By David Lantz
During the last weekend of February, my parents and I took a trip to Tampa/St. Petersburg. While in the area, we visited family and attended the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
This was a great time to be in the area as the weather was way warmer than Maryland— we wore shorts and t-shirts all day, but needed a sweatshirt when night fell.
However, one bad thing about Florida weather is that the humidity does get bad, which can make 70 degree weather feel like 90 at some points during the day.
We chose to fly out of Dulles Airport. This was my first time ever flying, and not during a great time when many concerns have been popping up around flying the past few months.
We took off when it was dusk, heading into the night with nothing to see but lights of towns and cities while in the air. This was something that calmed me down while flying since I couldn’t tell how high up I was. I found the key to not panicking while flying was to just clear my mind and not think about anything that I believed could go wrong.
While there from Friday through Sunday, I went to the St. Petersburg Grand Prix for all three days, watching racing from the morning to the afternoon. Five different series raced that weekend, so there were a variety of cars to see and watch. The Mazda MX-5 Cup was the best race of the weekend.
When not at the track, we explored Tampa and some of St. Pete while also trying some local restaurants. Two notable places on the water were The Getaway in St. Petersburg and Armature Works in Tampa.
The Getaway sits next to the bay on the St. Petersburg side, and makes for an interesting experience with a paradise theme and tables and chairs in the sand. Armature Works, where you could watch the boats go by while eating, made a good breakfast.
Something I discovered about Tampa, that isn’t mentioned a lot, is how peaceful the nightlife is. While driving and walking around at night through the weekend, we saw all the lighting from decorations on balconies. It made walking around the city a nice peaceful experience.
This trip was a great weekend escape from the cold Maryland weather and I got to experience a city I’ve never been to.
