Chickens, Arts, Alligators, and Beaches – What We Loved About Traveling to Tampa

Hello, world. We are back from a quick long weekend away to the Sunshine State – Florida. It was a much needed break from the cold and gloomy weather New Jersey has been experiencing lately. While only there for four full days, we took in all the sun and warmth we could. The purpose of the trip was to attend a family wedding in Tampa, but because it’s Florida and it’s January, we extended our trip by a few days to see what the Tampa region had to offer. As it turns out – a lot.

We also managed to get through the weekend with no checked luggage, making it all the more easier. And we lucked out and missed the FAA shutdown by one day (although I suppose it wouldn’t have been too big a deal to stay in the nice weather for one more day…). 

So, 4 days, lots of sun, and in desperate need of fresh air and deep breaths after a fairly stressful December in the office. Here is a quick list of our favorite stops that got us the most of our short time in Florida.

Side note: every time we come down here in the winter I understand why people like to snowbird. It truly is rejuvenating to get some vitamin D in the depths of winter. Of course this flood of dopamine could also be achieved by a visit to any warm local, but Florida presented itself – so here we are!

Historic Ybor City

Instead of booking in the hotel that the wedding website identified, we reserved an AirBnb in Ybor City – a historic neighborhood east of downtown Tampa whose multicultural past jumps from the buildings, sidewalks, and murals. The historic 7th Avenue commercial corridor is lined with a quirky mix of gritty bars, high end restaurants, eccentric consignment shops, chic coffee shops, tattoo parlors, and the commodity that started it all – cigars. 

Ybor City was founded by cigar manufacturers from Cuba in the 1880s, thus establishing an immigrant community that would thrive and grow over the decades. Immigrant populations originally from Cuba and Spain built the city up and soon Italians, Germans, Romanian Jews, and Chinese immigrants were following suit and making a home and a living for themselves.

Walking down the central commercial corridor of 7th Avenue will give you a sense of the incredible history of this place. The wrought iron and second story balconies gives you that gulf feeling and the various historic social clubs that still exist (Cuban, Italian, and Spanish) along with the multitude of cuisines, reminds you of who established and built this city.

So our favorite part about Ybor City? Well maybe not favorite but absolutely most charming, unique, and fun, were the wild chickens that are running around the city, completely oblivious to our ogling eyes.

The chickens and roosters that were crowing outside our windows and pecking at the ground in the bushes are descendants of the neighborhood chickens from over 100 years ago, and you better respect their space because they are protected!

There is literally a Tampa ordinance that declares all of Ybor City a bird sanctuary where it is “unlawful for any person to hunt, kill, maim or trap” any birds within the city (*restrictions do not apply to birds bred in captivity for human consumption).

There is also the Ybor Chicken Society that is a nonprofit group made up of volunteers whose mission is to protect the chickens and care for sick or injured birds.

So while many flock (pun intended and delightful) to Ybor City for the night life (weekend nights are energetic to say the least), I found myself wandering after these beautiful birds, at an appropriate distance of course, and enjoying their presence in the daily activities of Ybor City life.

Things to do in Ybor City besides following the birds around:

• Ybor City Saturday Market – This market is open every Saturday all year round (the benefits of a warm climate) in Centennial Park at the corner of 8th Ave and 19th Street. Pets are welcome and there are definitely some local chickens wandering around, too. A great place to pick up locally made items and maybe even a souvenir chicken magnet (guilty).

• Tampa Baseball Museum – As the home of spring training for many major league baseball teams (including this household’s Yankees), its fitting that the city would boast a baseball museum to learn about all things Tampa baseball. The museum is open Thursday to Sunday and tickets are $12 for adults / $6 for children.

• Ybor City History Museum – For you history buffs, this museum provides exhibits and experiences dedicated to the rich culture and history of Ybor City.

• Exploring the 7th Avenue Commercial Corridor – Noted above, corridor is a great walk to discover the eccentricates of Ybor City as well as the many superb restaurants.

• Night Life in Ybor – Once the restaurants and consignment shops close, it’s also the place to find a plethora of bars and nightclubs that stay open into the early hours of the morning. Even some of the cigar shops turn into nightclubs.

• Breweries in Ybor City – There are a number of breweries that line the streets of Ybor City. Some to note and research further upon your visit include Coppertail Brewing Co, Cigar City Cider & Mead, Tampa Bay Brewing Company, Zydeco Brew Works, and where we stopped and thorough enjoyed – BarrieHaus Beer Co.

St. Petersburg 

St. Petersburg also offers a charming artsy feel with a quaint downtown commercial area, perfect for walking around on a warm Sunday afternoon. 

Although we actually began our day inside with a walk through the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Art Center. It’s a short exhibit but filled with some of the most incredible glass pieces you’ve ever seen so close up. A short video series at the end gives you insight into the process behind the art you’ve just experienced.

The $20 ticket also includes a glass blowing demonstration at the Morean Glass Studio and Hotshop across the street from the museum, which was a really fun stop and now I’m going off to become a professional glassblower. 

Like I said, the downtown is delightful and very pedestrian friendly – wide sidewalks, big plants, bump outs (cue nerdy city planner here) and lots of shops and restaurants to explore. St. Petersburg is an art-centric town and is filled with quirky shops to pop in and out of. Lots of galleries and art spaces offer a lot to do for the art lover in all of us.

We enjoyed lunch at the Social Roost, which honestly couldn’t be more trendy if it tried. But the funky bright, and yes chicken art, was a great backdrop to our lunch in this artsy city. The food and drinks were delicious. We had a late lunch so were surprised when it was still a brunch menu at 2:30 in the afternoon but hey – when in Rome, or in our case, when in south Florida.

Lettuce Lake Conservation Park

My brother’s fiancé loves birds. I have to say, so do I but I don’t know much about them. She, on the other hand can identify many of them by their chirps. I mostly just think their beautiful and appreciate their existence. As I’ve already said, this trip had an unexpected fowl theme to it.

She found the Lettuce Lake Conservation Park through some Googling with John so we decided to start our Monday there.

It’s hard to express how exhausting our day time job can be. We love it, but it can be very hard to leave work at work. While we were enjoying our time in Tampa, we both felt a huge sense of peace at Lettuce Lake Conservation Park. As if we could finally exhale, and then inhale some seriously fresh air.

Pro Tip: It costs $2.00 per car to enter the park. This is $2.00 cash. We, in our Millennial ways, had no cash. So, one u-turn, a stop at a gas station, and back to very nice 20-something running the entrance booth, and we were into the park. So, bring cash. Cash is not dead.

We walked along the boardwalk, which extends over the marshes and the Hillsborough River. Not only did we see a ton of birds, but also lots of alligators, who are also truly beautiful, prehistoric-looking creatures. Similar to the boardwalk in Alaska that let us view the bears, the boardwalk in Lettuce Lake Park allowed us to view the alligators up close without disrupting them or their environment. Hello, successful eco-tourism.

I’ve also decided the alligator is seriously misrepresented in popular media. It’s existence seems to always be dwarfed by the crocodile. Let’s change this ♫”Never cater to an alligator”♫

Anyway

Here’s some info about the park:

Hours:

• Spring/Summer: 8 AM to 7 PM
• Fall/Winter: 8 AM to 6 PM

Park Features:

• Boardwalk
• Playground
• Paved walking trail
• Canoe and kayak rentals

Here are some more photos of alligators because they really were incredible. It was very cool to be so close them and just observe them in their habitat.

Honeymoon Island State Park

Honeymoon Island State Park was a recommendation from my uncle and it was a great last stop during our time here. The park is a combination of walking trails and long, soft beaches.

There are about three miles of trails where wildlife like eagles, osprey, and pelicans can be seen (we thoroughly enjoyed watching pelicans fish for their lunch off the northern shore). We started by walking the trails, which are flat and sandy. It takes a different set of muscles to walk sandy trails.

Also – the mosquitos started to get hungry. Up until now, we hadn’t experienced any hungry bugs, but they were biting here.

Honeymoon Island offers those beautiful white sand beaches with sand so fine it’s going to stick to everything for eternity. But it’s worth it. What a peaceful way to end our trip to the Florida gulf coast. Soft sand, warm water (well, warmer than NJ – I wouldn’t swim in it though), and stunning colors of shells – we could have stayed here for hours.

It costs $8.00 per vehicle to get onto this island and this time we had cash!

Summary

So to recap: our favorite parts about our trip to the Tampa area involved the wild chickens of Ybor City, the trendy and spunky art scene of St. Petersburg, the primordial reptiles that are totally all over the state but we loved seeing them at a safe distance in Lettuce Lake Conservation Park, and the sandy nature and peaceful environment of Honeymoon Island State Park. All of our excursions exceeded expectations.

While a trip to Florida in the winter is nothing novel, ask any New Jersey retiree, our time in the Tampa area showed us there is way more to southwest Florida than sunburns and mosquito bites. There is a rich culture here whose history spans centuries and the remarkable wildlife and nature provides the mental health boost we all need in the dead of winter.

Have you been to or live in Tampa? Let us know what we should do on our next trip down!

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