Airline Travel
My wife and I booked our airline tickets online with Allegiant Air a few weeks ago knowing that my wife would be attending a Jason Aldean concert with a recently made group of friends from Citrus County. The website was very easy to navigate. Allegiant Air does a fabulous job with emails to give helpful hints to make your trip as smooth as possible. One example, sending boarding passes to load onto your phone the day before our departure. Another example, they encourage us to always get to the airport 2 hours before our flight. We spent most of the time at the airport going through security. I have set off the alarm going through the metal detectors on several occasions. One time it’s my watch and then another time it was my phone. TSA agents have been wonderful to work with in my lapse of thinking.
Car Rental
Our plane arrived in St. Pete/Clearwater International Airport close to 5:30 p.m. My lovely wife went to collect my golf clubs while I went to the Alamo Car Rental desk to get our rental. I stood there for about 10 minutes. It seemed like I was going to be there for an hour or longer. Then a kind gentleman from Alamo directed me to a kiosk for folks that already had a reservation. We were on our way after 10 minutes for a fun-filled weekend.
Weekend Activities
I dropped my wife off at Tampa Hilton Downtown with her group of friends. The Jason Aldean concert was performed at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre on Saturday night. My wife said that since the article I did on the Zac Brown Band and the amphitheater a few weeks ago that the venue was set up much the same. They had fabulous seats.
My weekend started off at the Lakeside Grill. I was able to watch several football games but especially watch the World Series since the Atlanta Braves were playing the Houston Astros in Game 3 in Atlanta. I ordered some dry rub chicken wings and soft pretzel bites. That food lasted me until noon the next day when we had some hamburgers on the grill.
Festival Time
The next adventure led me into downtown Inverness for the 19th Annual Great American Cooter Festival which was taking place at Liberty Park. There were many vendors selling everything you can imagine. There was live musical entertainment both days and Sunday had a water performance on Henderson Lake. The biggest attraction for me was the actual racing of the Cooters. For those that aren’t too familiar with the term cooter, it is a species of turtle. The directions given to the young participants racing the Cooters were quite hilarious. The young participants were totally oblivious to the underlying meanings. There were plenty of refreshments provided and I couldn’t leave without getting a shirt.
Restaurant Shout Out
Before we made it to the airport to return home, we stopped to eat at Rocco’s Tacos and Tequila Bar. Our server made fresh guacamole right in front of us. The chips served with the fresh guacamole were a tasty appetizer before our lunch arrived. The drink menu had several special margaritas and we tried a couple varieties. They were very tasty and reasonable in price. What I loved most about this restaurant was the freshness of the food. It was a great way to cap our wonderful weekend!
On a final note, I did play golf twice while on this trip as I played the Lakeside Country Club and Citrus Springs Golf and Country Club. While my scores weren’t too pretty, the weather and the fellowship were.
Be blessed and safe travels!!!
