Advertisement
Published: April 30th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Saint Andrews State Park
Near Panama City, Florida. wonderful park, great beach and walking trails. Florida is Green, Lush & Watery....
We spent the month of March in Florida. William, performing around the state to large & small audiences of primarily the 50+ age group. At 'the Villages' - a massive retirement community of 80,000 residents occupying 4 counties, and not easy to get a gig at, William did his show to a packed house of 600. Needless to say, they were so happy he did, and many people in the Florida audiences have commented that his is the best show they had EVER seen/heard. It was fun to share in William's successes here! One of them came through our relatives John & Judy who winter in an RV type resort in Fort Pierce. William did a show there in exchange for a couple nights stay, arranged rather short notice. But nevertheless, to a good sized, very enthusiastic audience who were quite generous when the hat was passed. Thank you John and Judy!
The 'Old Florida' refers to the areas where massive condo development, especially along the coastal areas has NOT occured, and one can still experience small quaint towns with old houses and a rural feeling. The area of the "pan handle" in
the north west part of the state along the curving gulf coast particularly reflects the feeling of old Florida. The one exception was the area around Panama City, which is a very built up resort area. When we camped near there at St. Andrews State Park the place was full of college students from northern states, vacationing on their spring break. We kept wondering WHEN & WHERE we were going to cross over to the eastern time zone. To our surprise it was farther east than we expected. All of the pan handle area of Florida is still the central time zone.
We enjoyed the Manatee Springs State park a little farther south & east where we were still able to catch sight of some teenage sized Manatees. This was a unique park which had massive springs bubbling up in it. It was fun to watch these smaller Manatees as they swam gracefully away from the springs. The Manatees can be seen in Florida in the months of January, February, and if you're lucky, as we were, into March. In winter they seek the warmer inland waters that are typically a temperature of about 70 degrees. Earlier in the
season they can be seen in much greater numbers. We also learned that there are MANY SPRINGS all around Florida and likely higher water tables. Everywhere in northern Florida is green, & flat with many tall trees. All the highways here are lined with tall trees, often pines.
The Joys of the Beach & Family!
After a visit to familiar and beautiful Sarasota and environs, where Williams parents used to spend the winter, (he did one show there) we headed south and east to meet up with many of the Florian clan for a week of fun along the atlantic coast. We partied at Del Ray beach for a whole week with brother John, his wife Nancy, sister Nan, and her kids Cole and Heather. John & Nancy showed us a good time there, and we all survived the wild and crazy St. Patricks Day parade that marched down the main street of the town. That's about as far south as we went except for a wonderful day at a beach where we got to see a FULL rainbow and then a double rainbow while we sat at our table eating our seafood dinner. It was breathtaking
Manatee Springs State Park
Awesome place to walk and see the wildlife. and made us feel our whole day had been further blessed. William and I even went swimming in the refreshing ocean waves that day. We all had a good time together that week!
More Shows
Moving back north again William did a bunch of shows at retirement and RV snowbird communities, also very well received. Sometimes we are invited to eat at their facilities where they say the food is "very good". Well we checked it out once, believing them, but found, it not up to the high standards of our California everything fresh cuisine! Here follows some notes I made about the lunch menu at one of these senior places: "From the Grill" is listed a "Monte Cristo" which is described as: sliced turkey, ham, & cheese in white bread, buttered and deep fried golden brown served with strawberry jam. WOW! We'd never seen or heard of a "Monte Cristo" like this!... Had to be invented in the South, right?! The "Super Salad" was chicken, tuna, AND shrimp on mixed greens (not like you think) surrounded with fruits. The soups were predictably overly heavy on the salt and cream. William and I both agree, we NEVER
Manatee Springs State Park
It is in Chiefland, FL along rte 19, near the Gulf. want to live in any of these kinds of places!
We spent an evening with one of William's old friends whom he had not seen for decades. That was fun, and I got to hear many more details of Williams sordid early adulthood! Or, at least a particular year or two.
In the northern Atlantic part of Florida is another notable city that we enjoyed spending a day at. St. Augustine was really impressive, incredibly preserved as, it boasts to be the oldest city in North America founded in the early 1600s by the Spanish and existing under their rule for quite sometime (and well before the pilgrims ever arrived at Plymoth). Gee, I/we didn't know that! A beautiful and touristy city with an interesting history, that I can't remember much about now to include here. I can tell you it was fun to walk the old narrow, cobbled streets and languish a bit in the old world charm, something I am always a sucker for, and it captures my heart immediately! This is also a college town, home of a private liberal arts college that occupies an amazing old complex of brick buildings. You could feel like
a king or queen dining in the domed and artful student dining hall, but the college is surprisingly less money to attend per year than the University of Florida (something like $22,000. per year).
Cypress Cove Nudist Resort
The last week of March was our Floridian finale, which we spent relaxing in one of the nicest (we were told by those who know) nudist resorts anywhere. It is an older one with, I would say, many aging hippie types (but not only) & included a small residential area of mobile homes in additon to the RV camping sections. It occupied several hundred lovely acres, it's own lake for paddling around on, and great recreational facilities. William did a show there, of course, and our stay was 'free'. Here, I even decided to dance during the (not usual break) between sets. This, I do not do often these days, but it was fun and very well received too. We enjoyed rec-reating but, the presence of the strong WiFi all over the facility was problematic for me (I get hot flashes for one thing, and loud ringing in the ears). Still, relaxing by the pool, bike riding on the
Manatee Springs State Park
Where we saw the Manatees! one mountain bike that had been given away to us back in Arizona, & the like, all in the perfect springtime weather was ever so pleasant! And, honestly, we both do feel VERY blessed and gifted to be able to do what we are doing, seeing the country, with our way paved in such a fun way!... And, we get (even me) to be 'Stars' who are well loved and respected, so there is little to complain about - and I hope I don't sound like I am in these logs! That said, however, I must admit that I do miss my kids Gabe and Adam!
Finally, on April 2nd, we drove from Florida over the border into the coastal part of Georgia, then sampled a little S. Carolina and a little N. Carolina.
Up next!....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.176s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 10; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0462s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
june frances
non-member comment
love blogs
Hey C&W~ I love getting your blogs. You must be SOOOOO happy being free and full of adventure. Send more soon. Soooo much love, Junee