Bar 177 and 178: Tampa

I am a real American, fight for what's right, fight for your life - Hulk Hogan

 Bar 177: Hogan's Beach

We drove down to Tampa for the day on a quest to meet Hulk Hogan. We found out, on our way though, that he was in Orlando for the day. We probably passed him on the road! We were celebrating Ryan's brother Brett's 29th birthday and Hogan's Beach was just the place to do it. Brett, Ryan and our friend Paul are all big wrestling and Hulk Hogan fans.

We heard that Jimmy Hart is there frequently so we had hoped to see him as well. Turns out, he was also in Orlando! But we did make the most of the trip by taking photos of everything!

Jimmy Hart hosts karaoke at the bar each Tuesday and we have not ruled out another week-day stop just to meet him.

The bar itself is really spectacular. They have tiki huts on the water, cabanas, two sand volleyball pits, a tiki bar, Hulk Hogan memorabilia and great food and drink!

For lunch we sat at a table right by the water. It wasn't too crowded and we were able to get a table rather quickly. We did hear that this place really fills up at night!

Ryan enjoyed a Hogan's punch, Brett and I each had a Sweetwater Pale Ale and Paul had a skinny margarita. All of the drinks were delicious!

After lunch we made our way to the tiki bar for another round of drinks. The tiki bar is right next to a boat rental place where you can get jet-skis and other water rentals.

I had a strawberry mojito that was pretty decent!

All in all, with the exception of not meeting Hulk Hogan or Jimmy Hart, it was a pretty memorable day. And now, we have a reason to come back.

Bar 178: Whiskey Joe's

Just across the water from Hogan's Beach and a quick 5 minute walk was Whiskey Joe's. Very similar but they have more beach on their property. We sat at a picnic table with our feet in the sand.

We were really impressed with both beach bars for their location. They have done a great job of giving you that relaxing beach bar feeling without having to travel the extra 20 minutes to Clearwater.

Whiskey Joe's had great drink specials going for $3.50 Coronas so most of us had that. Ryan asked for a Manhattan, they brought him Jim Beam and a side of cherry juice. He underestimated the amount of cherry juice and poured a bit too much, however, not the bars fault.

Our fantastic DJ, had been promoting the hurricanes all day so Ryan finally gave in. He asked for a hurricane without any carbonation. What he got was a glass of rum and a glass of the fruit juices. This was his first attempt to mix the two.

Our friends Tara and Alan met up with us as they live just a few minutes from there. Tara joined us at our first ever beach bar (Hula Bay) and both she and Alan have been with us to a couple other stops. It is always fun for us to be able to share this journey with our friends and family. We hadn't seen each other in a while and it was great catching up with them!