Tampa Trip Day 1 – HealthCampFLA

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My Heart & I jetted off to Tampa for HealthCampFla (Saturday, July 30).
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I looked out and thought the clouds looked like someone had dropped cotton balls – they were just so odd because they were little singular “puffs” of clouds.
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I Loved that I was able to catch the plane’s shadow on a cloud… and then we were Here!

 

 

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“Home Sweet…” Hotel room – not bad at all !  There were tattoo parlors… and…

 

 

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Cigar shops all around the area we were in – Ybor City.  I Loved this balcony over a shop

 

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It was an interesting little city

 

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So we stopped in a shop and, while wandering around, asked the shop person where we should go eat lunch.  He recommended the Columbia – open in that location since 1905.  Now it is an entire city block – has 19 dining rooms and can hold 1,700 people. The room we were in had great light and was just lovely!

 

 

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Seemed like the perfect place to enjoy a Sangria.  The man in the shop also told us to have the “1905 salad” and he was totally right – it was delicious.  A mix of ice berg lettuce, julienned ham & swiss cheese, olives, tomatoes with a lovely garlicy vinaigrette.

 

 

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My lunch was the chicken with yellow rice… very traditional and delicious.  My Heart had these amazing cannelloni – handmade cannelloni with “Maine lobster, shrimp, scallops & sauteed shallots blended with a lobster sherry cream reduction, smothers with a lobster sherry mornay cheese sauce”… YUM!

 

 

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One of the dining rooms – I Love the doors!

 

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After our meeting at KForce with the HealthCampFla organizers – off to dinner at the Acropolis Greek Taverna

 

 

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There was live Greek musicians playing and periodically the Waitstaff would DANCE through the room then the waiters would yell OPA and throw cocktail napkins into the air (this is a good time to protect your food!) – which explains the napkins on the fans, light fixtures, rafters, etc!

 

 

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A pint for my Heart and one of the organizers generously shared his Sangria with me – Appetizer: grilled octopus (which was wonderful… I don’t remember eating that since I was a kid) and Tzaziki (some of the best I’ve ever had)

 

 

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My Heart had the Gyro salad and I had a shrimp salad that included candied walnuts, onions, goat cheese, with a mango dressing. Both were excellent!

 

 

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On the wander back to the car I noticed several of these poems in the sidewalk.  Day ended with a couple rum & Dr. Pepper in the hotel bar.  A great day – tomorrow HealthCampFla !

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