Wicked Was Good...Tampa Was Not

Scott and I had a really good time at the show last night. It was a lot more smoke and mirrors than I prefer, but a show about witches obviously needs to include special effects. The cast was really talented, and even though we had nosebleed seats, it was still a great show.

That being said, it's going to take the second coming of Aida to get me back to that city. Not only was all of downtown Tampa under some sort of construction, our exit off the interstate was closed and the next exit dumped us into some west-side ghetto with no stores or gas stations and we looped through downtown (once we found it) about 3 times deciding whether to find an ATM for parking money or park a few blocks away on the street (we lucked out with a spot 2 blocks away).

Tampa is also severely short on eating establishments. We walked 2 blocks from our car (opposite direction from the theater) to a mom & pop pizza place, but gave up on it when we saw the chairs up on top of the tables. Dinner ended up being 2 muffins, 2 cokes, and a pack of Twizzlers from the theater lobby ($16).

After the show, we left downtown and went back towards our hotel. In that neighborhood (east Tampa), there are plenty of grocery stores and fast food chains. Sadly, most were closed by the time we got there. We tried McDonald's, but they must have been understaffed - people weren't using the squawk box to order, they were just driving up to the window. So we kept going. Ten miles later, we settled on a Subway inside a gas station. Processed chicken has never tasted so good.

Luckily, the Days Inn we stayed at (my opinion: if a hotel is roach-free, I don't care if there are prostitutes and drug dealers as long as they don't knock on my door) had non-lumpy mattresses and we got a good night's sleep before heading back home this morning.

Today concludes our mini-vacation. Tomorrow begins my "marathon" four days of work before our real vacation. I'm so glad that trip won't require driving unfamiliar roads!

(and for anyone wondering about my tooth, it is MUCH better. I've "only" taken 6 pills so far today. it still hurts at times, but I'm pretty sure it's going to stay in my mouth)