Exploring Tampa Florida... and Beyond

This episode concludes the cross country adventure for Sarah and I. We begin in San Antonio and travel to New Orleans where we spend some time exploring the French Quarter and taking a steamboat down the Mississippi River. We then continue on and complete our cross country journey, ending at Clearwater Beach, Florida. Also included: Houston sucks, REALLY long bridges, don’t swim in Lake Pontchartrain, staying alert in the French Quarter, kicking some British ass, don’t swim in the Mississippi either, be careful where you park in Tallahassee, and how all of that becomes an incredible time I will never forget.

We also close the show with a call to Sarah, one month later, to talk about Florida living and how she feels about the move.

The title pretty much says it all. Also discussed, a true divine intervention that may have saved our lives, a torrential downpour in Albuquerque, aliens in Roswell, the UFO Museum, a 750 foot elevator into an amazing, underground world, I CAN drive 85, spirits of the Alamo, wait staff that are forced to wear ratings on their aprons, and the incredible San Antonio Riverwalk.

In Part Two of our cross-country adventure, Sarah and I travel along Route 66, into The Grand Canyon and onward towards Roswell, New Mexico. Also discussed, the man who should have bought a lottery ticket, how I got lost and couldn’t find the Grand Canyon even though I was only steps away, elusive deer, men who hate Chipotle, men who hate the Grand Canyon, and the beautiful mood music of Paul Simon.

In Part One of our cross country road trip to Tampa, as we begin our journey, Sarah and I discuss how difficult it can be to make life changing decisions when you are forced to leave those you love behind. We then travel into Las Vegas, share some history and interesting information about the area, visit “Ghost Adventures” creator Zak Bagans’s Haunted Museum, catch a Criss Angel show, then move on towards the Hoover Dam.

In this episode, I tell the story of taking my daughter to Florida for the first time, to see if it was a place she might want to live. We walked on heavenly beaches in Clearwater, failed a Forest Gump quiz miserably in Daytona, drove through some neighborhoods that were awesome, and some that were not. We had a surprise meetup in Orlando, went on an alligator hunt in Myakka, flew through Pandora on a banshee, watched the perfect sunset in Venice, and found ourselves amidst a surprise drag show during an amazing lunch on Tampa Bay. Today I’m going to take you along for a recap of sorts, and share some stories while giving you some good information about the state and areas within it.

I just moved from California to the Tampa area about 6 weeks ago, and I LOVE this area.  It’s absolutely beautiful.  There is so much to do here, and so much to learn.  So, I can’t wait to begin to explore it, and I’d like to invite you along on that journey with me.

In this first episode, I am going to spend some time making some introductions to myself as well as my goals with this show. I’m also going to explain how I got here, why I chose Tampa over Hawaii, and what you can expect with the next shows going forward.

A huge thank you to Ricky Sylvia for allowing the usage of “The Florida Song” as this show’s theme song. Please check out the following links for more info related to Ricky and the song:

YouTube video for The Florida Song
Ricky Sylvia’s personal webpage
iTunes page for The Florida Song