Thrills & Spills: Thrills

Thrills & Spills: My Adventurous Weekend

Thrills

It was a nice weekend. The weather was beautiful with highs around 77 degrees and lows in the mid 50s. Saturday the Heritage Cigar Fest was going on down in historic Ybor City. Even though it has been many years,  I've been to the Cigar Fest in the past and it was always a great time. 

I was a bit surprised at how small the festival has become. The last time I went it was several blocks long and there were tons of vendors. This year it was one block and a parking lot. There were around 20 cigar vendors, a few food trucks, and three beer stands selling some local favorites. Don't get me wrong, despite it's size the festival was fun. There was live music all day and they mixed it up so it was enjoyable. We had a lot of fun talking to the vendors and seeing what's new in the Cigar industry. 

 

The hubs used to work in the biz and saw a few people he knew while we were there. It's always nice to see old faces and catch up. While we were there we picked up a few cigars for the hubs. I don't smoke anymore but when I did, I certainly loved some of the more mild, smooth, but flavorful cigars out there. I will admit, I was also a big flavored fan. As we walked around, I enjoyed all the sweet smells of tobacco. Such a nice change from nasty old cigarettes. We grabbed him a few fat ones and some novelties.

Afterwards, we walked down to Centro Ybor. I love the old brick buildings in Ybor City. There is some neat history through the area. The day time is filled with daytime boutiques, coffee houses, cigar bars, patio dining, outdoor bars, vintage shops, tattoo parlors and the movies. 

The night time Ybor City is much different as most of the daily businesses close as a variety of night life locals begin to open.

We finished off our day with a trip to Bahama Breeze for a late lunch/early dinner. I had a dip/salsa type app. It was lump crab, avacado, apple, shrimp, and mango. It was served with two large crackers - tasted like melba toast. It was fantastic!! I can see me having that for lunch here and there. I actually preferred to eat it without a cracker. Everything was so fresh. It was like eating a caribbean crab salad.

It was a great Saturday. Sunday Funday started off on a good note but took a spill mid day..but that's a story for tomorrow.