Saturday:We hit the road around 9:30am. Nothing really exciting happened during the trip. We did learn that Florida does have a lot of interesting smells. As we hit southern Georgia/Northern Florida we smelled nothing but smoke. Heavy smoke. It was really interesting how most of the wildfires are out yet the smell really lingers. Don't know how people can live in those towns. We also got to experience the smell of swamp, more burnt wood, as well as a few others.
Took us 7 hours to get to Tampa. Stayed at a Double Tree hotel and the room was really nice. We had a balcony and a view of the pool and hot tub. As we got off the highway we learned that our dinner reservations were for the place right next to the hotel. Buck left the door to the balcony open and all you could smell was burning cedar and meat.
We went to
Champps Restaurant & Bar to watch the Redskins/
Seahawks game. There were a bunch of Giants fans at the bar and a Let's Go Giants chant started up a few times. The Tampa residents would follow it up with a Tampa Bay retort. One side would do Tampa, the other side would do Bay. Very cheesy.
Got back to the hotel and changed for dinner. Dinner was at Charley's Steakhouse. Buck and I both agree that the steaks we had could have possibly been the best we have ever had. Top 2 for me. Number 1 being Morton's in Boston.
I had an awesome
Ahi Tuna
Sashimi appetizer. The only knock on the place for me was there was a bunch of added on stuff from the waiter. I ordered a Porterhouse and it came Oscar style which was an extra 20 bucks. Instead of complaining I ate it and paid for it. If you are gonna be in Tampa this is the place to go for steak.
Back to the hotel room to digest and watch the end of the
Steelers/Jags game. After the game we went out to check out some of the Tampa nightlife. Buck ran out of cash and every ATM we tried to hit was either broken or wouldn't take his card.
Sunday:Woke up at 9:30am after getting in around 3 the night before. Found a
Publix and got some lunch and tailgating food.
We had a map from the hotel and finding Raymond James Stadium was really easy. The hotel was only 3 miles away. Across the street from Raymond James is the Yankees Tampa facility which was cool to see.
Paid 25 bucks to park in a field behind another Yankees training facility. Broke out the tailgating chairs, blasted God Street Wine's $1.99 Romances, and soaked up the sun. We brought
Sweetwater 420 with us from Atlanta so that was our beer of choice. Lots of Giants fans all over the place. High fives everywhere as Buck and I had our Giants jerseys on.
Walked up to the stadium and headed right to our seats. By the time we got up there we realized we should have walked around and checked out the pirate ship. Our seats were on the visitor's sideline, on the 20 yard line, and the last row in the stadium. The view was great and the stadium was really nice and clean. The sun was on the left of us the whole game and
beated down on us the whole game. It was 80 degrees and beautiful out. We both came home with a
rockin' sun burn on our faces.
Our section was full of Giants fans. Our whole row had them and the section to the left of us was filled with Giants fans as well. We had the Let's Go Giants and Defense chant going. The
Bucs fans had nothing in return. They did that stupid Tampa Bay chant once. Strange thing was after the game they were really nice and shaking our hands. Giving us the good job and good luck against Dallas.
Every fan got a flag to wave and by the end of the game the Giants fans in our sections were waving them, ripping them up, and blowing their noses with them. If the Giants lost we would have told them to go F themselves.
After a disappointing first quarter the Giants dominated the rest of the game and won 24-14.
We left as soon as the game was over and headed for the car. Getting out of the parking lot didn't take that long at all but the streets were bumper to bumper around the stadium. Took us about 30 minutes to get to the highway and we were on our way back to Atlanta.
Took us 6 hours to get back and we were at Buck's place by 11pm. I was back to work at 5:30am on Monday morning.
We were in Tampa for less than 24 hours but it felt like 3 days. We got so much done and it didn't feel rushed at all. Great weekend and a great Christmas present from Buck.
Patio set.
Bush in front yard.
More bushes. 
Shannon with snow in her hair. 
Shannon wanted to play with her sandbox. 
