Well the bacchanalian aspects of Gasparilla were overhyped, at least the daylight portions. We had a lot of fun waiting for the invasion and then watching the parade. Victoria collected 28 strings of beads and is very satisfied. We are staying in Wesley Chapel until tomorrow, which is a "town" about a half-hour north of Tampa. Another half-hour east of here is Zephyrhills, where we watched Charlotte's Web on Friday night. The movie scored big points by not being too scary at any point, but that fairly mild praise is all I can muster.

Yesterday we walked around the Hillsborough River State Park and it was a perfect day for hiking through a shady forest and admiring the water. Unfortunately, there were "look for" signs along the trails. Looking for red-bellied woodpeckers and river otters is all well and good, but when the sign suggested we look for alligators, Victoria wanted to leave. Immediately. We spent the next two hours reassuring her that spotting an alligator was quite unlikely. Last night we tried to catch a 6pm mass in downtown Tampa but got lost and caught in Chili Peppers concert traffic. We ended up parking in the next town over, taking the trolley to the convention center, and walking up to the church--just as the service was over. Perfect! We snooped around the beautiful church and then walked around admiring the concert crowd and enjoying the nighttime city along the water. We ate somewhere fancy and took a cab back to our car. So far, a nice vacation.