Three great state parks

Since we left Biloxi, we've driven the roads between there and the Tampa Bay area. The first night out of Biloxi we made it as far as Niceville (it really is!), Florida. Niceville is where the Gannon State Park is located, is about fifteen minutes from Destin and the beaches near there, and is a wonderfully kept wildlife area, full of birds of all kinds. The next day we pushed further around the Big Bend of the Florida Panhandle and stopped for the night at another state park. This one is magnificent and one of the jewels of the Florida Park System, Manatee Springs. This place should be more famous than it is. The park is centered around one of Florida's largest freshwater springs, where you can swim with Manatees if you're there at the right time of the year (mostly winter). We stood on a pier where the spring empties into the Suwannee River (makes me want to start singin' like Al Jolson every time I say that!!) and watched Mullets jump about three feet out of the water (nobody's sure exactly why the hell they do that) and Sturgeon that might be about five feet long, but did not see one alligator......yet. The third state park we stopped at is Little Manatee, right outside of Tampa. We're spending three nights in the area, and on the first one, Thursday, we drove in, hooked Harvey up, unhooked Smarty, and within a few minutes were headed in to take in some of Tampa's nightlife. We drove straight to one of the towns most well known and oldest eateries, The Columbia, because we've eaten at their sister restaurant in Celebration (Orlando) several times and it's been good every time. This time was no exception. Seafood Paella is one of the house house specialties, and it was worth the half hour wait for it to be prepared properly. Friday we started out in the morning and drove about 150 miles from south of St.Petersburg up to Clearwater and the beaches there, then over to Tampa again and dinner again in Ybor City, a hip area which is actually one of the oldest parts of town. The Columbia is there and so is Carmines, an Italian/Cuban place with great food. What was on the menu? Nothing fancy. Just some really good and aldente Spaghetti Marinara...yum! The Cuban part of the meal was a dessert of cafe con leche, traditional dark Cuban coffee, lots of sugar, and lots of steamed milk...yum yum!