2/12/2026
Over the past week I’ve been busy bouncing around a bit. On the 8th I went to Hurricane Eddie’s in Clearwater, FL to watch the Super Bowl. I got there 4PM because I thought it was going to be packed, I was wrong. Half of the bar was empty and most of the tables were too. I didn’t eat because they were supposed to have a buffet, but I found out that they weren’t putting it out until the start of the game.
I grabbed a spot at the bar and chatted up the people around me until the game started. They had 2-4-1 buckets of beer all day for $25, a crazy good deal. People started filling in just before the game started and by the time they got the food out the whole place was full. As soon as they opened the buffet it was swarmed. I waited until it settled down before going up. They had the garage doors open and the breeze off the gulf was kinda chilly. I had to run back to the van to grab a sweatshirt at half time.
On the 10th I drove up to Dunedin, FL. I really like this little beach town. I remember coming here the last time I was in the area too. I got a couple beers at Soggy Bottom Brewing Co. and then took a walk around downtown. Their beers were meh. The bar next door was hopping though. It must be the local hangout.
Yesterday I reserved a camping spot at Camp Idlewild through Harvest Hosts. The camp seemed like a place for wealthy family’s to come to “get away from the city.” It was pretty much just a few acres with a stream, some goats, cows, and mini horses. They had a nice playground and fire pit. On site they had a few pull through spots for campers, tent sites, and some furnished cabins to rent. It was a nice place, but it looked expensive. I hung out there all day enjoying the weather.
Today I went to the Florida State Fair. It was $3 Thursday, the perfect day for me to go. I still had to pay $10 for parking though. It was everything a state fair should be, expensive food and drinks, livestock, carnival rides, concerts, and lots of people. I had to get a corn dog of course, but the only cheese curds that I found were $16, no thank you. I walked around checking out all of the food vendors and then went through the exhibits.
The first exhibit I went to was the steam engine building. They had a bunch of different steam engines, some that were working. It was interesting. Next up was the pioneer village. There were probably 20 buildings on site with a general store, different houses, a train depot, blacksmith shop, and several other buildings. Next to the depot building they had a model train room that was really neat.
Some of the other exhibits were the 4-H building, newborn cows, a couple of petting zoos, the livestock buildings. They had chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and llamas on display. I’m guessing the cows, sheep, and pigs had already been judged.
There were lots of carnival rides and so many food vendors. After looking at what they were selling and the prices I went back to the pork association’s vendor and got a pork burger with shredded pork on top. It was really good and they gave me a free pork burger since they had a bunch cooked and were closing soon.
I ended up walking around for about three hours before my feet started getting tired. It was dark and the teenagers were starting to come out so I bailed. It was fun and would go again. Its similar in scale to the MN state fair, but with less people. The MN state fair was one of the busiest places I’ve ever been and I don’t see myself going again.
