ice cream places and we checked out quite a few of those as well. ;)

On Monday we headed over to the Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa; it was a fun day. They have an impressive array of exhibits and interactive shows (some with divers); I'd rank them up there with the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but I believe the National Aquarium has more exhibits. We went on the DolphinQuest trip and got to see some cresting fins. It was Ryan's first boating experience and he acted like we never left the dock. Going in and out of the Tampa harbor was cool. We were docked right next to the Carnival cruise ship Sensation, and man, that thing is huge (I've never been on a cruise ship or even seen one in person until then). I also got a good view of the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the St. Pete Times Forum.

On Tuesday, we spent the day at Busch Gardens. Think HersheyPark with about half the product promotion turned into making the park attractive and clean, and with alternating rides and animal habitats. The shows there were pretty cool, too. The "Haunted Lighthouse 4D" mini-movie was enjoyable (and a much better use of interactive cinema technology than the pitiful, paid ChocolateWorld "Really Big 3D" commercial). The "KaTonga" show at the Gardens was also entertaining and had very high production values. It could easily be mistaken for a Broadway production (save for its 35-minute length). The food was nothing to write about, but who goes to amusement parks for the food? The kids' rides and play areas were enjoyed by our little critic. We're looking forward to a trip to the other BG park.

Did I mention the area is Cup Crazy right now? Another visitor to the park that day was the Stanley Cup itself, in honor of the first finals game happening that night in Tampa. It was neat to be able to see it in person.

On Wednesday, we hung around the beach and pool, and visited the Seabird Santuary. It's definitely a worthwhile cause and operation, but to the untrained observer it's an avian zoo that features several large cages of pelicans. We arrived an hour earlier than their 2PM tour, but couldn't find enough to do or enough interest to hang around for it. However, they did get one more visit from me that day. Turns out I accidentally dropped our room key (a tan hole-punched plastic card) in the sandy parking lot on the way out. We had made it all the way back to the hotel (a 20-25 minute drive) before realizing this, but since the Sanctuary was our only stop that trip, I went right back and luckily found the key where I'd dropped it, behind where the car had been parked. Whew!

Thursday saw us head up to Tarpon Springs, the Sponge Capital of the World. I'd visited there as a pre-teen and the Greekness of the place must have been lost on me then. The sponge-diving industry in the area was started by Greek immigrants, who had experience doing just that in their native land. Seeing the boats pulling into dock with nets upon nets of sponges is quite a sight. And there's plenty of shopping; we bought some sponges, some hand-crafted coasters and a pelican, and I bought a light, well-needed, full-brim hat. Definitely worth the hour's drive from St. Pete Beach. Later that night we hung out at the beach to watch the sunset, which was slightly obscured by clouds but cool nonetheless.

On Friday we visited downtown St. Petersburg. First we stopped at The Pier, possibly the most over-hyped attraction in the area. Perhaps we caught it on a light day, but aside from the sights it afforded of the bay, it didn't have a lot to offer. Its aquarium was interesting, but seemed like it could have been born from someone's salt-water tank hobby gone professional. The most interesting part of the visit was the third-floor art gallery, which had a number of pieces that incorporated video displays. After lunch there, we went into downtown proper and visited BayWalk, which seemed like it would be a cool place to come at night and see live music while dining.

After that we headed over to Ft. DeSoto Park, which to me is a sign of how much money flows through Pinellas county. It is very large and clean and has a large amount of infrastructure (parking lots, restrooms, playgrounds, lifeguards, etc.) present for a county park. I assume it's heavily used during holidays; the day we were there, it wasn't that crowded. Ryan played at a playground for a while, and then we hung out on a beach that was on a shallow inlet from the Gulf.

After a dinner at The Pub that evening, we again watched the sun set, and I got quite a few good shots of it for the archives. We packed up later that evening and were able to head out early this morning to make our 11:30AM flight out of Sanford.

I heartily recommend a visit to the Tampa Bay area if you want an alternative to the Orlando attractions that isn't too far of a drive from them. There are more probably more flight deals to Orlando than the Tampa or St. Pete airports. I enjoyed my time away with my family and now have the required "I Went To Florida" tan to show off at the office. :)