Riverwalk Tampa – New Year’s Eve 2020

I had not planned on a final post of 2020. But after an unexpected day -much like this year, I decided to share the all the feels here. Today we went to Riverwalk Tampa – New Year’s Eve 2020.

It was unexpected because we planned to go to the beach and I intended on sunbathing in my new swimsuit while Atlas played in the sand. But this morning was super cloudy.

So when my hubby suggested we ride our bikes on the Riverwalk in Tampa, it sounded like a great idea!

I haven’t really experienced much of Tampa yet and figured “carpe diem” on the last day of 2020.

New Year’s Eve

Before we get into Riverwalk, let’s talk NYE. I can remember NYE 1997 as I stood in a friend’s kitchen watching the ball drop on a small box tv. The rumor was going around that a certain young man would be kissing me that night.

As he and I nervously stood there and counted down, we shared our first kiss. Little did we know that 23 years later we would be married for 20 years with 2 sons.

Rather than reflecting on the past year, we find ourselves reflecting on the past 23 years. Spending the day together as a family was all that I could ask for.

Riverwalk Tampa

We packed a picnic lunch, typed Riverwalk Tampa into our GPS and hit the road, bikes in tow. After sitting in the grass having lunch along the Hillsborough River we hopped on our bikes for the 2.6 mile waterfront cycling path.

You don’t have to bike, you can walk, run, skate, scoot, hoverboard, heck you can even paddleboard, canoe, boat and more – you decide. There’s so much to do here!

Also there are plenty of places for land and water rentals. We saw cycle boats, dinner cruises, you name it.

Things to do Riverwalk Tampa

We discovered that there are many things to do on Riverwalk Tampa. We’ll definitely be back to check them out:

1. The Florida Aquarium
2. Henry B. Plant Museum
3. Glazer Children’s Museum
4. Tampa Museum of Art
5. Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park
6. Tampa Theatre
7. Tons of Restaurants!
8. Tampa Bay History Center
9. Amalie Arena
10. Tampa Convention Center
11. Armature Works

I’m sure I missed something, but start here to plan your day!

Riverwalk is a lively, family friendly area with plenty to do and plenty of people, young and old.

Some are wearing masks and taking precautions, but when outdoors, not everyone feels the need to mask up while within safe social distancing.

New Year’s Eve 2020 Final Words

After spending a few hours at Riverwalk, we ended up going home to give Atlas a nap. During that time Rob & I watched a movie called Greenland. I cried the.entire.movie. It was scary and I actually hated the movie. But it was good. You’d have to see it to understand what I mean.

Then we spend the evening cooking and lighting fireworks. We even went to the lake by our house and watched the fireworks under a full moon. It was pretty beautiful.

I already wrote about a reflection on my spiritual growth in this post called How I grew my faith in 2020.

So, I’ll end this final post by saying that I’m feeling grateful for health, life and my family. I’m thankful that God loves me, is with me, has plans for me, if only I’d seek Will.

With that said, I still need His grace and mercy every single day. I am an imperfect woman trying to imitate Jesus in a corrupt world and I fail, more often that I’d like.

My inner most desire is to be more like Him and less like this world.

Farewell 2020. Welcome 2021. I don’t know how ready I am for you, but with God, anything is possible. Amen.