Egmont Key is an island located south of Pinellas County, Florida, across from Ft. Desoto Park. The island is only accessible by boat and has only one resident; the Park Ranger.
At one time, the island was the location of Ft. Dade and at one time had a small military town located there. Today, all that remains of the town is the brick roads and concrete sidewalks. This makes for an eerie walk. The beaches around the island are pristine, with wild sea grass and natural dunes, which are getting more difficult to find elsewhere around the state. The island also has many many gopher tortoises, you will be sure to see one. The beaches are not nearly as crowded as the Ft. Desoto beaches. This place is a must for anyone visiting the Tampa Bay Area. This is how Florida once was.
There are no fees to enter the park, but unless you have a boat or a friend with one, you will need to take the ferry. The ferry is 20 dollars per person, and leaves from Ft. Desoto. Entrance to Ft. Desoto is free but there is a toll (less than a dollar) to drive down the road going to the park.
Definately check it out.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Sunday, April 05, 2009
The Tilted Kilt
Located on Dale Mabry in Tampa.
Jennifer and I frequently visit O'Brien's Irish Pub on Dale Mabry. We like the atmosphere, the drink selection, and the food is decent. Our only complaint is that they allow smoking, which in most cases is a mild nuisance, but at times, it can become overwhelming. So, when we found out that a new Irish Pub is opening on Dale Mabry, we were excited. Unfortunately, we were not impressed.
When we walked into the Pub, we were greeted by four women at the hostess station wearing short plaid skirts, a short white button up shirt with all but one or two buttons undone, and plaid bras. OK, so this is like the Irish Pub version of Hooters.
We took our seats and the server took our order. She made it difficult to talk to her face as she leaned forward over the table falling out of her shirt. The place has a very large bar, limericks written all around the room (which were very amusing), posters, signs, and other Irish paraphernalia hung around the room. All of the paraphernalia seemed unauthentic, a kind of a cheesy reproduction of what one would expect to find in an Irish Pub. The place seemed like a grotesque hybrid between Disney World and Hooters. They did have a huge selection of beers on tap and by the bottle.
So, what about the food?
Not worth the money. We frequently order the fish and chips at O'Brien's and decided to order it at the Tilted Kilt. We also ordered the chicken tenders as a backup, since you can't screw those up. The Fish and Chips looked like frozen fish sticks and fries from the grocery store. The pub ran out of tarter sauce and offered a replacement. We declined. The chicken was the standard heavily fried chicken tenders. We ordered a side of honey mustard and ranch for dipping. Not surprisingly, when we got the bill, they charged us for an extra side of ranch, despite the absence of tarter sauce. Oh well, we won't be eating here again.
So, if your looking for food, avoid this place. If you are looking for a bar, they have a large selection of drinks, but they are not cheap.
Jennifer and I frequently visit O'Brien's Irish Pub on Dale Mabry. We like the atmosphere, the drink selection, and the food is decent. Our only complaint is that they allow smoking, which in most cases is a mild nuisance, but at times, it can become overwhelming. So, when we found out that a new Irish Pub is opening on Dale Mabry, we were excited. Unfortunately, we were not impressed.
When we walked into the Pub, we were greeted by four women at the hostess station wearing short plaid skirts, a short white button up shirt with all but one or two buttons undone, and plaid bras. OK, so this is like the Irish Pub version of Hooters.
We took our seats and the server took our order. She made it difficult to talk to her face as she leaned forward over the table falling out of her shirt. The place has a very large bar, limericks written all around the room (which were very amusing), posters, signs, and other Irish paraphernalia hung around the room. All of the paraphernalia seemed unauthentic, a kind of a cheesy reproduction of what one would expect to find in an Irish Pub. The place seemed like a grotesque hybrid between Disney World and Hooters. They did have a huge selection of beers on tap and by the bottle.
So, what about the food?
Not worth the money. We frequently order the fish and chips at O'Brien's and decided to order it at the Tilted Kilt. We also ordered the chicken tenders as a backup, since you can't screw those up. The Fish and Chips looked like frozen fish sticks and fries from the grocery store. The pub ran out of tarter sauce and offered a replacement. We declined. The chicken was the standard heavily fried chicken tenders. We ordered a side of honey mustard and ranch for dipping. Not surprisingly, when we got the bill, they charged us for an extra side of ranch, despite the absence of tarter sauce. Oh well, we won't be eating here again.
So, if your looking for food, avoid this place. If you are looking for a bar, they have a large selection of drinks, but they are not cheap.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Continental Airlines - Tampa to Miami
I should start by stating that I prefer Southwest Airlines. They are what I consider the Gold Standard for airlines. They have friendly staff, reasonable pricing, and are easy to work with when changing flight times, destinations, etc. So, any other airline that I travel with has a high standard to meet.
On this particular trip, I was flying from Tampa to Miami to do some work that had to be done between 10pm on Sunday and 6am on Monday. Given the late hours and knowing that I would be traveling home extremely tired, I was looking for the quickest way into and out of Miami. I did not want to drive to Fort Lauderdale from Miami, while I was sleep deprived. So, Southwest was out of the question. Continental turned out to have the lowest fair.
The trip from Tampa was on a Beechcraft 1900. This is a very small passenger plane, with a capacity of 19 passengers. My first thought after sitting down on the flight was: Where is the cockpit door? It is so strange not to see these giant doors bolted shut at the front of the plane. While the crew was climbing into the cockpit, I inadvertently became nervous. I should start out by saying that I do not think that age is the primary determining factor, or even within the top three determining factors, on ability to operate an aircraft. But these guys were young. They could not have been more than 25 years old. They looked like they would be more in character operating a jet ski on spring break than a passenger plane. I could not help but feel a sense of envy towards and excitement for the two pilots. It was obvious that they were excited about flying and they felt like they were living their dream.
One great thing about an aircraft without bolted cockpit doors, is that you can watch the pilots and see the same view that the pilots have during the flight. The guys flying this plane were professionals. They were extremely focused on the task at hand and courteous, even if annoyingly excited, to the passengers when boarding and exiting.
Some small annoyances during the flight, which could be big annoyances if the flight were longer than the 1 hour gate-to-gate travel time, was the lack of a beverage service and the way the plane felt. Every slight bit of turbulence seemed exaggerated.
On this particular trip, I was flying from Tampa to Miami to do some work that had to be done between 10pm on Sunday and 6am on Monday. Given the late hours and knowing that I would be traveling home extremely tired, I was looking for the quickest way into and out of Miami. I did not want to drive to Fort Lauderdale from Miami, while I was sleep deprived. So, Southwest was out of the question. Continental turned out to have the lowest fair.
The trip from Tampa was on a Beechcraft 1900. This is a very small passenger plane, with a capacity of 19 passengers. My first thought after sitting down on the flight was: Where is the cockpit door? It is so strange not to see these giant doors bolted shut at the front of the plane. While the crew was climbing into the cockpit, I inadvertently became nervous. I should start out by saying that I do not think that age is the primary determining factor, or even within the top three determining factors, on ability to operate an aircraft. But these guys were young. They could not have been more than 25 years old. They looked like they would be more in character operating a jet ski on spring break than a passenger plane. I could not help but feel a sense of envy towards and excitement for the two pilots. It was obvious that they were excited about flying and they felt like they were living their dream.
One great thing about an aircraft without bolted cockpit doors, is that you can watch the pilots and see the same view that the pilots have during the flight. The guys flying this plane were professionals. They were extremely focused on the task at hand and courteous, even if annoyingly excited, to the passengers when boarding and exiting.
Some small annoyances during the flight, which could be big annoyances if the flight were longer than the 1 hour gate-to-gate travel time, was the lack of a beverage service and the way the plane felt. Every slight bit of turbulence seemed exaggerated.
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