Elisa's Daily Scoop
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Tanya's Daily Scoop
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9 Fun Travel Facts About Tampa, Florida
Good morning!!! What a lovely sunny Saturday here on Long Island!
Yesterday was a bit nutty and from the looks of it, I think today is going to be equally busy. As you know, my house is up for sale and so with this feat brings lots of showings and open houses. Well, this morning we have a showing and tomorrow is an open house. So, me and the gals will be and out of here early. We usually take a quick run to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks for the thirty minutes or so that the house is being shown, and that's precisely what we'll do this morning. Then, I have many other errands to do - food shopping, a visit to the laundromat (yes - I'm without a washer ugh). Later in the afternoon, I'll be helping both girls with their school work. Kelsey has her Science Fair this week and Gianna asked for some assistance with a writing assignment she has due on Monday. I did have a chance to briefly "chat" (via text) this morning with Tanya, currently in Tampa, and wouldn't you know, we two cousins totally think alike!! It turns out that we were both going to advise you guys about a recent development in travel news. Tanya had already written her Scoop and added the link to the article in her column. - so please check out Tanya's Scoop for the link to this important travel article in Travel & Leisure: "Americans will need a Visa for European Travel Beginning 2021" 
(photo credit: travel and leisure)
Tampa!!!
Today is the first full day for Tanya in Tampa, Florida. While she has a full schedule of activities during her stay this weekend, the main reason for her visit is to enjoy Major League Baseball Spring Training. We'll certainly be getting the full Scoop from her all day on Instagram, Twitter and other social media, so be sure that you are following @TravelinCousins. We agreed that today we would bring you some fun facts about Tampa, with a travel slant - so here ya go!
10 Fun Travel Facts About Tampa
The Tampa River Walk (photo credit: thetampariverwalk.com)
1. NAMED FOR THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF LIGHTENING THAT STRIKES
‘Tampa’ literally translates to ‘sticks of fire’ in the Calusan language. The Calusa were a tribe of Native American origin that lived in what is today’s Tampa Bay. The name came about because of the massive amount of lightning that strikes the area during the summer months. The earliest instance of the name "Tampa", in the form "Tanpa", appears in the memoirs of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who spent 17 years as a captive of the Calusa. Additionally, Bahía Tampa and Bahía de Espíritu Santo were each used, at one time or another, for the modern Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor with Tampa Bay being labeled Bahía de Espíritu Santo (Bay of the Holy Spirit) in the earliest Spanish maps of Florida, but became known as Bahía Tampa (Tampa Bay) as early as 1695. 
(photo credit: space.com)
2. HOME OF THE WORLD'S 1ST PASSENGER FLIGHT
The world’s first scheduled passenger flight flew from St. Petersburg to Tampa on Janaury 1, 1914, piloted by Tony Jannus. The aircraft was a a Benoist airboat and the flight lasted around 40 minutes, and only cost $5. According to Space.com, The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line was a short-lived endeavor — only four months — but it paved the way for today's daily transcontinental flights. 3. LARGEST PORT IN FLORIDA Tampa is home to Florida’s largest port. Port, handling nearly 40 percent of all cargo moving in and out of the state of Florida. Four different cruise lines also use Port Tampa Bay as a homeport, with numerous cruises departing from Tampa’s channel side district. 
Ybor's first cigar factory c. 1900 (photo credit: wikipedia)
4. HISTORY AS CIGAR CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Ybor City, which was created around the Cuba cigar-rolling industry in the late 1800s is now world renowned as a hot nightlife spot, with its old red brick buildings now filled with lively music, cocktails and late-night dancing. In the 1920's, namely, its peak year of 1929, over 500,000,000 cigars were hand rolled and sold in Ybor City, This gave it the title of “Cigar Capital of the World.” Ybor is now a National Landmark Historic district, with cigar shops off 7th street that allow visitors to see what Ybor once was. 5. BAYSHORE BOULEVARD IN TAMPA IS THE 2ND LARGEST SIDEWALK IN THE WORLD Bayshore Boulevard is a waterfront road on Hillsborough Bay in South Tampa, Florida. Located south of downtown Tampa, its sidewalk is the 2nd longest continuous sidewalk in the world at 4.5 miles long and 10 feet wide and is widely enjoyed for recreation and exercise. It boasts a 3-mile bike lane, a linear park, and the Bayshore Greenway Trail with scenic views of urban Tampa and the water, lined with benches, a water fountain, bicycle parking, a city marina and workout stations. Incidentally, the longest continuous sidewalk in the world is the Rambla of Montevideo, which is over 13.7 miles long and borders the entire coast of Montevideo, Uruguay, along the Río de la Plata. 
(photo credit: visit tampa bay)
6. DESIGNATED NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC LANDMARKS TO VISIT
The Ybor City District is home to several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and has been declared a National Historic Landmark, as mentioned above. Notable structures include El Centro Español de Tampa, Centro Asturiano de Tampa and other social clubs built in the early 1900s, including L'Unione Italiana or the Italian Club. Babe Zaharias Golf Course in the Forest Hills area of Tampa has been designated a Historical Landmark by the National Register of Historic Places. In 1949, Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias purchased the golf course for which she used until her death in 1956. Following her death, the golf course closed down and the clubhouse was abandoned and in 1962, the clubhouse mysteriously burned down. The City of Tampa took over the property, keeping Babe's name and re-opened the golf course in 1974. 7. HOME TO MANATEES The TECO Manatee Viewing Center is a sanctuary filled with dozens upon dozens of the gentle giant sea creatures. Inside the MVC's environmental education building, which is open from early Spring to late Fall, colorful displays immerse you in the world of the manatee and its habitat. The area of the Big Bend's discharge canal is a state and federally designated manatee sanctuary that provides critical protection from the cold for these unique animals. 
Gentle Giant Manatees (photo credit: visit florida)
8. TAMPA RIVERWALK IS A HIP WATERFRONT DESTINATION REINVENTED FROM TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY BUILDINGS
Tampa Riverwalk is a 2.6-mile-long open space and pedestrian trail development comprised of hip bars and innovative restaurants and amazing restorations of turn-of-the-century buildings, Tampa Riverwalk has dining, family fun, cultural venues and activities and events for everyone, year round. The Tampa Arts District and includes Curtis Hixon Park, The Macdill Park, the Tampa Museum of Art, Glazer Children's Museum, Rivergate Tower and adjacent atrium containing the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. Its history dates back to the 1970s, a time when much of the downtown waterfront consisted of aging warehouses and industrial facilities related to the nearby Port of Tampa. It wasn't until the early 2000's that development and construction began, with the final stages being completed in 2014 to what what it is now. 9. TAMPA HAS A LONG BASEBALL HISTORY Beginning in the 1880s, with the arrival of Cuban immigrants to Tampa to work in the new cigar factories being built in Ybor City, they also brought with them their love of baseball, which was already Cuba’s most popular sport - having been imported to Cuba from America. From these early days of informal baseball games by factory workers, baseball fans increased and, so too, did the expansion of games with professional teams from Havana competing with local players from the National, American and Negro Leagues. Not only was baseball a catalyst for integrating Tampa Bay’s diverse cultures, but it also grew into a baseball town. In 1913, the major leagues chose Tampa Bay for spring training and began a relationship with the city that continues to this day. According to VisitTampaBay.com, The Chicago Cubs arrived first to play at Plant Field and were followed by the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and, of course, the New York Yankees. Here's to a great Saturday!!! -Travelin' Elisa xoxo 
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Tanya takes on Tampa
Hello my dears and a very warm welcome from the sunshine state, Florida. Greetings from Tampa to be exact.
I'm here and I'm ready for some good vegan eats and some of America's favorite pastime - Baseball!!
I'll get to all of that in tomorrow's Daily Scoop. Because I do still need to experience it all. Today we shall mostly talk about yesterday and while yesterday wasn't the most exciting day ever, it really wasn't all that bad either. I want to share these 2 interesting articles that I found: The first one is quite important for travelers... These maps show where you should and shouldn't drink tap water around the world And the second is also important if you plan on traveling to Europe after 2021 (insert me raising my hand several times here). Americans Will Need a Visa for European Travel Beginning 2021 Of course I had lots of little odds and ends to take care of before leaving for our flight. But I had also promised to take Cosette to the ice skating rink and continue coaching her. Her new skates arrived last Friday (not yesterday, the week prior) and she attempted to use them last Saturday. But that didn't quite work out...The rink was too crowded for me and the ice was crap. She did however go on Sunday with Jet and Chaplin, and again yesterday with me. Her new skates definitely need some breaking into and she needs to get use to them as well (the blade is quite a bit different from any of the rental skates that she's used). 
Cosette breaking in her new skates (c)travelincousins.com
The rink was nice and empty (c)travelincousins.com
I happened to use both of my knee support braces since my poor little knees have some issues and I need to be careful with them.
They rarely cause me any pain. However ice skating is one of the very few things that does happen to have them hurting. I use my knee support braces when I ski in order to protect them in case of any additional injury. But I've never tried to use them at the ice rink until yesterday and lo and behold I skated the entire session without an ounce of pain. However the moment that I pulled the brace off of my right knee the pain had immediately stopped by and greeted me. Luckily it didn't stay long. In related reading; Vegas on Crutches!! Once we returned home, it was almost about time to chow down on some of the creamy and delicious Broccoli Cheese soup that I whipped up for us and then head on out. 
Broccoli Cheese Soup (c)travelincousins.com
Up up and away we went. Arriving in Tampa too late to do much other than check in and hit the sack.
In the meantime I'll share a few photos with you from Thursday that I forgot to share with you yesterday. We went to go visit the muddy mess that was the stables so that we could visit Dream and with her a Happy Belated Birthday (her bday is on March 3rd). 
Cosette and Dream (c)travelincousins.com
Aww (c)travelincousins.com
Posing for a pic (c)travelincousins.com
Now it's time for me to get going and paint the town.
See ya on social media and back here tomorrow, -Travelin' Tanya 
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