1/28/2026
My parents drove down from North Dakota to visit me for a week. They got here on the 21st and left today. We went out to eat and found out they they were doing trivia the night they got into town. All but one of the teams that was playing left early so we jumped in and took second for a $20 gift card.
On the 22nd we drove over to downtown St. Petersburg, FL. My dad’s foot was bothering him so we only walked to the beach. Mom and I walked back to the car to pick him up and we drove downtown. We stopped for ice cream then hopped on the trolly so they could see downtown without having to walk it. After the trolly tour I lead them to St. Pete Brewing Company.
After the brewery I took them to the Dali Museum, pictures at the end. I found out that it was the first art museum they’ve ever been to. I loved the museum. Dali is my favorite artist. They didn’t have The Persistence of Memory, but they did have The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory along with a ton of his other works. Some of my favorites were the ones that if you were looking for the details you couldn’t see the bigger picture.
It’s amazing how he was able to think and create art like that. I ended up buying my first art book at the gift shop too. I was debating if I should buy a print set too, but decided the book is enough until I get a house to display them. My parents said that they enjoyed the museum. I didn’t know if they would, since it was a lot of surrealism.
On the 23rd we went to downtown Tampa and Ybor City. We parked in Ybor and walked through downtown Ybor. We stopped at the Columbia Restaurant to check it out. It’s the largest Spanish restaurant in the United States. It was neat, there were a ton of hidden rooms and a huge kitchen. Then hopped on the trolley to take a tour of Tampa. We got off at the last station in Tampa to get a coffee at Starbucks and a beer at The Pint and Brew. Both were really expensive. After the bar we walked the waterfront down to the park and hopped back trolley and went back to the car.
The 24th and 25th we hung out at the AirBnB to watch the UFC fights on Saturday and football on Sunday. I ended up coming out $5 ahead in betting for the weekend. On the 26th we drove down to St Pete Beach and Treasure Island after lunch and giving plasma. We stopped at Sea Dog Brewing Co. at Treasure Island. It’s a cool joint with an outdoor area on the ground level and a restaurant on the send floor. The weather turned on us that day and it got cold and windy.
Yesterday we just hung out at the house together and stayed warm and packed everything up. Today we got lunch before my parents left to go back to ND. They were debating staying for another couple days to wait out the ice from the storm, but they decided to go. It was nice seeing them since I didn’t go back for Christmas this year.
