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Mini Vacation Roundup
By Woopop | April 20, 2010 2:44 pm
We’ve returned from our long weekend mini-vacation down in Tampa for Dave and Michaela’s wedding, and we had a blast! We left Friday morning, arriving in Tampa around 10:45, and since it was so close, we took a quick spin over to the St. Pete Times Forum, which is the home of the Lightning. Obviously, we couldn’t see the rink, but we poked into the team store and wandered around the outside of the building for a bit.
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We then began our half-hour drive to Palm Harbor. Since we were on vacation, we made it a point over the weekend to try to find meals at “local” places, not at chains. Lunch found us at a fun little Mexican place called Aunt Chilada’s Cantina, which was fairly close to our destination. Very tasty taco bar! Just a shade up the road was our goal, the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club, which is where the wedding would take place, and not coincidentally, where we’d be staying. We checked in and made our way to our suite in the Killarney building, which was a stone’s throw from one of the clubhouses and the centrally-located Loch Ness pool. We made our way down to said pool, met up with some other wedding people, and relaxed. Tiff and I then ran to the supermarket for a couple things, but more importantly foraged for dinner, when by accident we found a microbrewery/restaurant called the Lager Haus. Jackpot! Tiff got their Old Porch Dog (Hoppy Ale), and I tried their Fischer Dunkelweizen (dark wheat). Both were excellent! The beer & cheese bratwurst hoagie I got was fantastic as well.
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Okay, enough about the food for now! We got back to the resort, and headed to the Osprey clubhouse for a couple pops and to watch Dave’s friend Ben play acoustically at the bar. As the night wore on, more and more wedding attendees filtered in, many of whom we’re friends with, so we had quite the party going. Nothing more noteworthy, however, than the one slightly older woman who began dancing in front of Ben. To say this lady was a cougar is the understatement of the century. More like *textbook definition*. Leopard print dress, bleached blond hair, the whole nine yards. Just, wow. So needless to say, Ben wasn’t the only entertainment that night! Certainly a good time had by all, and we retired a bit early so we could get at it Saturday.
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Tiff hung out with Michaela and some of the other girls Saturday morning, so I had a little time to go exploring around the area. Thank God for the rental car! We got back together after the girls’ manicure session, I met up with Ben to give him some tunes for the reception (he was also playing DJ!), and Tiff and I set sail for our lunch date. Off the beaten path just a bit, we got some real seafood at Molly Goodhead’s Raw Bar in nearby Ozona. The place had a very cool vibe, much like a Dino BBQ or Sticky Lips type feel and decor. The food was good too, my fried Grouper sandwich was yummy, and Tiff was all about her crabcakes. We got there just before the bikers did, as the place was a stop for a charity poker run! One of guys running the stop remarked on my Sabres shirt and subsequently mentioned he was 15 years removed from Rochester! We’re everywhere, apparently!
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We got back to the resort, and prepped for the wedding and reception by lounging around the pool again! Best part of it? Watching the Sabres game from the tiki hut, right by the pool! (Not so good that they lost, but the venue couldn’t be beat!) A little hot tub, a little water slide, a little sun, and we were ready to go for the wedding!
And what a wedding it was. A beautiful ceremony just off the 10th hole of the Island Course (did I mention Dave and Michaela are avid golfers?!) saw the happy couple tie the knot (of which I took no pictures. Booooo.). The reception took place outside, behind the Island clubhouse, around the pool. An awesome setting, with awesome people. And awesome food, naturally. (The pasta station was To. Die. For. That good.) Ben kept the party rockin’ all night, some of the families’ little nephews cut a rug on the dance floor, a couple eager guests jumped into the pool a little later on, and yours truly even tossed off a Jump Around at the behest of the newlyweds! We had a blast at the reception, gave Dave and Michaela the first tram back to their place while a bunch of us hoofed it across the resort back to the other clubhouse for a nightcap. Good times.
Sunday was a lazy morning, and quite the wet one. The rain held off for us Friday and Saturday, but Sunday was quite rainy. Back to the clubhouse for breakfast brunch, where we ended up eating with Dave, Michaela, and Dave’s brother Chuck with his wife Amy. Very nice to see them one more time before they departed for their honeymoon! Tiff and I packed up, checked out, and rolled down the road a bit to the mall to kill some time, as our flight wasn’t until 8pm. Had to go all the way to Tampa to find a mall with an ice rink in it! We actually came back to the resort and hung out with TK and the crew for a bit before we made an excursion to Tarpon Springs. Tarpon is apparently the sponge capital of Florida, if not the world, and are known for their sponge docks. We visited the Tarpon Springs Aquarium, where we caught a couple of the little shows, watched one of the girl helpers feed an alligator (and almost fed it her hand!), and fed some Rays ourselves. Since the population is almost exclusively Greek, there’s a ton of Greek bakeries and restaurants in the area. We stopped into Hella’s Bakery and enjoyed some “dessert”. Walked around a little more, saw some of the shops, and said goodbye to the rest of the crew. We ventured back to the resort one last time to pick up Maggie, headed to the airport, dropped off the car, and flew home.
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A fun-filled weekend for sure, spent with good friends, and a wedding to boot! Dave and Michaela put on a fine party for us, and here’s to a long and happy marriage to the both of them!
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