Free State of Florida

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Before continuing on down to Florida, Mom and I headed downstairs for something we had been waiting for over a year for, an actual hot hotel breakfast served in a dining room. It wasn’t quite the normal walk around serve yourself buffet experience, but it still was much welcomed. There was a velvet rope between us and the buffet. You told the server what you wanted and then she loaded up your tray for you. Luckily, we were the only ones trying to get served or this system could easily get backed up. I ordered the equivalent of two breakfasts (pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy) to make up for lost time.

As we were about to get on the highway, Mom spotted a local shop selling praline and fudge. She insisted we stop and get some for the drive. Mom immediately fell into conversation with the 70 something year old owner, who was laying out a freshly baked batch of praline. She asked him if she needed to wear a mask. He replied that no it wasn’t necessary. In turned out that both Mom and he already had covid and were not concerned about getting it again. In fact, the two of them were long over the whole pandemic experience. A pair of the “most vulnerable” chatting away and sharing some homespun wisdom. We bought two whole bags of the praline and the fudge. Mouth wateringly good! The drive down to Florida through Georgia was shaping up to be delicious.

It was a bright sunny day. We ditched our jackets as the air grew warmer and warmer. Soon we were forced to turn on the car’s air conditioning for the first time. Georgia whizzed by and we quickly found ourselves in the sunshine state. This was my first time ever in Florida. I had been to India and Vanuatu, but not down here. It was Mom’s first time in Florida since 1969, when she had come down to witness the launch of Apollo 12.

There seemed to be preponderance of bad drivers in Florida, but I kept faithfully cruising down the road to our destination, St. Augustine. This stop was a Mom pick. Her father had been one of the main architects for nearby Marineland back in the 1930s and she was eager to finally visit it herself. I was interested in it too because it was actually the oldest city in North America, founded by the Spanish in 1565. We had a reservation at a resort hotel. After three days of hard driving, we were ready to unpack our bags and relax.

After checking-in we ventured out to explore the amenities before it got dark. We checked out the pool area and then wandered out on a long elevated boardwalk to get a good first look at the Atlantic Ocean. I scrambled down the rocks to get to the beach access. There wasn’t much beach, a little sliver really, but hey this was a warm beach in February! Beggars can’t be choosers. I went for a short stroll to soak in the atmosphere. We ended the night with a peaceful dinner at one of the resort’s restaurants.

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Hot breakfast alert! Hot breakfast alert! We had reached the Free state of Florida and there was an actual full breakfast buffet where we could walk around with our plates and serve ourselves. A little bit of Old Normal had been restored. We took our breakfasts to a high backed booth and organized the day’s itinerary. We would start out at Marineland and then visit Fort Matanzas.

Marineland opened to great renown as the World’s First Oceanarium and was partially designed by my grandfather in one of his last acts of bachelordom. It started out as a place where film studios could do underwater shoots, but soon became overwhelming popular with tourists who loved seeing the dolphins and other marine life. It was at Marineland that people first realized just how intelligent dolphins were and how much they could actually learn to do.

The park still retained the touches of the Art Deco style that was popular when my grandfather was drawing up the plans back in the 1930s. It was cute how Mom kept telling everyone she met (shop assistants, fellow visitors, etc.) in the park about her father’s contributions to the beginning of Marineland. We had planned to just look around the park, but we soon found ourselves signed up for a “Dolphin Experience”. This was music to Mom’s ears. If we had brought our suits with us, we probably would have found ourselves in the water with the bottle nosed critters.

This was going to be really special for Mom, because it brought together two of her lifelong loves, dolphins and memories of her father. We first watched a small group of people who were actually in the water with the dolphins. This session ended with each person getting a ride on a dolphin who swam on its back while the human visitor held on to its flippers. The kids of course got much smoother rides than the heavier adults.

It was then time for our dolphin experience, which we shared with six other people. We emptied our pockets so nothing would fall out into the water and were led to a medium sized tank that contained two dolphins. Our dolphin, Lightning, was 42 years old, same age as me. He had lived and performed all over the country, including Las Vegas.

Lightning definitely had a mind of his own. When told to do a trick he swam around the entire tank and greeted everyone even those who were not part of his group. The exasperated trainer finally got his attention again. However, instead of doing his own requested trick Lightning went over and joined the other dolphin, who was doing a different trick. He then nudged this dolphin out of the way while simultaneously stealing his friend’s trick. He was 42 years old and had earned the right to do things his own way.

Lightning eventually settled down and played with his assigned group. This consisted of waves, pats, and a splash fight that bordered on the chaotic. Finally, each of us reached out and Lighting stood out of the water putting his nose on our extended hand. The perfect photo-op. Mom looked the most delighted of anybody as she flashed Lightning the most radiant of her smiles. After it was over, as Mom and I were heading out of the dolphin enclosure we came across a pool of off-duty dolphins. Mom stopped and began clapping while making cheerful clicking noises. I’m not sure she was allowed to this, but she was eager to make as many dolphin friends as possible.

While Mom went to the giftshop, I clambered up a small hill with a view out over the ocean. Apparently, it was built up and used during World War II to scan the horizon for enemy German U-boats. Mom eventually reappeared from inside the shop asking for help. She had bought an actual cinderblock from one of Marineland’s original structures. It had a dolphin carved into it, and was painted blue and white with the year 1938. The store had found the perfect customer for this peculiar item and I carried the heavy thing back to the car.

We wandered around the rest of the park that, unlike the pristine dolphin enclosure, was looking a little worn around the edges. There was a sad looking tiger shark in murky water. Also, Mom actually managed to make friends with a lonely sea turtle who kept swimming up to the glass to get a closer look whenever Mom appeared. We ended the visit taking pictures of each other in front of the original 1938 entrance.

The next stop, Fort Matanzas, was less successful. Due to the coronavirus and overcaution the visitor center, parking lot and ferry were closed. The fort is part of the National Park service and unfortunately as such subject to the whims of the federal government. I would not be denied though, and vowed to see the fort if only from a distance. I found a nearby carpark where I thought I might be able to hike along the beach to get a glimpse. After descending a steep wooden staircase, I found myself on white sand bordering some kind of tidal riverway. In the distance I saw what I thought could be Fort Matanzas. There was a forest of driftwood and dense tropical trees to my right. I was slightly concerned that an unseen alligator might lunge out at me from either the thick underbrush one side or the shallow tidal waters on the other.

By now I could see that it was definitely Fort Matanzas, which was built by the Spanish in 1740. It was on a little island across the river, which could only be reached by a small ferry. Too bad the ferry wasn’t running because it looked like fun. I got closer and closer until I was almost opposite it. Off in the forest I could see an entrance to a nature trail. Only it was roped off blue caution tape saying closed due to covid-19. An outdoor nature trail still being shut in 2021? Never dreamt I would live to see something as idiotic as this.

That night at the resort I had a delicious dinner of pork chops, cornbread, and key lime pie. Afterwards, Mom and I stepped outside and followed the ocean roar back to the beach. There we peered over the railing. The full moon was shining, causing the waves to sparkle. Big black waves, seemingly rippling with white electricity.

On our way back we paused to have a sit at one of the firepits the resort had ablaze in the vast courtyard. We talked about how lucky we were to be here, after all we’d been through in recent years. We had refused to live in fear and were out exploring the country once again. Walking back through the lobby we passed a man wearing a “I’m Done with NYC” shirt. God bless the diversity of our fifty distinct states.

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