When first planning my trip to New Orleans, the number one thing on my list to see was the Huey P. Long Bridge. I’m sure that is not a very popular tourist attraction but one that has been on my list for 30 years. The 8,000′ long cantilevered steel truss bridge rises 150 above the Mississippi River and was opened in 1935. But that has nothing to do with its significance to me. […]
The name Gasparilla comes from legendary pirate Jose Gaspar, the last of the Buccaneers, who terrorized the 
coastal waters of West Florida during the late 18th and early 19th century. Since 1904, the city of Tampa annually re-enacts the historic pirate invasion of the city.
I waiver on going to the event as the crowd estimates are 300-500,000 people. I’m just not convinced I want to dive into that mess. I awake early and the local TV stations have already started their event coverage with interviews and shots of the bay. They mention that Gasparilla is the 3rd largest parade/event in the US. I have since been unable to find the source of that ranking, but it was enough for me to scramble to make the 1.5-hour drive to the party. […]