Over the last few days, Mary and I were in Tarpon Springs, where we checked out the world-famous sponge docks and ate some really good Greek food at Mr. Greek (for lunch) and Mama's (for dinner). If you want some good Greek food, we highly recommend these 2 places. We also ate dinner a couple of nights ago at a new Cracker Barrel in New Port Richey.

On Monday (Memorial Day), we visited Weeki Wachee and saw the mermaids... and even a show with ladies who were mermaids from the 1950s through the early 1980s. When I pulled into the park and stopped at the booth to pay our $3.00 parking fee, I asked about the "old mermaids" show (actually, the show was called "Mermaids From Yesteryear"). After seeing these so-called "old mermaids", who could still do their thing after all these years as good as the current crop of young mermaids, I gained a lot of respect for these ladies. Being an "old-school" Florida tourist stop (years before "the mouse" invaded), it is something that everyone needs to see at least once.

After eating at Mama's yesterday evening, we spent some time walking on the beach at Howard Park.

Roadgeek-wise, I shot some more "ROADGEEK-CAM!!!" footage on the Suncoast Parkway and the Howard Park Causeway.

From Tarpon Springs, we took Tampa Road to Hillsborough Avenue (FL 580) to the Veterans Expressway (FL Toll 589) and on to I-275, I-4, and the Polk Parkway (FL Toll 570).

There's a ton of reconstruction where FL 60, FL Toll 589, and I-275 meet near Tampa International Airport, plus along I-275 toward I-4. Once this all gets done, there will be a ton of huge "flyover" ramps and it would be interesting to see what it's like once it's all completed. Alex, if you're reading this blog, maybe you can fill me in on some of this stuff. I look forward to your response and appreciate it in advance.

Now, my thoughts about Florida's toll roads...

Having driven parts of Suncoast Parkway, Veterans Expressway, and the Polk Parkway, the roads themselves are really smooth and can be a pleasure to drive. However, be warned that you better have exact change when you get to the ramp-based toll plazas. I thought that these particular plazas were not manned due to Sundays and holidays, but as I found out today (Wednesday), they're not manned at all. In fact, traffic was all squeezed into the coin section (which also accepts SunPasses). Is the Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) trying to save money by not manning the ramp plazas? Fortunately, we had coins, but otherwise, we would have to had to call a number posted next to the coin bucket in the event we had no coins. That, IMHO, would've been embarassing. For those of us "out-of-towners", it wasn't exactly a convenient (and again, potentially embarassing) thing. Perhaps FTE is trying to force folks into buying the SunPasses. Admittedly, I've considered getting one for the vehicle we most often drive to Florida. We may not use it quite as much as regular Florida toll road travelers, but at least it would be better than worrying about having coins. (Alex, what do you think?)

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please come back often.

 

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