Day Trip - Tarpon Springs

 

A REAL RETIRED HOUSEWIFE OF FLORIDA hits the road for a day trip

 

 

Brian and I continued our exploration of Florida by spending a day in Tarpon Springs, a quaint town on the west coast of Florida, north of Tampa.  It is a destination with lots of culture and great food.  This city is known for the sponge industry and a strong Greek community.

 

It's a perfect day trip...less than 2 hours from home.  When we got there, we took a quick drive down Dodecanese Blvd., parked the car and set out on foot to browse the shops and see our options for food.  You can feel the Greek influence in the colors (white and blue), the food and the architecture.

 

After strolling up and down the boulevard, Brian and I had a good idea of what we wanted to buy (sponges) and what we wanted to eat (Greek food).  It was hard to pass up the pastries before lunch...but good thing we were strong.

 

We ate at Mykonos.  Brian got Pastitsio and I got my standby, Gyro.  Pastitsio is ground beef and macaroni with a cream topping.  It is similar to Mousaka, which has eggplant and potato instead of the pasta.  The cream sauce is a bechamel sauce with a hint of nutmeg.  I called it Greek Mac 'n Cheese...delish!  Both meals were great and very plentiful.  We brought half of each home for later.

 

 

Next time I will order the Saganaki, flaming cheese.  It was fun watching the servers ignite the cheese and then douse the flames by squeezing lemon juice over the top.

 

 

Even though we only ate half of our meals, we were too full for dessert right away.  So we cruised through the shops again.  I wanted some natural sponges.  The problem wasn't finding a sponge..it was so many sponges, so many choices.

 

 

We couldn't leave without dessert.  We stopped at Hellas Bakery for some baklava and coffee.  Anyone who knows Brian and me, knows we love our coffee...bold coffee, Starbucks coffee, cappuccino, latte...you name it.  In Key West, we had the best Cafe con Leche...I still dream about it.  So, it caught my attention when I saw "Greek Coffee". 

 

 

Good thing I asked what it was.  It is espresso with the GROUNDS left in.  You let the grounds settle to the bottom and sip the top.   We passed on that one.

 

 

After dessert, we gathered up our packages and headed home.  Another interesting adventure for A REAL RETIRED HOUSEWIFE OF FLORIDA.

 

 

 



Myrtle Beach, Golf, Golf...FORE!

I have been told many times that as A REAL RETIRED HOUSEWIFE OF FLORIDA, I am on a permanent vacation.  But that didn't stop me from taking a golf vacation to Myrtle Beach with some friends from Ohio.  In fact this was our second golf trip to Myrtle Beach (MB 2.0).

TEAM OHIO consisted of Barb, Bonnie and Monica.  I was the solo member of TEAM FLORIDA.  We arrived in Myrtle Beach on Friday, staying in Bonnie's timeshare at the Wyndham Westwinds in North Myrtle Beach...right on the ocean.

Here is the routine...wake up, breakfast, GOLF, dinner, hot tub...repeat 6 times.

The weather was a little on the chilly side, with one day of forecasted rain (more about that day later).  The cool weather made for some great sunrises.  Barb and I were the early risers and took lots of pictures to show Bonnie and Monica.

On Saturday, we started our golfing adventures at Indigo Creek.  We participated in a shotgun start, best-ball scramble.  It was a full course, with prizes given to the men's teams and mixed teams.  Turns out we were the only all-women's team and the starter said they hadn't had a all-women's team all year.  Still we were optimistic.  The golf was fun, lots of food and drinks.  We ended up with 2 over par and were happy.  Till they announced that we tied for LAST PLACE and were awarded a box of golf balls for each of us.  Plus I won a raffle prize of more balls and a towel.

At least we didn't embarrass ourselves by driving our golf cart into the water.  Rumor has it that the driver was on HIS cell phone and the sun was in HIS eyes.

On Sunday we golfed at Cypress Bay.  Monica had a great score with 6 birdies and 7 bogeys...a record for the week.  The course was in good shape, with no rough because of over-seeding

Monday we were off to WaterWay Hills.  Access to the course is by an aerial tramway across the Intracoastal Waterway.  Riding the tram was half the fun of the golf experience.

At WaterWay Hills, we played the Lakes and the Ravine courses.  Like all the other courses, there was plenty of sand, trees and fast greens.  I had my best round of the week here and had the only birdie of the week.  Bonnie had her best score on this course also.

Tuesday was cold and rain was predicted.  So instead of golfing we went shopping and saw the movie Argo...lots of fun and a good movie.  We still couldn't get away from golf.  Here is a license plate we saw.  WOW!

No rest for the golf-challenged.  Wednesday we were back on the golf course at River Oaks.  We all had pretty high scores at this course.  I think we blamed it on the water and trees.  The added feature for this course is the cart path bridge over the road.

Too soon we were off to our last day of golf.  On Thursday we golfed at The Valley at Eastport.  Barb plays this course often when she is in MB and it shows.  She had her best score of the week.  There is a lot of water and sand.  Bonnie kept track of the sand bunkers and would announce how many at the start of the hole.  At this course, we all got a par or two.  Bonnie showed us the "stopper".  It is a bowling term..you draw a line on the scorecard when you want to start getting better scores.  It didn't work for us...but I think use it in the future.

The grand finale of this course and our week of golf is a par 4, 282 yard hole that involves some course management...the green is surrounded by water.  I hit a good drive and was about 110 yards to the green.  The other three used two shots to get close, for a short hit over the water.  I hit a good shot, but it faded right and rolled into the water.  The good course management of the other three didn't help because they all landed in the water also.  From the looks of the dings on the service shed, it was a difficult hole for quite a few golfers.

Monica was a master at packing four sets of golf clubs and all our other gear into her Honda Accord.  Definitely a gift!

Golf is a big part of the Myrtle Beach adventure, but so is the food.  So many restaurants, so little time.

My favorite was Thai Season.  It is only the second time I have had Thai food...but it won't be my last.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I love the Fall season and miss the colorful trees.  Well, I got a week of trees and nature on the Myrtle Beach golf courses.  It was a blend of the nature from Ohio (Canadian Geese and Fall colors) and Florida (birds and turtles) and some unique to the Carolinas (raccoon squirrels).

When we were asked as a group where we were from, the answer was "Ohio".  I was starting to forget I was A REAL RETIRED HOUSEWIFE OF FLORIDA.  It was a great time, but all good things must come to an end.  I was up early Friday for the drive home.