At the last minute my daughter decided to attend Gasparilla and I went with her. From Wiki for those of you who've never heard of this event:

While I've been to Disney numerous times since we moved down here, I haven't seen a CITY in more than 4 years. Tampa was a real novelty.




We parked in a place called Ybor (Ebor) City. Actually we ended up parking in the police station parking lot after getting some info from one of the officers. He told us we were welcome to use their lot. We figured the car would be pretty safe there. Ybor City sort of has the reputation of Boston's combat zone. At least that's the feeling I've gotten from all the news reports about the crime rate we're always hearing about. However, it's a pretty place with lots of nightlife.

The mode of transportation from Ybor to Tampa is trolleys. I haven't been on a trolley since I left Boston and the ones up there are not as pleasing to the eyes as the one I rode yesterday.



Just before we left a guy got on the trolley and sat next to me. He looked exactly like Jack Sparrow. I wish I'd taken a photo. The ride took about 15 minutes. There were numerous stops and lots of traffic. When we got into Tampa, the parade was just about over. Getting there late we were quite a ways back in the mob that was watching it. The main attraction are the beads that the pirates throw from the floats. There were some people who had so many I was surprised they could stand up.







My daughter managed to grab a couple of beads but I was still beadless. We headed towards Channelside, an area of restaurants, clubs and shops and on the way talked to a woman who was in total wench gear. She took pity on me and gave me some beads.

We only saw 1 minor fight and considering the amount of alcohol being consumed, that was pretty amazing. To top it off, it was a young woman who was ticked off about her boyfriend doing something.

We had supper at a place called New York Precinct Pizza or something like that. I had an eggplant sub and it was really good and then we wandered around that area. We saw this guy making some really nice pictures.



And this restaurant

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Then we decided to try and find the pirate ship.









Ahh, it was so nice down at the water.



It was quiet, very few pirates and then helicopters seemed to come falling out of the sky.



These things were low and loud and I wasn't sure what was going on until I looked across the river and saw this.



I have no idea why this was there but, being from Massachusetts, I felt it was photo worthy.



We had been looking for some sort of street festival but we never found it so we decided to leave. The end of the trolley line was right in that area but the line for the trolleys was about a mile long! So we started to walk. We ended back at Channelside and there were some people up on the roof of a building. They were throwing beads to the crowd but only if you exposed yourself. Beads for Boobies!! They wanted me to show them my girls. I said, Sweetie, you really don't want to see these. Despite my good humor, they wouldn't share their beads with me. Brats!

Lousy photo but, as you can see, everyone gets into the spirit.



Well we followed the track and still hadn't seen a trolley go by in a good 20 minutes. Then my daughter heard that the whole system was down. We passed one station where there were lots of people waiting and decided that walking was better than just standing still. When we got to the next station, I asked a couple how long they'd been waiting there and they said over an hour!!

Then a miracle... a trolley showed up and we were able to get on. We had already walked at least a couple of miles. Thank goodness we didn't try to make it all the way back to the car because the ride back seemed to go on for ever. Actually the trolley ride was the best part of the day. People were singing and telling jokes... it was really a fun time.

We finally got back to the car and were home here by 8 p.m. Tampa really needs to get a clue about how to run a big event. They estimated there were 350,000 people. We saw 6 port-a-potties. We saw almost no police. The trolley system was miserable and on the news last night they said the bus system getting people back to their cars was worse.

Boston on the 4th of July has it down to a science. When there's a half million people and you make it from Cambridge to Braintree in less than 2 hours, that efficiency.

It was fun but I don't know that I'd do it again. With the amount of drinking, I was surprised to hear they'd only arrested about 80 people.

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I LOVE your picture stories.....thanks for sharing!

I live close to Tampa, never been to Gasparilla, but now I feel like I have!

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Thanks. ~Susan

Please email me at.... snschapin@yahoo.com

Do not value the things you have in your life,
but value who you have in your life!

Looks like you had a great time! Sounds a little like Mardi Gras.

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Mary

We only did the children's Gasparilla Parade this year. Same stuff, floats, beads (we got over 100 strands of beads) fireworks, airplane stunts, etc. It's great. I think even better than the adult parade at night as we didn't have any drunks, mishaps, etc. around (they had a lot at the night parade per the news) and we got to enjoy it with our kiddos.

I highly recommend the afternoon one vs the night one...unless you are still into the college night life scene.

There is a kid's Gasparilla Too Good For Drugs Race coming up on 02/21/09 over in Tampa and if you register on-line it is free. It is for ages 2-10 and we always have a blast... and for free you can't beat that!

Glad you got to enjoy Gasparilla. Ybor city is a great and fun place. If you like Spanish food I highly recommend the Collenade. (sp?) It is Great!

- Jennefier