Chris and I traveled to Tampa/Clearwater Beach, FL for Memorial Day weekend, and although rain threatened our plans...it was still a great weekend. The weekend started early on Thursday (my birthday!) with dinner at El Azteca with friends and then a trip to a nearby pub for trivia - which, of course, we dominated. :)
Friday morning we made our way to Florida, and we fought rainstorms all the way there. Luckily, the sun came out as we rolled into Tampa, where we checked into a Hyatt downtown and met up with our good friends Andrea and Tony for Happy Hour and dinner at a place called The Lodge. They have delicious cheeseburger spring rolls and the waiter was kind enough to bring me a birthday shot! We also went to Ybor City (the nightlife district) for many adventures and to celebrate my birthday one day late.
Rainstorms on I-75. 
Not sure about the pineapple upside down cake shot...
During our Tampa travels, we also found it's good to have friends in high places. Places like the director of children's camps for the Lowry Park Zoo. Andrea took us on a behind the scenes tour on Saturday - we got to feed the monkeys, watched her wrangle a hissing alligator out of its cage, got up close and personal with a porcupine, fed the stingrays, and also got to be the special guest feeders at the 3:30 alligator feeding (they eat chicken and unnamed chunks of meat...). We also had plans to feed the giraffes and get up and close with the chimpanzees before pouring rain thwarted our plans.
Chris feeding the stingrays.
Andrea convincing Tony to pet the hissing alligator.After the zoo, we made the half-hour trek to Clearwater Beach to check into our hotel on the beach. While our "three-star" Hotwire hotel left a lot to be desired* and we'll be booking directly from now on, we still managed to snag a hotel directly on the beach. We showered, enjoyed a frosty beer in our hotel room, walked to a pizza place across the street, and returned to the hotel room for more beverages on our balcony.
No rain on Sunday (which was heavily forecast) meant...BEACH DAY! We loaded up the cooler, met up again with the amazing Andrea and Tony (Tondrea? Anny? What's the proper Brangelina name?) and parked ourselves on the beach for the rest of the day, followed by a trip to a favorite restaurant, Crabby Bill's. Try the crabcake sandwich and a cold "crab trap." :)
On the beach outside the hotel.
We sadly loaded up the car and arrived in Atlanta around 6pm on Monday. Chris and I both have a day of work under our belts for this week, and are already craving the weekend. It's going to be a long week - Chris is going through some big changes with his job, and I've just got a lot on my plate at work. We're looking forward to a BBQ at the Bradley house on Saturday and a day of painting on Sunday - but Chris doesn't know that yet. ;)
*We used Hotwire to book a room at a hotel that claimed to be a three-star, but was easily a two-star at best. Funky smells - no, stenches - in the hallway, scary and almost broken elevators, a plugged up tub, a room with three tables and florescent lighting was called a "restaurant," broken ice machines. We were also charged a $12 resort fee per day that covered internet that didn't work, parking that wasn't guaranteed, and beach towels that may or may not be there.
A friend who works in the hotel industry tried to warn us that Hotwire is a scam, but we had already booked. He advises using Travelocity (which shows the hotel before buying, compared to Hotwire, which will only tell you the name of the hotel after buying) and then comparing that price to the hotel's direct booking site. Just a little helpful information!
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