April 6/7/8, Day 33/34/35, Wednesday/Thursday and Friday

Over these days we travel from Port St. Joe Florida to Cullman Alabama. The drive along the panhandle of Florida was great, beautiful scenery close to the gulf and a bright day.

As we are driving through the area of Seaside Florida it looks like a place to sit on the porch and watch the world go by, or stroll along the walkways. This is a great place to visit and I would consider vacationing there. There are quaint cottages to rent along with some neat condos.

In the small town areas there are many places to stop and eat sitting next to the sidewalk. Seaside’s closest thing to a food court is this string of food trucks (all converted Airstreams) along 30A.

We were so engrossed with the units standing next to the highway that we forgot to take pictures, but I found some on line.

A mile down the road was this house being built on the gulf.

We stop at the Whales Tail, beach, bar & grill was right on the beach, beautiful blue water gently waving on shore.

We can watch this from our outside seat. Shirleen had the Whaler, scrambled eggs, red potatoes and sausage with coffee; I a coffee and shrimp omelet with cheddar and jack cheese and grits, then Shirleen noticed they had a bloody Mary, so I had one, it is after 11. This was by far the best in a long long time, plenty of horseradish embellished with two string beans and an olive, just great.

We drove through Grayton trail and beach. This is a place that is overgrown with trees that make it look as though the houses were there first and the trees grew around them.

Our next stop is the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

What a pleasant stop. A great exhibit on the Navy live oak tree farm, yes, they harvested trees for the old wooden ships. The strength led to the name for the USS Constitution as ‘Old Ironsides’, because of the way iron cannon balls bounced off its sides. The building and gulf beach were destroyed a couple years ago by a hurricane and have been re built and the trees are coming back.

This eve we stopped at Back Yard Burgers, where she had a bowl of potato soup and I a mushroom Swiss. But on the way to dinner we hear a loud wrapping noise coming from the drivers side rear of the car. Not real worried as we have run flats and it can run street speeds real good without being flat. It turns out an inside part of the tire has separated and will need a new set before we go further.

This happens right across from a GM dealer so I go back the next morning for a new rear set. We then drove to Effingham IL as we wanted to make Michelle’s by Friday after noon. Mid-America Motors, a Corvette and VW enthusiasts, has a museum we stopped at again.

Michelle suggested we take a back road to Sussex WI, more to the west and not through Chicago. It turns out to be 10 miles more but less hassle. Along the way at Tower Hill we see this garage off the highway, now we know what to do with our old license plates.

We got to Michelle’s and Mark’s by 4:30 time to go to the Schwabenhof restaurant, Menomonee Falls, for a Friday night fish fry, the girls get the chicken, Mark a little of each and I fish. See you when we get back or to those further away, next email visit.

I said I had one more story coming, this time on Spanish moss.  We were told the story of it being used as a stuffing for pillows and mattresses in days gone by. Because of its softness people though that it would make for soft bedding? Well soon after they discovered that they harbored bugs and the phrase ‘don’t leave the bed bugs bite’. My take on it is that it was another way to enter our homes and during the dead of the night to wrap their long strands around the occupants of the beds. Then the moss could take over the world with the other plants I have mentioned. jerr

April 5, Day 32, Tuesday, Perry Florida to Port St. Joe Florida

What a night we had, but it started early morning, 5am. The thunder woke us and the lightening illuminated the room, the rain beating on the roof kept us awake. It did quit about 6:30am and that gave us a nice day. The road today will take us to Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, and through the museum.



Seminole panel from a School at Museum



The museum starts with the original prehistoric animals, the first Indians, Spanish discovery,



Citrus box panels



citrus development, winding thru it becoming a state for tourists,



Passenger Pigeon





V-mail,Aunt Vi's husband Lew sent one of these to my mom



A special Audubon exhibit was being held, nice to see a couple of originals. Also WWI and WWII. 



USS Florida SSBN 728



There was a model of the  USS Florida, SSBN 728, one hundred numbers after the Tecumseh SSBN 628 that I was on.



Back to the coast we head without a detail map, but I have my trusty map and sign reader along, she direct us to the highway that we wanted. The city is wrapped throughout a hillside and makes directions difficult.

Down through Crawfordville where we decided it is time to eat. I spot a café, Myra Jeans Restaurant. It has a nice menu, but the place is a old home-style place to eat. They have a section on the menu that is designated Economic Stimulus Menu, all items less than $6.95. Shirleen spotted a grilled cheese sandwich and a side of taters (mashed potatoes) and gravy. She raved about the real potatoes and tasty gravy.



Shirleen took best picture of train



I spotted a train overhead and asked the waitress if it worked she said yes and turned it on. Neat item. Then I ordered a hand pressed hamburger, not a frozen patty, with fired onions and fries. This hamburger was a knock out for flavor. We noticed that they had a Myra Jeans Cheeseburger challenge, included is mayo or ketchup, fries, a gigantic bun, buttered and grilled, 2 - one and a half beef patties, 10 slices of cheese and a full pound of fries. Eat it in one-half hour and it is free, your name goes on the wall and if you don’t eat it your name goes on the wall of shame and you pay for it. A couple have made it and a list of those who did not is also listed.

We continue on to the city of Carabelle which Shirleen has found the smallest police station in the world, yes it is a phone booth. We drove through town, back again, up a street and I saw a guy who gave us directions. Down the street to the right and there it is. Well we almost missed it again, so small.

Down to Apalachicola an old fishing town, fresh oysters and shrimp abound. We took a walk around town and pier. There are a couple of shrimp boats tied up, one has a guy with a tool box jumping off, he looks around as they start the diesel. It fires up and he smiles, I found he had just cleaned the injectors, I mentioned I had cleaned injectors on an old fleet boat submarine. I asked how much shrimp they can bring in? He said 100 boxes, not sure how much that was, forgot. But the boat we were looking at 

Like Aunt Vi's Shrimp Boat

had to haul ice to keep them frozen after catching them the boats in front of them had refrigeration on them, no need for ice.

Off for a nights rest, down the coast to Port St. Joe and found a Mainstay. Turns out tonight they have a shrimp and sausage boil with onions, potatoes and corn, with all the beer you can drink.

There are a couple of crews who are working in the fields putting in new buildings and they are eating it up. Turns out each night they have a manager’s reception from 6 to 7 but tonight, seeing it is the first Tuesday they have this shrimp boil. jerr

April 4, Day 31, Monday, Mount Dora to Perry Florida

Today we meet again with Mary Ann and Steve, always a great time with the Candi Lane neighbors. We figured we were within a half hour of their place. Well we left 45 minutes before we were to meet and we were still late. It turns out the map we look at does not show the stop lights and all the old people meandering down the road. Once we got there we talked about what had transpired since four weeks ago. Time to go to The Villages for lunch at Toojays Deli where we ate with them last time at noon. I loved the corned beef sandwich so much I wanted another with a matzo ball soup, as I did. Shirleen her bowl of French onion soup; Mary Ann had chicken noodle soup and Steve a naked turkey sandwich which he shared with Mary Ann. We went back to the house for a nice chat and it was three and time for us to go. It was a straight shot to Perry. A lot of the miles were thru tree lined highways. The wind was strong and the humidity and temp hi, 96 degrees, but it became cooler 82 but did not loose the humidity. Storms are on the horizon but we saw none, hope they go thru when we are sleeping and have clear sailing to Tallahassee and the night around Panama City. But who knows? Gas is the highest we have seen $3.74 per gallon.

No dinner tonight, they had Hors d’oeuvres and wine or beer at the hotel and that’s all it took.

A follow-up to the posting about the overtaking of the world by the mangroves. I thought back and reflected on the beauty of orchids. People cannot resist buying them and bringing them into their homes because of this beauty. I suspect that they are poised to gently pull their roots from the bark substrate they are planted in during the dead of the night and walk to your bedroom and squeeze their roots around the pretty necks lying in their beds! See how sneaky plants can be? Well that leaves me out; I don’t have a pretty neck. More to come.

jerr

April 3, Day 30, Sunday, Port Richey to Mount Dora

We attended mass at St. Michael the Archangel.

What an immense church. It is a round church with the main church on one half the round building, the other half is not as deep (the one you see here) but directly behind the main alter (the big structure behind the little one with the windows which are stained glass). Again looks like over a thousand attend one mass.

As in Europe and big cities, art and design can be found in church's.

Police direct traffic before and after masses, two squads. Well on a scale of 0 to 10 a weak 4. I will say, he said something I would agree with, the priest is a guide. I feel attending guides me into trying to be/do better with people, places and things. Enough.

We head to central Florida for a drive through the heartland. Many cattle in pasture settings, horse’s in nice looking farm yards. There is some evidence of the wind damage of earlier thus week, a number of trees were blown over, not many but you see some long the way. You barely think you are in Florida.

A couple thoughts. It is quite noticeable in the transportation vehicles of people from deep southern Florida Marco/Sanibel with their sporty cars and SUV’s, to Venice where you have standard vehicles and a couple pickup’s, to this area with small cars, vans and big pickup’s; stratifying of the monies. In each area, people are in a hurry. Followed a C6 silver Vette for a while around Disney, he was between 85 and 90, I backed down to 70 and got passed by most.

It was said that the people from the Chicago area winter on the gulf side and the New Yorkers on the Atlantic side. Wonder if there is any statistics on this? Surprising, today we saw four cars with license plates from Nova Scotia in the church parking lot.

We stopped at Logan’s Roadhouse for late afternoon lunch/dinner. A couple beers for us to wet the thirst. A bucket of peanuts are on each table and a basket of warm yeast rolls.  Shirleen jumped in with a big burger with tomato, lettuce, bacon and onions on it with chips; I found two thin pork chops, really tasty, with brewski onions Michelob AmberBock beer-braised onions, with a sweet potato.

Tomorrow we stop by Mary Ann and Steve’s to pick up my shirt and pants I left there a month ago. jerr

April 2, Day 29, Saturday Tampa to Port Richey

We head to Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. For a Saturday the roads are filled with vehicles.

We approach the area, next to the bay and the remnants of the Indy Racing league race of last weekend.

The concrete barriers and fencing are along the streets and skid marks evident around the corners. Someday I’ll make one of these races.



Dali Museum Entrance



This museum has just opened January 1; two years ago we visited the old museum, this is an impressive building.

One of his works, the Rolls Royce with the deep sea diver driving the lady in the back seat with seashells and seaweed sprinkled on the car, sits in the middle of the entry area.

The gallery is on the third floor, you can take an elevator or the spiral staircase to it. The reason will unveil itself later.

We hookup with a male docent, he sure enjoys his second calling. He points out the many hidden meanings about his brother that died at birth, given the name of Salvador Dali, which was given to the one we know now. His companion Gala shows up in many of his pictures. Another person who shows up frequently is his father. I will not try to explain why there are better google sites to tell you that. It is amazing to me how he can detail paint on a 6 inch square painting and also show the many details of all quadrants of his massive paintings, looking like 14 foot tall and 10 foot wide. Colors, shape – circles, curves, straight line, pictures within pictures, what a mind. We did buy the book that explains the meaning behind them if anyone wants to learn more orhttp://thedali.org/collection/collection_highlights.html. The docent loved to explain the sexual comments Dali made in his painting, of course he was a psychoanalyst.

Every 30 minutes a new docent takes a group, we see that she, ah, somewhat different. Not sure if she knew the shoe should be on the foot?

She gave a somewhat but some same explanation of the paintings. Later she told me that if she is not asked to have her picture taken 10 during the day that it is a failed day. She had been doing this for 14 years and has had no special training but a lot of reading and conversation with other docents.



Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man

Here is my favorite -

As we are looking at one of the large pictures she points to the double helix in one of the pictures and two of them in another. The GALACIDALACIDEOXYRIBONUCLEICACID (Homage to Crick and Watson), was inspiring. And why is the staircase to the third floor spiral?

We thought to eat at the Café Gala, we split a Serranitas – roast pork, Serrano ham, olive oil, tomato manchego, pimento aioli on Focaccia, I a bowl of tasty, reminded me of Mom’s, Caldo Gallego (her bean soup) – Spanish ham with white bean, yummy.

We go outside to walk the maze (to right) but when viewed from the third floor you can see why we couldn’t, the storm of two days ago blew down three palm trees in the area.

We stopped at the Florida Botanical Garden in the Tampa north. It was a nice place to walk. Not sure we were not here once before but will check this picture out against our last trip.



Lily Pad design



None the less a nice walk and a spot we sat in the sun watching the gentle breeze blowing the lily pads in the water.

Now travel north ton Belleair Shores to Clearwater and a lot of people on these fine white sand beaches. We stop at a Marriot for dinner; we first were going to have an appetizer but decided for dinner looking into the bay between the island and the mainland. A basket of assorted warm breads came out with a pad of butter but I opted for the olive oil, look at the container, inside is the balsamic vinegar in a grape shaped vessel surrounded by a tasty virgin olive oil, pour what you want.

Shirleen had a Hess cabernet with her Petit Filet with a blend of mushrooms and black olives on it with a spinach salad;


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My Cesar salad with slices of parmesan cheese on it,

 I the pan fried grouper, look at plate shape.

we split some hash browns. They were fried crisp on the outside succulent on the inside with shallots, small amount of white cheese and bathed in Olive Oil. Back on the road for the night in Port Richey. jerr

Friday, Sarasota to Tampa area

April 1, Day 28, off to Marie Selby Botanical Garden in Sarasota.

Today it is a bright nearly cloudless day. As we have already been here we thought it was a good place to walk. Turns out there were areas we did not remember and some new ones. Again we use the MN arboretum pass, otherwise another $17 each but would have been worth it anyhow.



Koi and Docent



We had a docent for the first half hour, she pointed out the damage the recent hurricane had done, because of a full year growth cycle it recovers fast.



Hindu Temple Guardian



This garden is noted for its large collection of epiphytes both living and dried for the future. These are orchids, bromeliads, cactus and ferns.



Epiphytes: Orchid and Spanish moss on a tree branch



We went to see the house adjacent given to the city by another women and it expands the whole garden.

On exhibit are carved Rainforest Masks of the Borucan Indians of Costa Rica. The wood is said to be balsam. This is the fourth year they have imported these through a member who originally brought them to the garden. The garden gives the Indians the number of masks they want for the exhibit and gives them money up front to do them. There were three Islanders early on showing how they carve them, takes about four days. As you can see, they are brightly colored, with local flora and fauna making up the mask. There were a number of masks of fierce looking men. I estimate a 125 or so masks with all but six or so not advance purchased.  Three levels of cost, around $225, 450, and 1,500. If there had been an orchid one left I would have considered it. But as last time, two years ago, there were none left.

The garden in front of the house had flowers and paths to meander.



Blosson six inches long

 We walked through a small garden and a lady said that we should try the fruit of this Jaboticaba tree from Brazil noted as the most desirable because of the taste of the berry - not the one alongside this. The fruit grows on the trunk and limbs of the tree, has a bitter black skin, sweet inside and a nut to spit. 



Selby Café for lunch. Shirleen’s chicken wrap and my jambalaya soup were a nice lunch under a banyan tree. As we walked to the bench I noticed a small purse draped over the back of it. So, again, happened in North Mankato a couple months ago, I turned it in to the café. I imagine the lady appreciated having it found.



Orchids for sale




Orchid blossom



Orchid blossom



As I was waiting for Shirleen to read a plack, I spotted something dropping from a palm tree. I went to look up from where the material dropped.


Eastern Screech Owl

 There was an owl, small, eight inches tall. I watched it move to three different spots on the palm. One lady with a Nikkon came by I mentioned it was there and she said she was taking pictures but would look. Well she started, her husband an accomplished photographer and others starting taking pictures, snap, snap it goes.










Ringling bought St. Armand’s Key name for President Harding, Harding circle. It has a central shopping and central park with boulevards filled with statues.

You can find it by taking Ringling Ave. west. Again this island was bought and given to the city by Ringling. We had a nice walk around this immense round about that has many plaques of Ringling Brothers employees. Shirleen found my favorite, Emmett Kelly.



Emmett Kelly







Shops and outside eating abounds.

We travel up these keys and found it relaxing.











We turn towards highway 75 and notice a DeSoto National Park.
After many wrong turns we got there at 2 minutes to 5 but were able to get the National Park stamp for our book. This park does not require money to get into, different?

Dinner at a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s for sliced beef sandwiches, a nice break. We do laundry tonight. jerr