Florida March 31, 2017
"In Florida, you never go into the woods. Because things never die here, they just get bigger."
Advice from a long-term resident, formerly of East Boston, Mass.
Because I'm the thorough type, I'm including recollections of Florida, even though we were there before we went to Alabama, making it a bit out of sequence.
We spent a week in Florida, after returning from Cuba. It had been meant to be a brief interlude, primarily to check out Venice, Florida. It seemed that half the folks in our town of Gorham are spending time there in the winter. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but quite a few people that we know use Venice as their winter escape, including my cousins Gary & Diane Olsen. Bruce and I could envision the day when trips to third world countries would be just too demanding. Would Venice be a place for us, when that day came?
Off we went in a rental car, starting in Ft. Lauderdale, just outside of Miami. We had contemplated trying to make do with taking busses in the south, but we're glad that we sprang for the car. It made life so much easier and allowed us to roam around more freely.
Robert's lovely home was situated close to the airport - and wedged between two Interstate highways. Pretty noisy.
After spending a couple of days in a wonderful Airbnb in Ft. Lauderdale, hosted by a fellow named Robert, who became a new friend over glasses of wine and sharing of stories, we set out on Alligator Alley. It's the long, straight road that crosses south Florida, partially through the Everglades, from the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Mexico coast. We were excited to be seeing this part of the country for the first time - with our own set of wheels, something that we hadn't had for 6 weeks. The day was sunny and bright; the land was flat and open and surprisingly undeveloped. Guess it's hard to build on swamp land.
Along the way, there were several places to stop and fish in the waterway that paralleled the highway - or to just gaze at herons and try to spot alligators.
Gary & Diane's "park" in Venice, where they hang out in their RV from January through April, was several miles from the closest Airbnb that we could find for our 4 nights there. Our host was a bit of an oddball. Luckily we had things to do every day, and we spent very little time at his house. It was a "manufactured house", located in a massive 55+ development with an abundance of American flags and lots of golf carts.
Over the course of our few days in Venice, we got a flavor of life in this pretty, planned community. One day we rented bikes and, with Gary, wheeled along a fabulous off-road trail that went for miles along the inland waterway, over bridges and through neighborhoods. It was glorious, and I was very happy!
Spinning along on an off-road bike trail in Venice, Florida.
Advice from a long-term resident, formerly of East Boston, Mass.
Because I'm the thorough type, I'm including recollections of Florida, even though we were there before we went to Alabama, making it a bit out of sequence.
We spent a week in Florida, after returning from Cuba. It had been meant to be a brief interlude, primarily to check out Venice, Florida. It seemed that half the folks in our town of Gorham are spending time there in the winter. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but quite a few people that we know use Venice as their winter escape, including my cousins Gary & Diane Olsen. Bruce and I could envision the day when trips to third world countries would be just too demanding. Would Venice be a place for us, when that day came?
Off we went in a rental car, starting in Ft. Lauderdale, just outside of Miami. We had contemplated trying to make do with taking busses in the south, but we're glad that we sprang for the car. It made life so much easier and allowed us to roam around more freely.
After spending a couple of days in a wonderful Airbnb in Ft. Lauderdale, hosted by a fellow named Robert, who became a new friend over glasses of wine and sharing of stories, we set out on Alligator Alley. It's the long, straight road that crosses south Florida, partially through the Everglades, from the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Mexico coast. We were excited to be seeing this part of the country for the first time - with our own set of wheels, something that we hadn't had for 6 weeks. The day was sunny and bright; the land was flat and open and surprisingly undeveloped. Guess it's hard to build on swamp land.
Along the way, there were several places to stop and fish in the waterway that paralleled the highway - or to just gaze at herons and try to spot alligators.
Gary & Diane's "park" in Venice, where they hang out in their RV from January through April, was several miles from the closest Airbnb that we could find for our 4 nights there. Our host was a bit of an oddball. Luckily we had things to do every day, and we spent very little time at his house. It was a "manufactured house", located in a massive 55+ development with an abundance of American flags and lots of golf carts.
Over the course of our few days in Venice, we got a flavor of life in this pretty, planned community. One day we rented bikes and, with Gary, wheeled along a fabulous off-road trail that went for miles along the inland waterway, over bridges and through neighborhoods. It was glorious, and I was very happy!
Another day the Olsens took us to nearby Englewood, where we had lunch at a beachy resto. Venice itself was full of boutiques and nice little restos, a museum that told its interesting history, a theater, etc.
On our last evening, we took a picnic to a beach to watch the sun dip into the ocean, something that we don't get to do in Maine. It was too windy and chilly to dip ourselves into the water!
Venice had great infrastructure for outdoor playing, i.e. bike trails, beaches and parks, plus golf, tennis, and yoga - but we're not sure that it's right for us. After our 3 days, we continued up the west coast of Florida. Skirting Sarasota and Tampa and St. Petersburg, the traffic and development and congestion seemed never-ending. As the non-stop shopping malls and chain stores and big, busy highways were beginning to peter out, we stopped at Tarpon Springs, a cute town known for its sponge-fishing heritage and Greek roots - and tourist shops! Back on the road, long stretches of woods and rural poverty began to dominate the scenery.
After spending a night in a Days Inn in a forgettable northern Florida town, we took an hour to explore Manatee Springs State Park. Now that was not forgettable! A woodsy boardwalk took us along a river of clear water fed by springs, where we saw manatees hanging out just below the water's surface and trees filled with huge, black vultures.
Our destination that day was Pensacola, on the Florida panhandle, just shy of the Alabama border. We stayed a couple of nights and one full day there. The day was spent visiting the National Naval Aviation Museum, a huge and surprisingly (for me) fascinating place where one can learn about the historical development of our nation's use of air power in military conflicts. I'm sure that much of the credit for my enjoyment of the experience goes to our guided tour, given by a retired black pilot who was engaging, witty, and knowledgeable.
Both evenings we ate at Five Sisters, our introduction to upscale soul food, within walking distance of our Pensacola Victorian B&B.
In our admittedly limited time there, we found Pensacola to be refreshingly diverse in relation to Venice. Unfortunately, the B&B was located near a railroad track. We had no idea that so many nocturnal freight trains could be tooting their way through Florida!
So, that was our Florida experience. It was brief, only a week, stretching from the suburbs of east-coast Miami, over to the retirement havens of the west coast, and up to a coastal city energized by its military presence and cultural diversity. The next day we continued north to Montgomery, Alabama, where our story continues in the last - and next - posts.
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