Tampa Bay takes from a non-local

👋 Shane Savitsky here, deputy managing editor of Axios Local — and fresh off a trip to your corner of the world to visit Ben and Selene.

State of stay: I bunked in downtown St. Pete this time after choosing downtown Tampa last May, so I was all primed to write a hot take comparing the two. But I'll just ask a simple question instead:

• Are you deliberately hiding St. Pete? Do you not want us folks from up north to know that it's really, really cool? Maybe you want the "God's waiting room" thing to persist so your real estate market doesn't turn even more insane.
• I've been to a few Axios Local cities now, and I'm not sure there's a cooler street than Central Ave. (Worth noting: I'm writing this from South Congress in Austin, so TBD.)
• My ideal day was book browsing at Tombolo, dinner at Wild Child, dessert at Plant Love and a nightcap at Green Bench. How can you beat that?

The big picture: Ben and Selene made sure I saw the full breadth of your wild, weird country. We drove from Clearwater to Sarasota (shoutout Mahuffer's), but I sure was glad to head back to St. Pete.

❓ Where should I go on my next Tampa Bay visit? Email me and tell me what I missed.