Gasparilla Pirate Festival 10'

Compared to our other entire massive road trips, going to Tampa wouldn’t even be classified as a road trip. But since we planned it months ahead and rented a car for the event, we decided that we could fit it in with the rest. I went with my buddies Brock and Cesar and surprisingly enough none of us have ever been to the Gasparilla Parade before! It all started when just a few months ago I heard about it from a co-worker, after I did some research on this event I decided it was a great idea to go, and who better to bring than my best friends Brock and Cesar. Since Tampa was only about an hour and a half away, we didn’t have to take any time off work t enjoy this one of a kind festival. We left early in the morning so we could get there in enough time to get a parking spot and get to roam the city before the event started. Since all of us drive small cars, we decided it would be a lot more comfortable to just rent a sedan for the day and ride to Tampa in that. We went to the Dollar Rent a Car kiosk in the airport at Orlando and quickly rented a Chrysler 300. Boy was that car amazing, from the outside it looked like your everyday sedan but on the inside it felt like a SUV. I wanted to take the privilege of driving but since Cesar is what you would call a “backseat driver” and it gets really frustration at times I just figured I’d pass the task on to Brock. On the way there we thought it would be an even better idea to reserve a room at a motel seeing as we did not want to be stuck in immense traffic on the way home let alone drive home without rest on such a long day. Time really flied when we went to Tampa, that hour and a half really only felt like 10 minutes! Once we got there it was jam packed, we thought we’d be able to find a parking spot but we were so wrong, it was like people were already there just waiting for a parade to happen. It was news to us that the parade went on during the day as well, for some reason we thought it was only a night thing. Without hesitation we went directly to a motel to reserve a room, there was no way we were going to try and drive home a long with thousands of other people. The first motel we went to was full, as was the second, the third motel had a few rooms left so we decided that was where we wanted to stay, but of course it’s not like we had any other options! We didn’t really pack anything which was great because we didn’t really have to worry about anything at all, and the best part of the motel deal was that we got a reserved parking, so that was one thing we didn’t have to worry about at all. We could have driven around looking for someplace to eat but that would have taken forever seeing as the roads were packed with cars and people all together. We went to a nice restaurant near Bayshore Boulevard called Mad Dogs and Englishmen, what really brought us to that restaurant was the name. We wended up having some of the best food we’ve ever had, I ate the Lobster Ravioli and every bite was amazing. Once we got done with the food it was almost like the parade had already started, we saw tons of pirates and people dressed up in colorful costumes dancing around to loud thumping music, it was great. Day quickly turned to night and it looked like the parade had just got more intense, we were all having a great time with all of the people around us for hours on end, when it was time to leave and head back into the hotel we could barely even walk, our feet and legs were so sore, so next time we know that we need to reserve some bleacher seating, because standing up and jumping around while watching 90 floats, 14 marching bands, and over 50 pirate crews can be tiring after a while, considering that you’re doing it all day without sleep or eating. Overall this trip was a success and we can’t wait for next year to do the same! I’m actually about to see if I can get my reserved bleacher seating in advance before I forget!