St. Pete / Tampa

This is a banyan tree. It's totally nuts. Their roots hang down from the branches and then eventually reach the ground.
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In a trick like that of the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,” the Tampa Bay Devil Rays don’t actually play in Tampa, but in St. Petersburg Florida (liars!).  We spent 2 days in this cute town and stayed with Gali, a really nice, sweet graphic designer.  She showed us around town and we also did some exploring on our own.  Possibly the weirdest sight of the trip appeared in St. Pete: an unwrapped mummy.  Creeeeeepy.

After our visit to the Metrodome in Minneapolis we were primed for indoor baseball in air-conditioned comfort along with all the oddities of a domed stadium.  Luckily, Tropicana Field (also known as “the Trop,” or “the Juicebox”) is a little more like a real ballpark thanks to the full-dirt infield and slightly more realistic fake grass.  There’s a lot of elaborate artwork and restaurants and things to look at, so we enjoyed walking around the stadium.  Best of all is the tank of live rays in center field that you can pet as you watch the game.  Pretty sweet, huh?