GOAL: To visit a former college roommate and see and photograph Busch Gardens and Salvador Dali Museum. All accomplished!

TRANSPORTATION: Southwest Airlines is the only choice from Nashville unless you need to be on the road for two days. I also got a cheap rent car the first two days because of a medical conflict that developed for Clyde and did Busch before seeing him.

DINING OUT: Clyde and I ate at the cuban restaurant again this year (I keep forgetting the name) and at his favorite Barbeque place, Lee Roy Selmon's. I got take out from his favorite Mexican cafe once and ate at two place in Busch Gardens, the BBQ being the best to me. And had a great upscale sandwich and gazpacho soup at the Dali Museum.

BUSCH GARDENS: As a zoo person who had already seen Tamp Lowry Park Zoo on an earlier trip, this was my first goal and I accomplished it before getting to Clyde's. At Busch an old friend Shellie who used to work at Nashville Zoo took me behind the scenes in Education Department and got me a free safari tour. It shows what you can do with a zoo if you have plenty of money. Thespace, grounds and atmosphere is one of the best natural enviornments for animals I have seen next to Animal Kingdom at Disney World, their biggest competitor. I did not like all of the many roller coasters right next to the animals, but that is their world. My two favorite exhibits were the Serrengeti Safari where I fed a giraffe and the Myombe Reserve esxhibit of Chimpanzees and Gorillas. Both compete wel with Disney!  See Photos

SALVADOR DALI MUSEUM: I used Clyde's car to drive to downtown St. Pete to see this truly great art museum and eat lunch there in the museum. I learned so much that I did not know about Dali and the collection of his works if fabulous! It is the largest outside the Dali Museum in Spain. See Photos

CLYDE VISIT: We had a good visit and I was a little shocked at his physical condition since his old breat cancer flared back up. He was quite frail and when we tried to go to a baseball game, he passed out in the 3rd inning and again in his condo parking lot which scared me. It was take-out food that night and I got my own transportation to the airport Saturday morning. After he completes 3 more Chemo treatments, he is going to spend a couple of months with relatives in Missouri which I hope will be helpful and that he gets his strength back.

TRIP PHOTO GALLERY:  http://www.pbase.com/charliedoggett/travel_tampa_2011