Ballast Point Park ~ Tampa, Florida

Ballast Point Park is a located on Tampa Bay (featuring awesome views of downtown Tampa and the Port of Tampa), down the street from Bayshore Boulevard, one of the most picturesque points in Tampa.

click photo for enlarged view

The park dates back to Tampa's earliest days, originally named Jules Verne Park.  The Hillsborough County Historical Commission placed a historical marker at the park which reads:

"Formerly Jules Verne Park . . .

Mrs. Chester W. Chapin, controlling owner of the company which operated the city's first electric trolley cars, purchased these acres and in 1894 developed this site into a tropical park as a terminal for her line.  

She named it for the French writer Jules Verne (1814-1905) who in his famous novel "From the Earth to the Moon" first published in 1865, chose Tampa town as his launching site for the imaginary shot of his rocket to that planet near one hundred years ago."

The park features a lovely fishing pier that brought back so many memories of my childhood.  As we ventured down the pier today, flashbacks of fishing with my dad came to mind.  The one memory that stands out are the ugly blowfish that were often caught off that pier.  They really freaked me out as a child!

click photos for enlarged views

As a dating teenager, the pier was a fun spot to enjoy a relaxing evening after having dinner out.  That pier has been a fun spot for me as I became an adult, looking for a frugal way to spend a very enjoyable evening, either fishing or merely walking the pier watching others fish.  There is something about fishing piers at night that fascinate me in the simple way of just enjoying one of nature's gifts . . . the sounds, the sights, the smells.  It is an awesome way to spend an evening!

click photo for enlarged view

We passed by the familiar picnic pavillions and I could almost feel the happy childhood excitement and wind on my face as I ran around and played with my cousins and second cousins.  Family picnics back in the day meant the whole family got together . . . such happy memories just walking around that park!

Each sheltered picnic pavillion includes a grill, lots of picnic tables in shady surroundings that includes a children's playground. 

The tree-lined walkways along the water are popular among joggers, walkers and rollerbladers with quick access to Bayshore Blvd.

Some views of Bayshore Blvd., downtown Tampa and Port of Tampa from the Ballast Point Pier:

click photos to enlarge views

It was one of those overcast days in Florida . . . hit and miss showers all over town.  Notice the difference in cloud formations . . . watching the sky fascinates me!


Ballast Point Park is an awesome place to spend the day picnicing with family, relaxing on a park bench enjoying the Florida sunshine, fishing on the pier or just passing the day or evening watching others fish . . . there is also a restaurant on the grounds (have no idea what the food is like).


Check it out if you find yourself in Tampa and just want to enjoy a little relaxation with spectacular surroundings . . .

Discover Tampa through our eyes!

The Captain and I have been all around Tampa for one reason or another.  Since we recently got married, there have been so many IDs to get, change, update which have taken us from one part of town to the other . . . numerous times.  It gave us the idea of doing blog posts featuring the diversity of Tampa, what makes it so special and why I would not live anywhere else in the world.

Today we went off just for fun.  MacDill Air Force Base was having a Veterans' Appreciation Day, so we started our day off with an awesome brunch at the dining room usually designated for active military only.  WOW I was impressed with the quality of food and the great service we received.  After doing some shopping and checking out all the various veterans association booths (did I mention that I love being a military wife?), we decided to continue our adventure and forget about going straight home.

Our first stop was Ballast Point, which is located on Tampa Bay . . . down the street from the base and across the bay from downtown and the Port of Tampa.  We checked out their lovely pier and relaxed at the picnic area, enjoying a beautiful Florida day, taking lots of photos along the way.

Ballast Point is off of Bayshore Boulevard, which runs along Tampa Bay, leading to Downtown Tampa.  I kept clicking photos throughout the drive all the way through downtown.  It was at that point we decided to make it a dedicated photo taking day.  We took some awesome and unusual shots of gorgeous buildings surrounding downtown, ending up in Historic Ybor City, which is where we finally landed, parked the van and headed out to our adventure.

My roots are in Ybor City and the changes made through the years have made me so proud of my latina heritage which lies in the historic district.  

The highlight of our day was a ride on the streetcar from Ybor City, back towards downtown to Channelside, home of The Florida Aquarium, the Tampa Bay Lightning (St. Pete Forum), cruise ship terminals, dining ships that include a tour of Tampa Bay and the quaint shops and restaurants of the artsy Channelside district itself.

The new ultra-modern condos that have gone up and still going up around Channelside and downtown are each unique with gorgeous architecture and landscaping . . . quite the contrast a streetcar ride away from the historic Ybor City architecture that takes you back to another time, very reminiscent of Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

We had a blast . . . but the bad news is soon after jumping on the streetcar to begin our journey to Channelside, the camera batteries died.  Major bummer . . . we are planning on going back tomorrow, weather permitting, to take even more photos of Ybor City and finally take some photos at Channelside.

It is awesome to show The Captain around his new home and share my roots with him.

I'll take each section of town as a blog post with lots of photos to share my city with all of you, along with a little history and some "back in the day" memories.

Can't wait to continue our adventure tomorrow!

UPDATE  :(  

IT IS TOMORROW AND AN UGLY

RAINY DAY IN TAMPA!

NOT A GOOD DAY FOR PHOTOS

. . . maybe next weekend?

Fort Desoto Park ~ St. Petersburg, Florida

The Captain and I recently spent a beautiful and sunny Florida day on the white sandy gulf beach at Fort Desoto Park in St. Petersburg, Florida.

We couldn't have picked a better day . . . no rain, no storms . . . very unusual for this time of year.  There is nothing like sunning on the beach and cooling off in the warm, salty and refreshing Gulf of Mexico.

Our day started very early in the morning . . . we arrived as the sun came up . . . daybreak on the Gulf of Mexico beaches is awesome!

The park offers great diversity with a wealth of bird life, sea life, wild life and plant life.  We just visited the beach, but the park also includes two fishing piers, campgrounds, the historial forts, museum, boating and so much more.

Although it has been many years, it was one of my favorite places to go camping, where you can encounter cute raccoons that are very adept at stealing food, hiking or biking through the trails or fishing from your camp site.  An awesome place to go camping, if that is your thing.

  

The park consists of 1,136 acres of protected islands . . . home to beach plants, mangroves, wetlands, palm hammocks, hardwoods and native plants.  It is the one place in this area that I imagine is as it was when the Spanish explorers first discovered its vast beauty.

The park's natural ecosystems provides a home to more than 290 documented species of birds and the beaches provide refuge to the loggerhead sea turtle as they nest between April and September.

  

Fort De Soto's three miles of white sandy beaches was named America’s Top Beach for 2009 by Trip Advisor, the world's largest online travel community. In 2005, “Dr. Beach,” named Fort De Soto the nation’s #1 Beach.

Here are some photos we took . . .

Click here for the official website of Fort Desoto Park.

We plan on visiting again very soon to check

 out other amenities the park provides . . . 

hopefully for a couple days of camping and fishing!

This post has been linked up with the

following blog hop/meme . . .

Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens

Although we had every intention to make it to Busch Gardens for the opening of the new ride Cheetah Hunt, between Florida thunderstorms and life, we didn't make it until the other day.  We got there in the very late afternoon and it got too dark to continue taking photos, so there wasn't enough time to explore the new section to go with the ride.  

Hopefully we will return next week . . . 

but in the meantime, here is a peak at the new ride . . .

The landscaping at the base of this section

 of the ride is gorgeously tropical!

A photo from our last visit . . . the landscapers 

busily preparing the grounds for the opening

of the new Cheetah Hunt section.

What a difference a few weeks makes!

One of our favorite spots to chill out.

I love this water feature!

The Magic of Walt Disney World

There is no other place in the world that I love more than Walt Disney World in Orlando.  It is truly magical.

The photo is from the early days of Walt Disney World.  Notice I am wearing bell bottom pants . . . what does that tell you about how long ago that was?  I was there the first week the park opened and continued to visit at least a couple of times a year.  My husband and I were annual passholders and visited at least once a month, sometimes a couple times a month.  We were there for the opening day of Epcot Center.  

So many memories lie in the magic of Walt Disney World.

Since I became a widow almost 9 years ago, I have not returned.  That will soon change as I have moved on with my life and I know that new memories of Walt Disney World with The Captain will be equally as awesome and magical.  I can't wait to show him all my favorite places at the various parks and resorts.

What I've decided to do is feature Vintage Walt Disney World in future blog posts.  I have numerous photo albums going back through time and VHS video that I would love to convert to CD so I can share rides that don't exist anymore and construction of new rides and resorts as they were going up.  The parks and resorts are constantly evolving, but I'd love to feature the many changes and take a trip back in time to earlier days through my memories, photos and video.

The backdrop of this photo are the gardens at the Polynesian Hotel, one of the original monorail resorts that also features boat rides across the lagoon to the Magic Kingdom.  The lushly tropical lobby whose atmosphere is complete with waterfalls, awesome tropical landscaping and parrots remained one of the most beautiful places to hang out on the Disney property . . . in my opinion.  This is the only photo I have scanned into my computer at the moment, but I will definitely be featuring the Polynesian Hotel in a future post with much better photos and video.

The gardens at the Canadian pavillion at Epcot Center . . . one of my favorite spots to get away from the crowds to chill out and get a little rest.  Gorgeous!

Keep checking back for new posts as I dust off my photo albums, convert my videos and dig up some magical memories of Walt Disney World.

Adventures at Busch Gardens

The Captain and I went to Busch Gardens today, where they were busily working toward next Friday's opening of their newest attraction, Cheetah Hunt.  It is unbelievable how fast these projects progress.  We last visited a few months ago and couldn't believe it is almost ready to open.

It was a hot and humid day in Central Florida where we kept going back to take a break around the Sheikra attraction where you can get wet just by being close to the water portion of the ride.  The little kids hanging out and getting drenched over and over again were so entertaining.

It was fun to hang out in "Stanleyville" today.  We really enjoyed our lunch at the Zambia Smokehouse where we were served a huge portion of pork ribs and french fries . . . well worth the $12.49 they charge for the platter.  We decided to eat outdoors so we could take in the sights and sounds of Stanleyville, goof on the people around us and be amused by the birds who would descend on the area after a table was cleared.  It is pretty cool that they stay away from the people who are still eating at the tables . . . at least they are polite :)

The disappointment of the day is when the camera batteries died and we had to stop taking photos.

Here are some photos we took of Cheetah Hunt . . . I'm working on a new video of today's visit.  We took lots of landscape photos and The Captain got some awesome shots of turtles riding on the back of the gators.  

The landscapers were putting the finishing touches at the base of the new ride.

Looking up from the base of one section of the ride.

More views of the ride, which stretches through a large part of the park.

Click here for my blog post on the introduction of Cheetah Hunt which includes videos from Busch Gardens.  

We are tentatively planning to be there for the opening of the new attraction and will take lots of photos of the completed ride.

What an awesome and beautiful day!

My home town . . . Tampa

Tampa is such a cool place to live with so much to do and see.

It is where I have lived most of my life . . . it is home!

Rather than write another post, I thought I would post videos

that I have gathered from YouTube to show Tampa from

the perspective of others.

A tourist's video view of Tampa

 

 Visit Tampa/St Petersburg video

 


Destination . . . Tampa Bay

 

 Travel Guide - Tampa Bay

 

 Tampa Bay, The Movie ~ History in Tampa
 

Tampa Video and Audio Tour
 

Space Shuttle Program 30th Anniversary @ Kennedy Space Center

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, located on the east coast of Florida in the Orlando area, marked the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle program this week. NASA officials and astronauts featured the accomplishments of the shuttle fleet and Kennedy Space Center workers.  A shuttle-themed cake was presented by Buddy Valastro, a baker featured on the Food Network's “Cake Boss.”  

NASA's launch headquarters is the only place on Earth where you can tour launch areas, meet a veteran astronaut, see giant rockets, train in spaceflight simulators, and even view a launch.  The following is an excerpt from the Kennedy Space Center website, detailing a typical tour . . .

"Your exploration starts with one of our world-renowned tours, where you depart Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to see NASA’s awesome facilities, including the massive launch pads, gigantic Vehicle Assembly Building, and the awe-inspiring Apollo/Saturn V Center.

There is so much to do at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex – from live-action theatrical shows like “Star Trek Live,” to the Astronaut Encounter where you can meet a veteran NASA Astronaut. During your Kennedy Space Center tour, you’ll see 10-story-high rockets from all eras of space exploration in the Rocket Garden, walk through a full-size Space Shuttle mock-up, see IMAX^® space films on gigantic five-story screens, and see an actual Gemini program capsule on display in the Early Space Exploration exhibit."

For information on Kennedy Space Center events, click here or call 877-313-2610.

Nature's Fury

March is usually a pleasant and dry month in Central Florida, sometimes too dry, but it is a beautiful, peaceful time before the tropical weather interrupts every afternoon with thunder, dangerous lightning and torrential rain.

It started yesterday with an all day storm that was welcomed after so much dry weather.  I even commented on my personal blog how I love those rainy days as long as I don't have to get out in it and the joy of hearing the rain hitting the awnings on the windows, making it so inviting to sleep the day away and catch up for all those late nights with no sleep.

Sightings of a funnel clouds and resulting tornadoes began early this morning and didn't end until early evening, pounding the area with heavy rain and hail escorted by torrential winds that did widespread damage in Central Florida.  The neighborhood is littered with fallen limbs, but thankfully no serious damage.  

We personally spent most of the day with no electricity or running water that is generated by an electrical pump.  It is the price we pay for living in paradise . . . the seasonal storms that result in electrical outages. 

The rest of spring will hopefully be normal for this time of year with low humidity and comfortable temperatures . . . today was just a preview to prepare us for the upcoming summer rainy season.

  

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention dodging tropical storms and hurricanes in between the daily storms . . . that is a normal summer in Central Florida.

It doesn't matter where you live . . . we all get a taste of nature's fury.

How does nature's fury affect you

 in your part of the world?