Tampa and Beyond - Saturday, July 12, 2008

So after a good night's sleep at a local hotel, off we go to explore Tampa and vicinity. "We're really close to the University of South Florida," the Biologist says. "I hear they have a nice Botanical Garden there. We should go check it out. It will be really nice and peaceful there on a Saturday morning." Okay, so it turns out there was a plant sale going on at the Botanical Garden and it was complete bedlam, but there was a Carnivorous Plant Bog there that was really worth checking out!

Back in the SUV, the Biologist says "You know, we've been talking about taking a cruise. We should stop by the Port of Tampa to check out their cruise terminals. Maybe we'd rather depart from Tampa than Port Canaveral or Jacksonville." The Marine gave the Biologist a suspicious look, but off we went to the Port. Darn it! There weren't any cruise ships in Port. How can you possibly check out a cruise ship terminal if there isn't a ship in port?!!!

Feeling discouraged, the Biologist says to the Marine "You know, I think we should get out of town for a little while and go for a nice drive in the country. Let's drive through Zephyrhills and Dade City. I've never been there." (Or visited the two Highway Giants or this particular Z Welcome Sign). After stopping at the Giants and getting ridiculed by the mechanics at both establishments, the Biologist oh so subtly mentioned that she'd heard the town of Center Hill, just a bit further north and east, is a nice, peaceful place to visit. The Marine just shook his head, but off he drove. After stopping at a couple of Florida Historical Markers, we arrived in Center Hill. "Oh, look at that cool old building," the Biologist says. "It looks like it has Gender Separated Entrances. Imagine that!" (The Biologist saw an Orlando Sentinel newspaper article a few months earlier that mentioned that the old Center Hill High School had Boys and Girls entrances and had been biding her time to get over this way!). After taking the necessary photos and coordinates, the Marine said it was time to head back to Tampa as we had some dinner plans.

After stopping by our hotel and cleaning up, off we went to Indian Rocks Beach and Keegan's Restaurant, a place the Marine had seen highlighted on the Food Network Show "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." He loves that show. He wants Guy Fieri's job! So after a great meal, we headed back to the hotel for our last night in Tampa. By the way, did I mention that we stopped at Boca Ciega Millenium Park on our way to the restaurant to look at a Time Capsule that was Made for the Millenium? I didn't? Imagine that...

Trek to Tampa - Friday, July 11, 2008

Today we headed to Tampa to attend a retirement party for one of the Biologist's colleagues. Of course, she managed to plot a few (okay several) waymarking targets into the mix. So... early this morning we departed Jacksonville and started making our way to Tampa via I-95 and I-4. "Oh, by the way," the Biologist tells the Marine, "we need to make a stop near Crescent City to photograph and get coordinates for the Railway Disaster Site of the 2002 Amtrak Auto Train derailment. It's not that far off I-95." So about 60 miles later, we get back on I-95 and resume our trip to Tampa. A few moments later the Biologist says, "You know, we're really close to the Ocala National Forest. We should go back to that cache on that jeep trail that had a few Shoe Trees near it." So we once again left I-95 and headed for the ONF in our 2-wheel-drive SUV. Thankfully the Marine put the vehicle in virtual 4-wheel-drive and we made it to the Shoe Trees and back without getting stuck in the sugar sand. About another 50 miles later we made it back to I-95.

This time we actually made it to I-4 and started crossing the State to head to Tampa, which is located on the opposite coast from Jacksonville. As we approached Orlando on I-4, the Biologist says to the Marine, "You know, I've always wanted to go to Gatorland and it's not that far from here. Why don't we make a quick stop? It will be a blast." A couple hours later, $22.99 poorer, and dripping wet from the 80% plus humidity and mid-90's temperature, the Biologist departed Gatorland (the Marine was smart and stayed in the vehicle in a nice shady spot) with two Mold-a-rama Machines, two Penny Smashers, a Compass Rose, an Architectural Remnant, a Miniature Railroad, yada, yada, yada under her belt. With the A/C blasting, we resumed our journey.

"Since we're in Orlando," the Biologist says, "why don't we stop at Downtown Disney to see if they've got any Disney World benchmarks there." The Marine rolled his eyes but off we went in search of the elusive rodent benchmark. After at least an hour wandering around Downtown Disney, we concluded there are no Disney benchmarks there, darn it. However, we did spot a nice Topiary at Planet Hollywood.

Back on the road again. This time we actually made it to Tampa without any further stops and went to the party that was the reason (really!) for our trip. Of course, the Biologist couldn't help that we spotted several waymarks after leaving the party...

Beat the Heat Meat & Greet - July 6, 2008

This afternoon we attended IceCreamMan's "Beat the Heat Meat and Greet" event (GC1DF1M). We've spent so much time waymarking and so little time geocaching since last November that we feel like we've been losing touch with all our NEFGA (Northeast Florida Geocachers Association) friends. Had a great time visiting with everyone, but the Biologist especially enjoyed talking to the other waymarkers who attended (the federation, macleod1, lazycachers). The local geocachers like to refer to us as "Waymarking Weenies." What's with that?