In June, we took the family to Tampa for a much needed vacation. We decided to rent a house on the beach, which was a difficult decision. In hind sight, we would not do it any other way. The trip was incredibly relaxing, just what we needed.
We had perfect weather for the week unexpectedly. It wasn’t too hot or too rainy. Each day, we had what they call Florida rain in the afternoon for 15-30 minutes and then it went away. The beach house was just right for the six of us. Everyone got a private room and the master bedroom looked out over the beach. I can imagine when the weather is cooler, leaving the doors open to soak in the water crashing in on the shoreline.
Each night, we found a new place to eat. The area is loaded with different places to explore and try out. We couldn’t find a place we didn’t like. Funny story: the rental agency mentioned a little Mexican place a couple blocks up the street. So, we drove to the place based on her directions but when we arrived, we thought “no way could this dive be the place”, so we went somewhere else. Then, we heard from someone else that we should try this great little Mexican place that looks like a dive called the VIP lounge. Sure enough, the VIP Lounge has the best food and margaritas. We’ll be back next time. If you go, be sure to park in back. The front only has like two spots.
Dinner the last night was superb. We found this place called Aqua Prime up on Indian Shores. I highly recommend Aqua Prime to anyone looking for a great place to eat. We ate outside in their back yard area where they had live entertainment. After dinner, we returned to the beach house and were treated to a stunning sunset – kind of a good bye gift from God.
There always has to be a funny story
I said I wouldn’t laugh at this but now it is kind of funny. As we awoke at 4:00am on Saturday to return, we packed up the van. I loaded up a few things and went back up stairs to do my final walk through of the house. But someone behind me decided to lock up the place. OMG! The van keys were still on the table inside the house and we have a 7:00 am flight from Tampa, 40 minutes away.
We tried everything we could think of to get back into the house with no luck. No one left a door or window unlocked. So, we called the rental agent at 4:25 am to ask her how to get back into the place. Fortunately, they left a Realtor key on the door. With the pass code, we were able to get back in, retrieve our keys, lock up and back on our way in a split.