05-07-09

05-07-09
It's a great day and I just finish reading the paper by the pool and notice the area needs some general cleaning, picking up leaves, cleaning the counter tops of the outside bar and I'm thinking I guess this must be my job. I finish the chores, the pool is looking inviting so in I go, first dip this year, water temp is 79 degrees still a little chilly for me but OK. Now that I'm cooled off I've got to figure out what to do for lunch, the pontoon is uncovered and ready to go, we live on the Alafia River, so I decide on Rick's on the River (Hillsborough River). Dixie calls up Charlene and we go to pack up a cooler and realize that we have no beer or water for the 1 hour ride there. Dixie's off to the store. I lower the boat and off we go, we pick Charlene up at her dock,she lives on the River also, and we're off. Charlene and Dixie are talking and talking and I'm thinking that I need to invite a friend for Dixie more often, like we did for the kids when we went on vacation, this eliminates a lot of pressure on me. It's a beautiful no cloud sky ride across Tampa Bay. The pontoon with its massive 90 HP is just a little slower than our last 38' Fountain Boat, we manage almost 20 mph at cruise, oh well when you retire some down sizing is necessary. The 30 or so docks at Rick's are almost all vacant so we easily find a space to dock. It's been a while since we have been to Rick's and I notice that they have painted a nice aqua themed mural on the retaining wall. Rick's has grown from a small building with outside dining for 30 to a much larger complex of mutiple tents, tin roofs, over a hundred numbered picnic tables, plus their inside Area with multiple rooms and bars. There's a staff of a gazillion during weekends and after 6 weekdays. Mellisa our bartender brings a round of Ultras and we order, we all know the menu by heart. I go inside to snap a few photos and Paul the manager comes over and in a nice way says, What the Hell are you taking pictures of ?. I explain I'm doing a review for a contest on the Travel Channel and everything is cool. Food shows up, Dixie and Charlene both got the Caribbean salad, Dixie got Blackened chicken on hers and Charlene got Blackened grouper. The salads are large, mixed greens, strawberries, papaya, mango, manderin oranges, and both came with 2 containers of raspberry vinagerette, not homemade but good. I got the blackened grouper sandwich, nice bun, lettuce, tomato and served with tartar sauce and also a honey mustard sauce. Side of onion rings finishes it off. Another round of Ultras and we finish our meals. I didn't feel bloated just satisfied, we all decided all portions were perfect. Tab for 3 meals and 6 beers $46, it's worth a trip there anytime, either by water or land. We drop Charlene off at her dock and I have to rinse off the boat as the waves on the way back were beating the pudding out of us, I use the word pudding because the sometimes the censors won't let me use the word shit. Time for another dip in the pool, life is good. I should have called this, the week of waterfront bar hopping. We arrive, in our pontoon boat, at The Beer Shed with Bobby Kay and Mary Kay right behind us in their boat. Not as much docking space here as at Dixies Dockside but we find one. It is bike night at The Shed tonight. This is also the 3rd Bike Night of the week. We get there early as I wanted to get a few pictures in the daylight. Domestic buckets are $12 for 6, on special due to bike night. Lisa and Diana are bartending tonight. There is a 2 man band playing music. The cook house is open with Chef John kicking out his much better than expected food, try the shrimp on skewers, but anything that is the special of the day is what to order. We grab some stools on the upper deck under the trees overlooking the Alafia River. The bikes start arriving and things are getting busy. Brian B (30) meets up with his nice "cougar" friend(50) he has just recently met, they are dancing and having a great time. Dixie and Eileen, the co-owner of The Shed, talk out front. This is a hard place to find but once you get here you will feel right at home. It's been here since the late 60s, with its expansion of the outside decks and other improvements it gets a little bigger but maintains its country river charm. Everybody is laid back, be prepared to share your table with strangers when the place is busy. Live music and Karaoke almost every night. Doctors to Farmers, to Lawyers to Construction Workers they all come here.Come by water or come by land. The tide is super low and we are debating over another bucket of beers if there is enough water to get home. Still can't decide so we wait out another buckets worth of time and finally we must leave so "out the door we went". Somebody take a picture of me so I can have one in my blog. After this blog you will see some advertisements if you like just click on one and that's how I get credit for these blogs. Thanks. See Ya Brian