Tampa Bay by the Mile

Get in your car on Seventh Avenue, smack dab in the middle of Ybor City, the colorful Latin Quarter of Tampa Bay. If you want to check out the Series next week, why not hurry down this weekend, bring your costumes and check out Guavaween on Saturday? This music masquerade party attracts about 80,000 revelers. Or stop and grab a Cuban sandwich at Florida's oldest eatery, Columbia Restaurant.

Continue down Seventh for about a mile, then turn left onto the Nuccio Parkway, to the Channelside Drive. If you're in the driver's seat, take advantage of the seaside scenery as you pass the city's port, which contains cruise ship after cruise ship nestled in along the docks, awaiting departure to destinations across the Atlantic.

Next you'll pass the Florida Aquarium, the state's largest, where you can see more than 20,000 aquatic plants and animals. Bring your suit and your daring nature, and swim with the fishes, promenade with the penguins or go shark-diving.

Just beyond the aquarium, you'll drive by the St. Pete Times Forum, where hockey's Tampa Bay Lightning ply their trade. The Lightning are now playing home games for the 2008-09 season. Upcoming dates include Oct. 25, Nov. 1 and Nov. 13.

Channelside Drive then becomes Bayshore Boulevard, where you will find what the Guinness Book of World Records deems the longest continuous sidewalk in the world, at about 4.5 miles. Gaze in envy and/or awe at the multimillion-dollar beachside homes to your right, then turn to your left and enjoy the beauty of the sun sparkling on the water of the bay itself. But keep one eye in front of you so you can dodge the bikers, joggers and skaters out for their afternoon exercise.