Join us and "Make A Difference" at the 2007 NACWAA National Convention, October 6-9, 2007 at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club, St. Petersburg, FL!

October 6-9, 2007; St. Petersburg, Florida

THINGS TO DO
PEER OVER THE PIER: It’s the city’s landmark, that inverted pyramid that juts a half mile into Tampa Bay from downtown’s shores. The Pier, attracting two million visitors a year, is a five-story marketplace with shops and restaurants, The Pier Aquarium, an observation deck, a bait shop and more.

STROLL THROUGH THE GARDENS: Everything is in bloom at Sunken Gardens, an exotic collection of more than 50,000 tropical plants and flowers. The four-acre botanical attraction features a butterfly garden, wedding lawn, a walk-through aviary with exotic species of birds, and an orchid arbor. This garden is open seven days a week.

TAKE THE HIGH WAY: The Sunshine Skyway, the Interstate-275 Bridge that connects the southern tip of St. Petersburg with Manatee County and Sarasota to the south, is one of the largest suspension bridges in the Western Hemisphere, measuring 4.1 miles long and 19 stories high.

SWING ON THE BOULEVARD: Baseball Boulevard, a series of home-plate plaques, tells an interesting 90-year history of St. Petersburg’s love affair with baseball’s spring training. The sidewalk plaques lead from Progress Energy Park/Al Lang Field to Tropicana Field, mostly along the south side of Central Avenue.

TAKE A WALK OF FAME: Visit the Tampa Bay Walk of Fame, located at the west side entrance to Tropicana Field. Here, dozens of sports legends who hail from the 11-county Tampa Bay metro are recognized - including Tampa Bay Bucs great Lee Roy Selmon, baseball all-star Wade Boggs, Babe Zaharias, the greatest woman athlete of all time, and Olympic and world champion swimmer Nicole Haislett. Free.

REMEMBER THE HOLOCAUST: St. Petersburg’s newest museum leaves a most memorable impression. The fourth largest Holocaust museum in the country, the Florida Holocaust Museum is housed in downtown St. Petersburg. The centerpiece of the museum is a Polish Boxcar used to transport victims to the death camps during World War II. The museum features an art exhibit including an acclaimed outdoor sculpture entitled “Endless Column.”

JEWELED OBJECTS OF DESIRE: Florida International Museum – From the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This exhibit opens up visions of delight with exquisite, unique and whimsical decorative arts formed out of jade, ivory, semi-precious stones, gold and silver, embellished with such stars of the natural world as diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. This exhibit is created especially for FIM's salute to the Smithsonian.

BROWSE WITH THE HIGH BROWS: In addition to St. Petersburg’s world class museums, the visual arts are vibrant in the Sunshine City. More than two dozen galleries comprise the Downtown Art Association, and open their doors on the second Saturday evening each month for a downtown gallery hop. Three galleries of note: Headquarters of American artist P. Buckley Moss, the Florida Craftsmen guild's statewide gallery, and the Arts Center of St. Petersburg.

GET IN THE ACT: Theater comes to St. Petersburg at a number of venues. The Mahaffey Theater for the Performing Arts at the Bayfront Center raises the curtain on a season of national artists and Broadway musicals. And, Florida's top-ranked resident professional theater, American Stage, performs highly acclaimed works from its intimate theater downtown and each spring during its outdoor Shakespeare festival, American Stage in the Park.

HIT THE TRAIL: The Pinellas Trail is a 47-mile fitness trail built on abandoned railways. One of the longest linear parks in the United States, it runs from Tarpon Springs to the north to its terminus in south St. Petersburg.

DRIVE YOURSELF CRAZY: St. Petersburg is home to three acclaimed municipal golf courses, Mangrove Bay, Cypress Links, and Twin Brooks. In addition, there are numerous privately-operated championship golf courses in St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay area.

WALK INTO WEEDON: Take a walk along three miles of boardwalk and paved trails at Weedon Island, a pristine and natural resource once home to Seminole Indians. The park features a 50-foot-high look out site over Tampa Bay waters that show a panoramic view of downtown St. Petersburg, Tropicana Field, and Tampa. An ideal park for biking, blading, canoeing, and bird watching.

Capturing the golden age of Florida resorts, the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club takes you back to a time when elegance reigned supreme, service was an art form and grand surroundings made every guest feel special. The showplace of St. Petersburg's waterfront, the Renaissance Vinoy Resort is the only luxury resort on Florida's West Coast with the combination of a private marina, 18-hole golf course and 12-court tennis complex. First-class amenities surround you in the meticulously restored resort, a fine example of 1920's Mediterranean Revival architecture that has earned it a National Register of Historic Places designation. Spacious guest rooms combine the elegance of the past with the amenities of the present, like high-speed Internet access. The resort's restaurants present innovative cuisine that highlights Mediterranean flavors and new American cooking.

DIRECTONS
Tampa - TPA
1-813-870-8700
Hotel Direction: 22 mi SW
Driving Directions: Take I-275 South to St Petersburg, take exit 23A (I-375), stay left, follow 4th Ave North to Beach Dr, turn left, resort is one block on right.
Airport shuttle service, on request, fee: 20 .00 (one way)
Bus service, fee: 20.00 (one way)
Estimated taxi fare: 48.00 (one way)

St Petersburg - PIE
1-727-453-7800
Hotel Direction: 12 mi NW
Driving Directions: Take I-275 South to St Petersburg, take exit 23A (I-375), stay left, follow 4th Ave North to Beach Dr, turn left, resort is one block on right.
Airport shuttle service, reservation required, fee: 21.00(one way)
Estimated taxi fare: 24.00 (one way)

Clearwater - CLW
1-727-453-7800
Hotel Direction: 12 mi NW
Driving Directions: Take I-275 South to St Petersburg, take exit 23A (I-375), stay left, follow 4th Ave North to Beach Dr, turn left, resort is one block on right.
Estimated taxi fare: 24.00 (one way)