The Phillies were playing the Houston Astros and faced one of the best pitchers in the American League. It showed, as they only had 2 hits in the 7 innings he pitched and by the 8th inning were behind 3-0. The Astro's relief pitchers were not that good however, as the Phillies scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning and won the game 8-4. It was a great way to finish up their Florida schedule. They will play 3 more exhibition games in Reading and Philadelphia before the regular season starts next week.
It was a good spring training for the team and they played with a lot more energy and enthusiasm than we saw last year. The team is just beginning a long overdue rebuilding process and it will most likely be a few more years before they will be a serious contender. They have been able to acquire and develop a significant number of young players with a lot of potential, but most are a year or two away from being ready for the major leagues. I am cautiously optimistic the team will be better than last year when they only won 63 of the 162 games they played. I believe they may improve by at least 5-10 wins over last years record but a lot will depend on their pitching and defense as there are not a lot of power hitters in their line-up. A great achievement would be to win 81 games and have a 50-50 season. The Vegas bookies are offering "over or under" odds of 68 and a half games. It just might be a good bet to take the "over". In any case, we wish them well and will be rooting for them to succeed this year.
We had a great stay in the Tampa Bay area. We loved the spring training baseball experience as well as the many other attractions here. We also enjoyed the food, the warm weather, exploring new things and revisiting favorite places from previous trips.
This part of Florida is different in many ways from California, yet
similar in a lot of others. Here are
some general observations and impressions about it that may help describe what
we experienced:
1. The Tampa Bay area, especially along the barrier
islands in the Gulf, has become a popular vacation/spring break destination,
especially during the high tourist season of February through April.
2. The weather during this time of year is usually
mild, sometimes hot, occasionally rainy and increasingly more humid as summer
approaches.
3. There are a lot of “snowbirds” (from Canada and
northern tier states) who spend the winter here, usually from November to
April. Many rent condos, vacation houses
and hotel rooms and a lot of others bring their RVs and stay in mobile home
parks.
4. There seems to be an extraordinary number of new
hotels and condominium developments being built. Clearwater Beach had 11 new hotels
constructed in the last year. We wonder
how they can keep them all occupied, but apparently they do.
5. The Tampa Bay area has developed into a large
metroplex with a lot of urban sprawl that continues to spread and infill in the direction
of what undeveloped land is left.
6. There are a number of relatively small
incorporated cities that run up against each other in the area, especially on
the Pinellas Peninsula on the west side of the bay. It is hard to tell where each one starts and
stops unless you happen to see a city sign welcoming you or thanking you for
visiting their city. They all seem to
lack a specific visual identity or special character. As Gertrude Stein once said about LA: “There
is no there there”.
7. There are a few small towns/cities we visited
that have retained their special identity and charm. Dunedin, Safety Harbor, and Gulfport are
examples of towns we have visited that are still special places with their own
identity.
8. The towns along the barrier islands also seem to
run into each other and are identical in almost every way – lots of beachfront
hotels and condos, beach bars and restaurants, beachwear/surf shops and various
other activities such as miniature golf, tattoo shops and “Vape” lounges. Since
the islands are relatively narrow there are activities on both sides of the
islands including parks with beach access, boat launch ramps and marinas with a
lot of boats, most of which seemed to just be moored there. This time of year, the streets are usually
packed with people going/coming from the beach, and people on bicycles or
running or walking along the sidewalks and bike paths. There are also lots of cars, moving slowly
looking for parking and/or waiting at red lights or pedestrian crossings.
9. There are a few big shopping centers in the area,
but it seems a lot of shopping is oriented towards the many strip malls and
smaller outdoor malls with restaurants and anchor stores like Target, Walmart,
etc. Most of the strip malls look good
and are about as visually attractive as a strip mall can be. Every so often you see a dying or dead mall,
usually smaller, older ones, but most of the others seemed to be in pretty good
shape.
10. There are a few freeways in the Pinellas
peninsula but most of the major transportation routes, both east and west are
on surface streets. The streets are
wide, usually three or more lanes in each direction plus turn lanes at signaled intersections as
well as numerous uncontrolled crossover turn lanes into side streets and
shopping centers. As the traffic is
usually heavy on these streets, especially as they cross each other, the red
lights on these major streets are especially long and can result in fairly long
delays and driver frustration, especially during rush hour. The other hazard is cars waiting to cross traffic from an uncontrolled turn lane.
We have experienced an extraordinary number of vehicles crossing in
front of us with little margin for error.
I am sure they have a large number of accidents involving impatient
drivers trying to cross traffic without proper clearance.
11.
Local drivers are very aggressive and, like CA,
some do not bother using turn signals or maintain safe clearance
distances. Speed limits seem to be
mostly suggestions. This, along with old people driving, and visitors from
other states and Canada who may not be familiar with the area and/or are used
to a calmer driving environment back home make for a potentially dangerous
traffic situation.
12.
The traffic hazards we have seen may have been
encouraged by what appears to be complete lack of traffic enforcement on the
local streets. The only city police/sheriff’s vehicles we have seen have been
responding to traffic accidents or directing traffic after a ball game. We have
yet to see someone pulled over for speeding in town. We have seen a highly visible presence of
state troopers on the Interstate and major state highways however.
13. There are an extraordinary number of billboards
with large pictures of smiling lawyers advertising traffic accident and
personal injury services. Sometimes
there is one on each corner and many of the same lawyers have multiple
billboards around town. They also
advertise extensively on the local TV stations.
One advertisement, establishing a new low for the Florida legal
profession, had a lawyer’s two pre-teenage daughters saying “if you have an
accident, call our dad”. There must be a vigorous ambulance chasing business in
town and/or lots of competition for the victims of the hazardous traffic environment
in the area.
14.
There are several local businesses we have seen
advertised that are particular to the local area. Examples include sinkhole repair contractors,
alligator trappers, rattlesnake removal, and back yard screening design and
installation. There also seems to be a
lot of used tire stores.
15. There seems to be an unusual way of pricing
gasoline here. When we arrived, gas was
selling for $1.79 per gallon. Every gas
station in town raised their price overnight to $1.99 per gallon a few weeks
later, even the brand name stations.
They must have some sort of centralized way of agreeing on pricing. The raise obviously had no relation to the
price they paid for the gas already in their tanks and everyone did it at
once. Since then, the price has
decreased to $1.96, also across the board.
16. The Tampa area, as well as the state has
invested a lot of money into developing an extensive non-motorized hiking/bicycling
trail system. There are lots of
well-maintained trails just about everywhere we have been.
17.
The cities, counties and the state have also
invested a lot of resources into parks and recreation facilities and
activities. We have visited a lot of
really nice places funded and maintained by local counties and cities as well
as the state.
18.
There are numerous residential communities
throughout the area, most with specific identities. Some are gated, others have walls with formal
entrance ways and almost all have community names such as Pelican Harbor, Sea
Breeze, Tidewater, etc. There are condos,
houses and apartment complexes, some with a combination of housing types. Most seem to be middle-upper class but we
have also seen some high-end communities and others that seem to be mostly
manufactured homes, some nice and others low-end. A lot of the residents are seasonal and many
residences are apparently vacant during the summer.
19.
We did see some vagrants begging for money at
intersections. Strangely, most were
wearing reflective vests like the Caltrans workers wear. It must be a local requirement.
20. Most of the locals we have met are friendly and
very nice. Like California, many are
from somewhere else. Some are transplant
retirees from northern and NE states, others have moved here on business or
came with family. There also seems to be
a fairly large number of military retirees and veterans in the area. The Florida natives proudly call themselves
“Crackers”. The term is usually used
elsewhere as a derogative description of a southern “redneck” – a not too smart
and prejudiced lower class person living in the woods and existing on things
like possum and grits with squirrel gravy.
The term “Cracker” however comes from the early settlers of rural
Florida and parts of Georgia who raised cattle.
A “Cracker” was a “cow hunter” or cowboy who used a 12-foot whip to herd
the cows to market or back to the ranch.
They may not have been as sophisticated as some of the more recent
Florida residents, but now the term is used with endearment by residents that
have a multi-generational Florida heritage.
21. There is not a lot of visible Native American
presence here, no Indian casinos or reservations or even Indian lore gift
shops. The local Native Americans are
the Seminole who lived here for thousands of years before the Spanish, then
European/American settlers arrived. The natives were an inconvenience who
didn’t want to give up their lands when the newcomers moved in. They resisted however. There were three
Seminole wars in the early to mid-19th century. Although a peace treaty was never signed,
most of the Seminoles were deported to Oklahoma by president Andrew Jackson. Some
escaped into the Everglades and have kept their identity in a limited way,
mostly visible as the nickname of Florida State University sports teams.
22. The atmosphere at the Phillies spring training
games makes you almost feel you are watching a game in Philadelphia. Most of the fans either have retired here
from the Philadelphia area or are visiting for periods ranging from 6 months to
a week. It is a friendly atmosphere and
the fans sitting near us are easy to talk to and are having a good time. Most are very knowledgeable about baseball,
the Phillies and familiar with the long up-and-down, and sometimes frustrating history of the Phillies quest for respectability and success. The food at the ball park is typical ballpark
food with a Philadelphia flair. Many of
the vendors also have establishments in the Philadelphia area and offer the
same food they serve back there. You can
also get local beer from Philadelphia at the beer concessions. If you have ever lived there it is a great
way to get a nostalgic "Philadelphia Fix".
23. They have something down here called a “Silver Alert”. You get a text announcement and electronic
traffic message signs announcing that an older person has wandered off or driven
away and is unaccounted for. The license
plate number and the make and model of the car are displayed, similar to the
Amber Alerts we often see in CA.
24.
All-in-all, the Tampa Bay area and Florida is a
nice place to visit in the winter, but it would take some “getting used to” to
live here year round. The locals don’t
seem to mind the summer weather, but I guess if you are here, and maybe growing
up here, it is what is and you deal with it.
25.
Despite all the good things we have experienced
on the trip, there is still no place like home and we look forward to returning
to Nevada City.
We are planning to leave tomorrow morning, hopefully around 9:00 am. Everything is about ready to go and after getting gas and propane before leaving we will head north then west, with a planned stop for the night west of Tallahassee.
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