Tampa?

We bid a sad farewell to Orlando, certain that we had sucked every bit of life out of the place, and headed towards our next venue: Tampa. This is a Floridian town of which I know absolutely nothing, so I was eager to give it the benefit of the doubt from the start. And we were doing pretty well, with Busch Gardens immediately across the street from our hotel, and rumors of beaches, the Yuengling brewery and an awesome, restored 1927 Moorish Revival movie theater (with a Wurlitzer!!) as our venue circulating throughout the cast. So, I guess the Days Inn with the musty smell and reported roaches was excusable. I mean, the price was right, we were scheduled for to do four shows in two days and we weren't planning to spend that much time there, right?

WRONG!!

After an 8am call and a thirty minute drive to the Tampa Theater, we decided that there was something amiss. The theater building was locked. Emileena raced around the block looking for an entrance as we sat in the passenger van nervously. After about a half hour, Emileena arrived with the news: shows had been cancelled about two weeks ago. In fact, one day was completely off, and the other had been shrunk down to one show. Tired, confused (and, honestly, a little excited for an extra day off), we headed off to our Days Inn, eager to figure out what the heck there was to do in this town.

My day was spent at the beach. Michelle, Ben, Lydia and I headed off to Clearwater Beach, FL (about 45 minutes away), where we lounged. Hardcore. The sand was that fine, sugar-y sand that sticks to your skin and the ocean water was frigid. Perfect. After some major nappage, Michelle and I took a stroll, returning to find Lydia and Ben holding onto a kite attached to 400 feet of string. This mounted an idea: SAND CASTLE. With the kite as our focal point, we built a giant structure, complete with a moat and guard towers (photos at the Sally-Swims-a-Lot blog). Dinner was at a little cafe near the beach, where we watched the thunderstorms roll in and listened to live music (and our nutty, singing head-waiter Deano). A great impromptu day off.

This morning, meeting up at 7:55am, we made it in for our only show. And the theater was all we had hoped for:



Cool, huh? Only problem was, the stage was too small for our entire set. So, for the second time, we performed our show sans house. A first for Leah, who handled it like a pro. The heat index was also really high (as it has been for most of our Florida shows), which also made the show a little rough, and most of us threw off our costumes immediately after we exited the stage for the final time. But, the kids loved it, we managed through, and the "show went on.

Now we're in Ocala, FL. Which reminds me of rural Minnesota, except warmer and with palm trees. Should be interesting.

Kid quote of the day: When Grandma told Max and Ruby that the two treasures in her attic will make the show perfect are "right in front of her," a little girl stood up and declared, "I knew it!"

Call tomorrow: 7:45am, Quality Inn parking lot in Ocala, FL. Oh boy!