What To Do In Tampa, Florida
If you have not been to Tampa Florida in the last several years, you will be pleased to know that the city has put a lot of effort into the beautiful resources that are available to create a lot of things to do. From Thursday, May 22 — Monday, May 27th, I visited Tampa, Florida. Here is the summary of the trip and the itinerary for you to follow if you need to create something quickly.
Schedule
Thursday, May 22, 2019
6PM-ish — Depart on SouthWest airlines from BWI to Tampa, Florida.
11PM-ish — Arrive at the Sheraton Riverwalk Hotel
Friday, May 23, 2019
9AM- Pick up Zip Car at the Barrymore hotel
10AM — Brunch at Oxford Exchange
11AM — 9PM — Travel to Clearwater area and visit the Morean Arts Center and the Dale Chihuly exhibit, Dali Museum, Reading Room restaurant, sunset at Treasure Island Beach
Saturday, May 24, 2019
10AM — 11AM Tampa Bay WaterBike (www.tampawaterbikes.com)
11AM — Walk from Tampa Bay WaterBike on the Riverwalk back to the Sheraton Riverwalk
1PM — Use the Sheraton shuttle for a drop off at Columbia Restaurant
12:30PM — Lunch at Columbia Restaurant, walk up and down 7th and 8th st in Ybor City, consume ice cream Dragon Balls at Snobachi, take the free trolley back to the Aquarium stop
5:30PM — 7:30PM Rest
7:30PM — Take the Sheraton shuttle to Armature works
11:00PM — Walk on the Riverwalk back to the Sheraton Riverwalk
Sunday, May 25, 2019
9AM — Church at Sacred Heart Catholic Church (Corner of Twiggs Street
and Florida Avenue)
11:15AM — Depart for the Yacht Starship at Channelside
12:30PM — Board the Yacht Starship for the Brunch Cruise
2:30PM — 3PM — Check out the Sparkman Wharf
4PM — Trolley back to the end of the Line
4PM — 6:20 — Prepare for dinner
6:20 — Take the Sheraton Shuttle to Ulele located at Armiture Works (https://armatureworks.com/)
6:45–9:00PM — Dinner at Ulele, then walk back to Sheraton along the Riverwalk
Monday, May 26, 2019
8:00AM — Depart for Tampa Airport
10:50AM — Start the Southwest Boarding process
11:25AM — Depart for BWI
2:15PM — Arrive BWI
3:00PM — Home
Now For The Detail
Sheraton Riverwalk Hotel
If you are inbound to Tampa, Florida, you have a number of hotels to choose from in the area. At the minimum, choose one on the Tampa Riverwalk and make the Sheraton Riverwalk one of the considerations.
The Sheraton Riverwalk has easy access to the Tampa Riverwalk from the pool area. Cruise by the outdoor bar, grab a beverage in the Riverwalk approved cups and head out for the Riverwalk.
Speaking of easy access, the hotel has a local shuttle on a first come, first served basis. The shuttle will take you within 3 miles of the hotel. This included the cruise terminal, Armature works and Ybor City. The van has great AC and is comfortable for a group of people. Don’t forget to give the driver a gratuity for his great work.
The rooms at the hotel are traditional. The bathroom is a combination tub/shower and the hotel has the best water pressure I have experienced! The rooms have a balcony and you will want a balcony facing the Riverwalk. If you are on the street side, you have nothing but the stop lights and intersection. The rooms are spacious and my room had a pull out sofa. The TV size is on the smaller size for the room. The TV position near the wall, would almost indicate that your hotel neighbor might hear your TV, but that is not the case. Muffled voices may be heard through the walls but that was infrequent. This carry through noise abated by 10PM.
The pool area appeared to be adequate for kids and while I did not use it, the operating hours appeared to go past 10PM. On the weekends live entertainment is provided with some classical musical hits.
The mojitos at the bar were the best after 4 days in the area.
All of the staff at the hotel were attentive to issues and readily available.
The Sheraton Riverwalk may not be the newest hotel in town, but you are there to see Tampa, not sit in the hotel room and the Sheraton Riverwalk meets that objective.Ulele Restaurant Review
Currently, the Tampa Riverwalk ends at Armature Works . This food metropolis has created Ulele, with a variety of seafood and meat dishes that is a great establishment in Tampa.
Ulele has done a great job to create an outdoor dining environment that is great for groups and kids. The multitude of bean bag games, fish feeding and open space gives kids plenty of room to run around while the remaining adults are ensconced on the patio enjoying the food.
The food at Ulele is plentiful for the seafood dishes. The Oysters were larger than other restaurants in the area, the twice baked potatoes were overwhelming and became a great take-home dish. The mojitos are creative with a twist of orange as opposed to the usual lime. The fish was also satisfying in quantity and included fried carrot ribbons.
If you choose to dine outside, which appears to be the best choice with kids, you should note that the patio umbrella may be shared with another table. Plan on periods of sun that will hit you, so have the sunscreen and sunglasses available for the meal. If you choose to dine inside, you will find a great environment with creative decorations and large booths for groups.
Once you complete your meal and before the bill arrives, order a beverage in one of the Riverwalk approved cups. Take a stroll out to the Riverwalk to walk off the meal and watch the great boats pass by.
If you are going to be in Tampa for any reason, Ulele is a recommended choice. If you have kids, check out the outdoor seating. If you have a group, take time to coordinate a reservation in order to use the outdoor patio furniture.
Oxford Exchange. You roll up to the Oxford Exchange and think you are going to enter just a small restaurant, but lo and behold you have entered an expansive restaurant, work space, book store and gift shop that makes for a great start to a day in Tampa, Florida.
The dining at the Oxford Exchange for breakfast is a healthy and great way to start the day. Eggs Benedict or the Omelet will leave you feeling satisfied and ready for your day in the area. The food is complimented with a great selection of tea from the, TeaBella group. The restaurant area includes seating in a nice atrium area with a waterfall.
Upon concluding the breakfast or lunch, the space has great tea, coffee and lemonade selections that you can consume there or grab it to go.
On your visit to the Oxford Exchange, leave some time to peruse the gift shop and great selection of books. My favorite included the Ferrari book for review. There are a number of interesting items for review and highly worth taking a look at.
Morean Arts Center and the Dale Chihuly exhibit
The use of glass in artwork requires a lot of muscle, creativity and heat. If you want to see how that is combined together into something amazing, the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center is for you.
Dale Chihuly is an artist that created the glass ceiling at the Bellagio Hotel. (Side note, cleaning that glass is a painstaking process due to the amount of smoke that is captured on the glass at the Bellagio.) A visit to the Chihuly exhibit at the Morean Arts Center will show you the techniques that are used for making the odd shape of glass.
In order to fully appreciate the creative nature of glass, you should see it take shape. Schedule time to watch the real live demonstration of the glass artists as they shape random pieces into a glass piece that can retail for $800+. This demonstration is in a real studio, that is “fenced in” with bleacher style seats. Please note, the room can get hot, but fans blowing overhead make it for an enjoyable viewing activity. During this activity, you will see the “in and out” process from the various ovens and what it takes to shape a piece of glass. You will see how it takes at least 2 people to lift, heat and mold glass. You can ask questions of the t
Once you know how it is made, you will head back to the studio where you can see the first hand work of Dale Chihuly on display. The video presentation gives a great review of how he got started in the process and is something you should watch. The pieces on display are colorful and as you look at them, think back to what you saw during the demonstration and ask yourself: “How did they continue to lift these pieces in and out of the oven and how big was the oven?”
While kids will love the demonstration, there are some “Slow parts” where it comes in and out of the oven with little changes. Furthermore, the Morean Arts Center gift shop does not have barriers surrounding the pieces. Running in the expansive studio, could quickly result in “owning” a shattered piece of merchandise.
Upon completing your visit at the museum, the street has a volume of choices for food at a great price point. You can grab a great meal after completing the studio visit.
Dali Museum
Based on your age group, you will either remember Dali or learn about him for the first time. Either way, you will benefit from a trip to the Dali Museum in Clearwater, Florida.
The museum has created a wonderful experience to learn about Dali and his works. You start your experience in the well appointed theatre to learn about his background and the groups he was associated with. From there you can obtain a set of headphones and iPhone like device that will take you through a review of the art pieces. Note: At the time of this writing, May 24, 2019, the Dali museum has an app for download that is available for iPhone users only. You can download the app and use your phone, or you can obtain the local device and headset. The app on the headset gives an audio and written review of the artwork. All pieces are not featured on the app and you may need to “find” a piece to keep the app and your tour synchronized.
Parking at the Dali museum is $10 and is not covered. There are very few trees for shade. If I had to do it again, I would have checked out the local parking garage, which appears to be associated with a local university and might have had a cheaper rate and had covered parking. Even if the rate was the same, I would have opted for the covered parking and walk to the Dali.
The entire 3rd floor houses the artwork from Dali. My favorite pieces included the combination of religion and science. In one piece Dali drew the DNA sequence along with religious references which created a positive image against some other darker pieces.
The artwork at the museum is one attraction, but outside they have created a relaxing space to talk with friends, along with various photo backdrops. The area also includes a “Wishing tree” where you can untie your bracelet used for the museum and tie it to the tree. Please do this AFTER you visit the museum!
If you are traveling with kids, the Dali museum will be a challenge but have no fear, the local airport is right next door. You can watch planes take off and land and the airport advertises a small café where it appears that you can get closer to the action.
Reading Room Restaurant
Once you find yourself in St Petersburg, Florida and need a break from the open air restaurants facing the beach, take a ride out to The Reading Room and find a great team with amazing ingredients in their seafood and meat dishes. This is an upscale place where you can shun the flip flops and put on your best golf or casual attire and enjoy a fine dining evening.
It is not often that you can find a great restaurant outside of a shopping area, but The Reading Room has broken that mold. Several of the ingredients in the dishes come from the garden in the front of their building, or a plant located inside. My favorite experience included the non-alcoholic mojito that used the plant right at the bar for one of the ingredients.
The quality of the food is excellent and the staff is engaging to provide recommendations for your evening. The portions are perfectly sized and you should not have any food wasted upon completing your experience.
The Reading Room fills up quickly, therefore make an early reservation and stick to it. If you could not plan in advance drop by and try to take in the experience from the bar. The Reading Room does not offer outside dining, although their space looks like it could accommodate it. It appears that the city has kyboshed their permit for outdoor seating.
If you plan accordingly and take in an early dinner at The Reading Room, then head down to Treasure Island for the sunset.
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is one of the many beaches in the St. Petersburg Area and provided a great sunset location. Although, I did not spend the day on the beach at Treasure Island, here are my observations and suggestions.
- If you are not staying at a hotel on the beach at Treasure Island, research and book parking in advance. It was not apparent that an abundance of parking existed, therefore plan accordingly
- Consider arriving in a recreational vehicle with your own rest room. Based on the sign leading from the parking lot that said “Hit the Can, not the Sand”, it appears that biological facilities are lacking
- A huge slide exists at the entrance that is inflated each day along with a “trampoline” style apparatus. This appears to be a good way to pass the time. It is interesting to note, that a power cable has been provided for this setup.
- You can rent beach chairs and umbrella from the “Taylor Group”. This appears to be an organization where you reserve your umbrella and chairs for a period of time. The chairs are placed several yards apart. It is unclear how you know which chair is yours at the beginning of the day. I would spend some time with the rental group to determine hot to find the chairs that are assigned to me.
- The sunset from the beach is wonderful. If you are on vacation, you can sit on the “folded” up chairs from the Taylor Group or bring your own. Either way it is a great shot of the horizon
Tampa Bay WaterBikes
When you are in the city of Tampa, you need to experience the water. For those of you that are looking to combine a hard “biking” element, environmentally conscious and the water, the Tampa Bay Water bikes (www.tampabaywaterbikes.com) has it covered.
The staff at the Tamp Bay Water Bikes is incredibly friendly and helpful. They will get you situated on the bikes with a quick review and away you go. You can choose a single rider or tandem rider option. Please note, if you are on the tandem rider option, the activity becomes slightly easier when both team members peddle.
The bikes are extremely stable and provide for a large enough pontoon for you to stand on and take a break. The bikes move at a slow speed, regardless of how fast you peddle. The seat is similar to an existing bike and is adjustable. Combining all of the physical characteristics of the bike and your pedal power, you will cover “Some” distance, but don’t plan on covering miles of territory in a one hour session.
For myself, I felt great after the bike ride as I love the gym and it was a great workout!
Columbia Restaurant
This is a Tampa institution. Book a reservation in advance and then after lunch or dinner explore Ybor city. Note, if you are over the age of 40, explore Ybor City during the day time. Under the age of 40, consider a night in Ybor City on 7th or 8th Street with the night clubs.
Tampa Thoughts
Walking will be a key part of your visit when you stay in the city of Tampa. The Riverwalk is great and at each end is a “restaurant emporium”. At one end is Armature works, https://armatureworks.com/ and at the other end is the Sparkman Wharf, https://sparkmanwharf.com/.
Hotels located off of the Riverwalk may offer a pool bar where you can get a beverage, hear some music and get a beverage in the Riverwalk approved cup and continue on your way.
The Riverwalk allows scooters, skateboard and bikes. Pay attention when walking and keep your head up and not lookin at the phone. Furthermore, at the same time, watch your step for the odd canine that has had an “Accident” and the owner did not clean it.
Now I m not a Real Estate expert, but a few things come to mind as I have completed my Tampa review. Jeff Vinik and his associates are positioning Tampa to become a great city to live in. The current issue I see is the lack of good professional services jobs to support this model. The apartments they are building in downtown Tampa look nice, but I wonder who is moving into them? For myself: single, never married no kids, love boating and in a professional service technology job, I would think that I am a “target” demographic for the downtown apartments. At this point in my life, I don’t even think a job exists in Tampa that would pay the same level that I make in the Washington DC area. If you are thinking of starting a company in NYC or San Francisco, take a look at Tampa. I am thinking they would love to give you a tax break in order to create good paying jobs to fill the downtown apartments. Now, again, I am not an expert, but be creative in working with the city as they are building for the future.
Speaking of building, I gave some thought as to what company I could build so I could afford to move to Tampa and live in the nice apartments. Working in technology infrastructure with data center experience, my first thought is to build a data center. It’s Florida with heat and Hurricanes. I do not see the data center business model as advantageous. Companies in Florida should invest in bandwidth to a data center in Atlanta or another non-hurricane location. I can’t start a telco provider at this point. I am interested to know what companies will be able to move to Tampa and help them fulfill this economic vitality. I do want them to be successful. I wish I could figure out a company to start to take advantage of the Tampa economic boom!
Overall I enjoyed visiting Tampa, walking around and glad that I saw it.