Kari has never been shy about her love of Florida and the Tampa Bay region in particular. She spends a\u00a0lot of time and energy in building programs, supporting organizations, and contributing to causes that\u00a0make Tampa Bay great. [CL – Including importing Crawford to the region! Heh.]<\/p>\n
These are some of Kari\u2019s picks for Things-To-Do around the Tampa Bay region if you find yourself wandering around before or after the wedding (if you’re wandering around during the wedding, well, call for help). She left out the no-brainers like Busch Gardens and even the 60-minute drive to hang out with The Mouse in Orlando.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Florida Governor Rick Scott resembles Voldemort on a good day and Skeletor on a bad\u00a0day, and he vetoed an initiative for light rail in the region. As a result, you\u2019ll want to rent a car to see all\u00a0of these attractions. Sorry our governor is a jerk.<\/p>\n
Clearwater<\/strong><\/p>\n You could probably spend a whole day people watching at the Scientology Celebrity It happens folks.<\/p>\n Beaches<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019re in the heart of the prettiest beaches in the world. Seriously. [That was Kari. Crawford would like to put in a good word for South Carolina’s fine sandy parts, but I expect that will cause snickering and snuffling from the Florida crowd. Whatever, Yankees.]<\/p>\n Different beach communities, each with their own personality, run up the coast of Pinellas County.\u00a0From Fort De Soto<\/a> on the southern tip to\u00a0Honeymoon Island<\/a> to the north,\u00a0you\u2019ll find a beach vibe to suit your needs. If you\u2019re staying near The Cedar House \u2013 you\u2019ll want to\u00a0consider the Clearwater Beaches<\/a>\u00a0as they are\u00a0the closest. Check out a sunset at Pier 60<\/a>\u00a0or take the ferry<\/a>\u00a0to Caladesi Island<\/a>,\u00a0named #1\u00a0Beach in 2008 by Dr. Beach.<\/p>\n Yes there is somebody named Dr. Beach. Let it go, you\u2019re in the Tropics.\u00a0[This is Crawford again: Weird doesn’t even begin to describe it. We don’t have Dr. Mountains up in the hilly bits. Low land people are odd. I think it’s the heat.]<\/p>\n Pirates<\/strong><\/p>\n Tampa Bay has a real fetish for pirates. Whether it be Gasparilla<\/a>\u00a0(which you are always welcome to come visit us and experience) or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>, you can\u2019t live in Tampa too terribly long before you find yourself\u00a0shopping for just the right poofy shirt (get ready Crawford) [ahem…<\/a>]. If you want to have a really good time,\u00a0and be a pirate for a day \u2013 head over to Clearwater Beach and sign up for a Pirate Cruise<\/a>. This great fun for kids and adults. The crew is hilarious, they shoot cannons\u00a0off the ship, and you get to make \u201cbooty\u201d jokes the whole time. How can you go wrong?<\/p>\n Beer<\/strong><\/p>\n Who\u2019s a beer snob? Yay! It just so happens that Team Goetz is full of beer snobs and as a result you can\u00a0usually find us at The Independent<\/a>\u00a0getting overly excited about\u00a0stouts and saisons. You have some great brewery options (with tours!) nearby.<\/p>\n The Dunedin Brewery<\/a><\/p>\n Saint Somewhere Brewery<\/a><\/p>\n Cigar City Brewery<\/a><\/p>\n Yuengling Brewery<\/a><\/p>\n Winter the Dolphin<\/strong><\/p>\n Not gonna lie \u2013 the movie<\/a> made Kari cry. If you want to\u00a0meet the dolphin who inspired the movie Dolphin Tale \u2013 you\u2019re less than 10 minutes away. Head to the\u00a0Clearwater Marine Aquarium<\/a> and learn about all the amazing work being\u00a0done to rehabilitate animals like Winter.<\/p>\n The Big Cat Rescue<\/strong><\/p>\n Prefer kitties over fishies? Then make the time to drive over to Big Cat Rescue<\/a>\u00a0in Tampa. It is the largest big cat sanctuary in the country. Well worth the drive.<\/p>\n Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n You want to get yo\u2019 culture on? Yeah. We got that. We got culture. Sure. Here you go, here\u2019s some real\u00a0nice culture:<\/p>\n The Dali Museum<\/a><\/p>\n Museum of Fine Arts<\/a><\/p>\n Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center<\/a><\/p>\n Florida Holocaust Museum<\/a><\/p>\n Tampa Bay History Center<\/a><\/p>\n Tampa Museum of Art<\/a><\/p>\n Glazer Children\u2019s Museum<\/a><\/p>\n Museum of Science and Industry<\/a><\/p>\n Baseball<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019ve read about it, you\u2019ve made fun of it, you\u2019ve wonder what in the world they were thinking \u2013 now\u00a0see it for yourself \u2013 Tropicana Field and the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>! April 19 they take on the Athletics at home at\u00a07:15. Come see the \u201cmagic\u201d that is the Trop. Maybe a ball will hit a beam and bounce back into play\u2026\u00a0that\u2019s always a good time\u2026<\/p>\n Hockey<\/strong><\/p>\n Yay! There’s hockey again! That was a close one! With a shortened season, there are fewer games to take advantage of, but the Tampa Bay Lightning\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0play at the Tampa Bay Times Forum<\/a>\u00a0and on April 21 they take on the Carolina Hurricanes. I’m sure we could have a rivalry there if any of us cared. The best part of watching the Lightning are the Tesla coils <\/a>located in the Forum. \u00a0If you’re sitting in just the right spot – the hair standing up on your arm is included in the price of admission.<\/p>\n The Rest<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s just a snapshot of some of the things nearby for you to enjoy. There\u2019s even more to do if\u00a0you consider Legoland<\/a> in Lakeland, or The Ringling Museum<\/a>\u00a0in Sarasota. And if you really just want to go the The Magic Kingdom<\/a>\u00a0or Busch Gardens<\/a>, we\u00a0get it. We don\u2019t judge.<\/p>\n If you need other recommendations, let us know \u2013 Kari has plenty of friends at Visit St. Pete<\/a> Kari has never been shy about her love of Florida and the Tampa Bay region in particular. She spends a\u00a0lot of time and energy in building programs, supporting organizations, and contributing to causes that\u00a0make Tampa Bay great. [CL – Including importing Crawford to the region! Heh.] These are some of Kari\u2019s picks for Things-To-Do around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-76","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kariandcrawford.com\/events\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCenter. Please don\u2019t go in for a personality test. It seems like a good idea, it seems like it would be\u00a0funny, but the next thing you know your Theta is all challenged and you don\u2019t have any money. [CBL here: nice rhyme, honey.]<\/p>\n
\nClearwater<\/a>\u00a0and Tampa Bay and Company<\/a>\u00a0and she can help you find the perfect adventure to complement our\u00a0adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"