Tampa - Then & Now

Tampa - Then: Cigars were once the city's mainstay, and brick & frame factories provided employment for Spanish, Italian and Cuban immigrants who labored at long tables hand-rolling tobacco leaves. Ybor (pronounced E-bor) City remains today a culturally rich and vibrant community, keeping these influences alive.

We enjoyed most of our day here, starting with their Saturday Morning Market, where we met the most wonderful, knowledgeable cigar dealer! Who, of course, helped us select just the right ones for our special people! ;-) Later, Jack got to chat with a woman who was hand-rolling them, asking her all the details on how & what. We had lunch at the "famous" Columbia Restaurant. I couldn't wait to try my first Cuban food! Ate their traditional sandwich and their special "1905 Salad". Ummm. Beautiful place with incredible tile work everywhere. We met several artists, and one in particular that is pretty well known and I wish I could have bought one. His name is Arnold Martinez, and he uses tobacco, coffee & wine as mediums in his gorgeous paintings. He was absolutely charming, explaining his technique and how he got started using these ingredients.

From there, we quickly went off to see the Henry Plant Museum in Tampa. Henry Plant (1819-1899) the acclaimed "King of Florida", was founder of the Plant System of railroads, steamships and hotels. He built the the grand Tampa Bay Hotel, the nation's only Victorian railroad resort, between 1888 & 1891 as a winter resort. He wanted it to be one of the most fanciful creations of America's Gilded Age, and he succeeded. It's now part of the University of Tampa.


























































































Tampa - Now: Frustrating. One of the things Jack and I have enjoyed while driving in other parts of Florida, is how great their signage, direction and maps have been. Not so with Tampa. Just the opposite. AAA Guidebook was just as frustrating in that it gave vague directions, and in several instances incorrect & incomplete information. Once case in point, was a trip to the Baker & Co General Store. A "must see" by AAA. First of all, it was in a very run down, "shady" area of town, then their "bursting with items" left a lot to be desired. Seems their 10,000 sq ft/ 3 floors, were "slimmed down", but "if we wanted to go over to their warehouse, down the street, we could..." No thank you.

Next on our "must see" list was the "Tampa Riverwalk" - so, I'm excited, thinking that it's going to be like the one in San Antonio! Well, after an hour of driving around and around, with pure determination to find this dang thing, because no signs, or when we finally would see one, it gave a slight arrow, then nothing to follow up with, we stopped someone. He turned out to be a nice young man working for the Convention Center and had a downtown map! Showed us where the Tampa Riverwalk was, and that many parts were "still under construction, but you could still walk there". When we told him we were looking for shops and food establishments, he pointed out one across the way and said that was the best one (I got the feeling it was the only one on the walk). We went there.

As we sat along the river, we did enjoy the scenery of downtown Tampa & the sunset, but the wind nearly blew us out of there, so we decided to find somewhere else to eat. Reading in my "trusty? guide, I saw a place that sounded like good Italian food nearby, so we went in search. Well, "in search" we did, around and around, again! Signs, and directions lacking or only making it worse. When we finally did find the place, there wasn't any parking, and we were to tired to eat! I offered Jack the rest of my earlier sandwich, and I was just ready to call it a night...if we could just find our way back out of Tampa! Ugh.









































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...kicking back in Florida, Marie

Sun, Sand & Seashells = Beach Bliss!

Some days are just made to take slow, to enjoy and savor each moment. This day was one of those days. The sun was shining (and no, it doesn't every day in Florida!), the wind was light and the beach was nearby. I had read that the Sanibel Beach was "known" for it's beautiful beach, especially it's quantities of seashells. Sanibel Island also has a lighthouse, which made two great reasons for a day's visit in my book! So, off we went!

First things first, lighthouse pictures. Now I must say, I've seen a number of lighthouses in my time, all shapes and sizes, wood, metal and cement...but nothing like this one! Pipe! Pretty basic, I'd say. They sure weren't into "fancy"! Pure function.

That done, time to hit the beach! Oh, what a joy! Soft, soft sand, and oh so warm water! Having been living near the Pacific Ocean all my life, wading through the Gulf of Mexico water was pure heaven. Clear, clean, warm...and shells. Thousands and thousands of shells! It was like someone took buckets and poured them out onto the sand. I can't remember seeing that many shells since I was a small child...and that's what it made me feel like again, a child! So much fun, picking through them, selecting the unbroken ones, finding the ones with more color, or pure white, making sure I get plenty for each of my grandchildren. It was hard to stop!

We even got to watch an Osprey tend her nest nearby. Florida puts platforms out for them to build their nests on, it's really quite wonderful to see.

As usual, we ended the afternoon with a lovely meal, looking out at the sea, watching the boats sail by...life is good.




































































































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/


...kicking back in Florida, Marie

What goes Whoosh! Snap! Chirp! ??

The sounds in the Everglades!! Check off one of my "bucket list" items! A trip through the Everglades in an air boat Whooshing through the Mangroves and Grasslands at 35 miles an hour...in a word, FUN! No critter spotting on that trip, but soon after, as we are driving along, what do I spot along side the road? Alligators! Seems we were driving alongside a preserve, and there they were, all along the canal about every 20' sun bathing, or waiting on lunch, I'm not sure which.

We ended up going to the preserve, Fakahatchee Strand, and taking the hike (and it was a hike, let me tell you!) along their boardwalk where we were treated to an up close encounter of a "mom" with her young. At one point, she went fishing, Snap! As we traversed along the boardwalk we were able to see a number of White Ibis, one even playing "catch me if you can" with the alligator, and best of all, a Bald Eagle in her nest, Chirp!

We made a stop at the "Smallest Post Office in the US" to mail post cards to the Grand kids, then ended the day with a walk along the beautiful Naples Beach to watch the sun set.

What a thrill of a day!











































































































































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...kicking back in Florida, Marie

Lights, camera, sound!

No, that's not the call of a director, that's just a little bit that we have to be thankful to Thomas Edison for. Like so many (I'm discovering) Edison made his "winter home" here in Fort Myers Florida. He, and his good friend, Henry Ford. Seems he and Henry became friends when Henry had decided to make cars, and needed batteries and a few other things, that he thought the "smart Mr Edison" could help him with! He did, and that started a long and close friendship. Two geniuses, go figure. Anyway, as time went by, Thomas realized that we (the United States) were going to need our own rubber resource, and thought Florida would be a good location to do the research. With the balmy climate, almost any plant would grow here, so he had a lab set up, and acres of plantings. Ford spent time here as well, so bought the house next door. The two couples enjoyed "camping" and socializing together as well as a working relationship. Firestone funded the endeavor until Edison died. Soon thereafter a synthetic source was created, so the "natural" resource was no longer needed.

Today, the Edison and Ford homes (these were only one of many that they had, and not nearly as ostentatious as other's as you can see), along with a caretaker's cottage, pool, and gardens are open to the public along with a wonderful museum of some great examples of Edison's inventions. He had over 1000 patents. One of the things we were reminded of (because I'm sure I knew this at some point) that even though we always think of the light bulb as his best known invention, it was actually the phonograph. The other "ah ha" of the day, was that Henry Ford was the wealthiest man at that time, the first billionaire in his day. He was so determined that the "every day man" have a car, he asked how much one would have to make in order to afford one of his cars. If was figured out to be $3.40 per day. He said then he wanted his laborers to earn $5 per day so that each could own a car! (Smart man, pay them well, and they in turn spend their money buying your product!).

Fun seeing how the "other half" lived, learned, and changed our world, helping it become what it is today...














They liked to camp together, so Ford designed the first "RV"!










































































































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...kicking back in Florida, Marie

"Ladies & Gentlemen, Children of all ages..."

The call to the "Big Top" has been heard by many of us at least once in our lifetime. The thrill of hearing the Ringleader announce that "The Greatest Show On Earth" was about to begin, made our hearts beat a little faster and our little bodies sit up straighter in anticipation of pure joy, that we just knew we were going to see things today that we have never seen before! That was the circus!! Those were the days when the circus was really something BIG. Something kids "of all ages" waited each year for them to come into town for just a day or two, and fill your world with wonder, the likes we had never before seen. Times have changed, and circuses have changed, but I think they will always bring us excitement unlike any other.

Sarasota Florida was the winter home for the biggest circus of our time - the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. Thankfully, they left a wonderful legacy here, that those of us who grew up in that wonderful era, can now visit and learn all the various aspects of that time, those people, that craft, that magic called The Greatest Show on Earth!

Jack and I enjoyed a full day of visiting the John & Mable Ringling Museums that included Circus Museum-Tibbals Learning Center, Gardens and Ca' d'Zan - their home. We couldn't see it all in one day, but thoroughly enjoyed all we did see. I took over 80+ pictures and at that, had to "control" myself because I could have taken more. So beautiful, so many memories, especially for Jack as he had as a child, the opportunity to watch them setting up the Bit Top and all that this job in tailed.

The museums not only had original circus wagons, costumes, performers equipment, films on them, but one of the most amazing miniatures I've ever seen. Howard Tibbals spent 50 years building a completely detailed 3,800 sq ft replica of the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. Down to the money in the cash registers, the make up on their dressing tables, everything, and I mean everything the circus people needed to do in a 24 hour day. It gave the viewer a much better appreciation of the incredible amount of work that is involved in putting on a circus. The thousands of people involved, the labor involved in setting it up, feeding animals and people, etc. Films showed that as well. I certainly left there knowing that I never want to "run away & join the circus!" - it's way to hard of work!















































































The acres of land were turned into beautiful gardens, including Mable's Rose Garden and her Secret Garden...ahhh, to have the kind of money and time to design your own special little gardens!














Ca' d'Zan is their Venetian Gothic Mansion, completed in 1926. A 5 story lavish, drop your jaw home that only Hearst's rivaled.















































We took the opportunity to have lunch while we were there, at their Treviso Restaurant, and the food was like the museums, pure art. Beautiful and delicious! Lucky us!
































It truly was a day filled with beauty and joyous memories!

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...kicking back in Florida, Marie

Our first RV Rally, a success!

Several months back, we had read about an RV Rally in March in Sarasota Florida, for all "Allegro Club" members. These are folks who own motorhomes built by Tiffin, of which ours is. The timing seemed perfect for us, so we signed up! We had heard from our "rv friends" that rallies were a lot of fun and educational - both of which we were up for!

March 1st finally got here, and we arrived in Sarasota just in the nick of time! The team of volunteers quickly lead each of us in and guided us into a parking spot, one next to another on a large grass field at the Sarasota Fairgrounds.

Once we settled in, off we went to get checked in and find out what's going on and where things were located! Badges around our necks, a bag of "goodies" and a schedule in our hands and we were off to check out the vendors! Well...that was a bit of a disappointment, for me, anyway. I had high hopes it would be a tent crammed full of all sorts of great things "I really needed!" But, instead, it was a few (maybe 15 or so?) vendors mostly selling things I pretty much knew I wasn't at all interested in.

First opportunity to meet anyone was at dinner. Gary and Ann were very nice. They had been "full-timer's" for the first 7 years, then bought a house, and now split their time between the house and the road about 60/40%. They were very encouraging, telling us how much we were going to love being on the road, and not to be surprised if at the end of the year, we just kept going, and going, and going!

The next day started off with donuts and coffee, 1500 donuts for 500 people! I believe they had a few left over ;-) They had about 30 brand new motorhomes there for us to check out and see all the new "bells & whistles" the 2012 models had to offer, and of course we could purchase any one, right then and there, we wish (and 20 were sold too!). The day was filled with seminars on everything from cooking to cleaning your rv.

Later in the day, we met our next door neighbors, Max and Martha, from Iowa. Great people, who we ended up spending the rest of the rally with. They have been rv'ing for over 20 years and helped us understand a few things about our rig, some helpful hints, places to visit and passed along some wonderful advise, one particular piece that I thought was most profound - Max said, "Don't drive to a destination, but drive instead with a direction in mind". He said that "if you drive to a destination, you are concentrating on 'getting there' and most likely are missing out on what's between here and there. But, if you drive in the 'direction' that you want to go, you are concentrating on everything you see while you are driving." I love that. I told him that we will keep that foremost and do our best to live by that rule.

The biggest change happened to the rig itself! One of the vendors was someone who makes and sells cleaning and polishing supplies for motorhomes (Wipe-Out). He was also offering (selling) to clean and polish on site. We signed up! We had been wanting to get the rig cleaned before we went to the rally, but ran out of time and had only given it a "quick once over". Besides all the dirt & bugs it had earned en route here, I don't believe it had ever been polished. It had been severely oxidized and I was afraid it would never be brought back to it's luster. The white looked and felt like chalk. He promised us his product would change all that! It did!! Two days his guys worked on it, and it now shines beautifully! Prettier than she's probably been in years! I'm really happy about that, I must confess. As we walked around the field, looking at all the other rigs, I felt like we were a dull pearl amongst diamonds, emeralds & rubies. Almost all the rigs were fairly new, meaning that they all were around the $250,000++ range. At least now our "pearl" is shiny and sparkles along side those other gems!

All in all the rally was fun. Great dinners and entertainment, enjoyable and educational seminars, and friendly people. Max shared that this was a "small" rally (500 ppl) and we should go to one of the Family Motor Coaching ones that are around twice the size. That's where I will find all the vendors I was looking for and far more seminars on subjects that would help us learn more on our rig & the "how to". I think we will add it to our "to do" list.










































...on the road in Florida, Marie

A hop, skip and a jump!

From Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama to Florida, it was just a hop, skip and a jump...or so it seemed!

Times crunching on us, trying to get to Sarasota for our first big RV Rally before March 1st, so not much time to dilly-dally now...and as the crow flies, not much to want to either, really. As we waved goodbye to Poche's RV (pronounced "pow-shey", like low, which took me days to get the hang of), it just seemed like we were heading down one long highway, one bridge after another...a few swamps to look at along the way...some rivers here and there and some "Welcome" signs!
























































































































We ended up in Milton Florida for a few days waiting on mail. We drove around to see what there was to see, disappointed, came back and caught up on some reading and housecleaning and laundry. That put us behind on our schedule, so now we have to really jam through the top of Florida to Sarasota to arrive on time for Friday morning's check in! Oh well, best laid plans...and all that...

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...On the road in Florida, Marie