About once a month, JW and I have a date night, just to keep the magic alive. :D (JW side note 1: Being with me is magical). Usually it involves dinner and a movie, or a trip to the Florida Aquarium since we are members (JW side note 2: Playing with Penguins = AWESOME!). My favorite part of these dates is when we discover new areas in Tampa, since I’ve only been living here since January. We’ve been talking about driving up and down Bayshore Drive lately, so Saturday night after dinner we decided to finally see what it was all about. After finally finding our way to the road, which involved several shenanigans including JW driving the wrong way down a one-way-street (JW side note 3: I asked Brittany while I was turning if it was a one-way-street and mid-turn she tells me that it was. So, she has some blame too. Either way, we only got horned blasted for a few seconds), we finally made it to the historically beautiful drive with homes that look like THIS and THIS. Before Saturday night, my impression of Tampa had been based around the pretty sketchy Ybor City, which is crawling with homeless people and drunks. USF’s campus is a pretty, but is surrounded by ugly areas (like most schools) and the last two neighborhoods we have lived in have been surrounded by older/boring homes. Downtown, which I have been to only a few times, has some interesting architecture and things to do. BUT, never have I been so impressed with Tampa as I was when we drove Bayshore Drive. The north side of the street is lined with beautiful mansions and turning to the south you see the glittering Bay. It refreshed my view of Tampa.
-BG
