I know that I have a love for pirates. My football team mascot, the historic pirates like Blackbeard who left their buried treasure on the North Carolina coast, the Pirates of the Carribbean and especially Jack Sparrow. However, I have never been introduced to the pirates in Tampa, Florida... until this year! Every year Tampa celebrates the pirate Jose Gaspar at the Gasparilla Festival in January. This year I went, and what fun it was! I went to visit my cousin, Alyssa, who lives in Tampa. We got to watch the Gasparilla Pirate Ship invade the city full of pirates! The cannons and guns were very loud as they invaded the city. Following the pirate ship were hundreds of boats entering into the Bay to throw down their anchors and have a great time socializing on their boats.
After the invasion of the Gasparilla we went to the parade. The parade route is over four miles long (twice the length of the Raleigh Christmas Parade that I am used to walking) and attended by over 300,000 people! There were a lot of people watching the parade and catching beads.
It was very refreshing to leave the 19 degree temperatures in North Carolina and spend a weekend in Tampa with temperatures in the 60's. With the sun shining and pirates everywhere I turned, I can safely say that Tampa gave me a great weekend!
