FTJ, Entry 55: Carrabelle-ahhh

We are thoroughly enjoying our stay here at Carrabelle Beach RV resort. The facility is upscale, super-clean, small, and across from a beautiful white beach.

Views from our site, which is directly across from the beach.

A little cold the first few days (I am shivering in this pic big time!), but it
should be in the high 60s or low 70s the rest of the week.

Typical homes on the upscale part of Carrabelle.

Nearby Apalachicola is a cool little town, where we recently went to a concert by world renowned ragtime pianist Bob Milne. He is known as the "best ragtime/boogie-woogie pianist in the world," in fact. And he is a bit odd, in that he says he never practices, just hears the music in his head. He was studied by research neurologists at Penn State University College of Medicine  to determine how he hears entire symphonies in his head -- a process known as synesthesia. He is amazing indeed and we thoroughly enjoyed the show. Here is a video snippet that doesn't do him justice.

This sponge diver oddity (the sign says "retired Apalachicola sponge diver--priceless") is near the Dixie Theater, where we saw the concert. The significance of this is unknown as yet to us.

The entire "forgotten coast," as this area is called, is known for its fishing industry -- and wow, the oysters are incredible! The people are primarily employed by the fishing and oystering industry in some way, or in the service industry that is based around the seasonal visitors.

Yet despite the emphasis on seafood, we found a little joint that had some of the best barbecue Beau has ever had. Hog Wild is not fancy, and it is highly affordable. Don't know how they make a profit, in fact.

Typical kitschy pig stuff on display.

Love this oddity in Carrabelle: The world's smallest police station.

Falling in Love with St. George Island

Between our RV place and Apalachicola is St. George Island. What a discovery. Beau and I are even considering renting a beach house there next November.

Are we getting sick of amazing beaches? NO! This one goes on
forever -- seemingly the 23-mile length of the island.

Bridge to St. George. In the morning, the bay is peppered with oyster boats.

Buddy relaxing on the deck of the Blue Parrot restaurant,
a very dog-friendly establishment on St. George.

Beau and I had super oysters at Eddy Teach's, a funky place on the island.

The St. George lighthouse, from the early 1830s, I believe, has been rebuilt three times.

We saw a pod of at least six dolphins off the beach at St. George.
Some came in as close as 20 feet from shore.

Enough for now...all our best.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 53: Old Cars and Big Oaks

We ended our short stay in Tallahassee with a visit to the Antique Car Museum. It was amazing. 

There was a Tucker (my favorite), old Chevys (including Corvettes), Model Ts, Dusenbergs, and scores of other and often rare old automobile models. Some of you may know these on sight.

Elvismobile

Batmobile - check out all the models from the different Batman movies.

A 57 Chevy Belair

Note the bag Beau is carrying -- we broke the rules AGAIN by bringing Buddy.
Note the gorgeous Dusenberg, bottom left. And isn't that a great Tucker, bottom right?

They also had Lincoln's hearse -- amazing!

Not sure why an electric car leads to a contented woman, but...

This museum had more than cars -- old sports equipment and memorabilia, pianos, trains. You name it.

Pedal car used by the Little Rascals

An amphibious car

Football signed by Joe Namath (I loved Broadway Joe in the old days!).

Here are a couple of pics of the Tallahassee RV park we stayed in -- Big Oaks.

We checked out the capital building as well.

The old capitol building at Tallahassee

Buddy got sick of the old cars and Tallahassee pretty quickly.

Next time, photos of the beautiful beach setting in Carrabelle on the Florida Panhandle. We are here until the 21st.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 52: Way Down Upon the Suwannee River

Before we get to the Suwannee...

Another strange Spring Hill dinosaur along the road. Apparently, someone is fond of these prehistoric creatures. This one houses an auto shop of some sort. Again, we must ask: Why?

Next, some photos of the world famous Weeki Wachee. I remember as a kid seeing ads for this park on TV, and thinking, “wow, I want to go there!” My dream has finally been realized. Weeki Wachee, which opened in 1947, I believe, was Florida’s biggest attraction, pre-Disney. Today, it is a throwback to the old days. Loved it. Check out the Dirty Old Man with the mermaid.

Note the turtle in the upper right. There were a number of them and they all seemed
transfixed by the show. Very entertaining watching them watch the performance!

Beau was riveted....

Besides the cheesy live mermaid underwater extravaganza, we saw an animal show, featuring snakes, toads, and a cute little gator. We also took a river cruise on a pontoon boat down the Weeki Wachee river, which is much lower than usual. We didn’t see much wildlife – just the typical egrets, herons, turtles, fish. There was a bald eagle, but it was too far away to see more than its profile against the sky.

Look! Beau has a statue of naked women growing out of his head. What a dog!

Oh yes, the Suwannee...

On to White Springs and the Stephen Foster Folk Culture State Park. We spent Saturday and Sunday nights there. It is a gorgeous place, devoted to honoring the life and songs of Stephen Foster. Why, you ask, when Foster was actually born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA? Because this is the site of the “Swanee River” (actually the Suwannee River), made famous throughout the world by Foster’s song, “Old Folks at Home.” In 1932, one of Eli Lilly’s sons (yes, that Eli Lilly) decided this should be the place for a Stephen Foster memorial park.

Interesting point on Swanee River – Foster’s brother helped him with the song, providing “Swanee” as a two-syllable Southern river in the lyrics, thus replacing the “Pedee” river, as Foster had originally written. Can you imagine singing “way down upon the Pedee River”?

Also, the original lyrics are written to emulate how many southerners, particularly slaves, spoke back in the early 1800s – “ribber” for river, "ebber" for ever, “dere” for there, “brudder” for brother. Not sure you can make out Foster’s draft of the song below, but the language is fascinating. 

The Suwannee river itself is very black, apparently from the tar in the surrounding pines. I had to touch it!

Park gazebo by the river. Love Buddy's tongue in this shot.

We had a great oversized site during our stay. No cable, though,
so we missed the Superbowl.

The Suwannee has also flooded numerous times (up to 88 feet above mean sea level), as shown on this pole (below). Frightening!

The top band in yellow marks the highest flood level, from 1973.

The park here has a fabulous museum full of dioramas depicting many of Foster’s 200-plus songs, and a wonderful carillon (one of the largest in the world) that tolls every 15 minutes. Its electronic roller also directs the carillon to play three Foster songs on a schedule throughout the day. You can hear the music everywhere in the 888-acre park. A number of on-site craft shops provide additional entertainment, housing artisans who demonstrate beadmaking, pot throwing, blacksmithing, quilting, and other such endeavors.

A museum diorama, complete with a moving stern-wheeler river boat.

The town of White Springs, the site of the park, was also once famous for its curative sulphur springs. You can see photos of the springhouse in the old Telford Hotel, which was built in the early 1900s. We had a lovely buffet dinner at the Telford on Saturday -- $9.50 apiece. What a bargain!

The original Telford...

And how the hotel looks today.

Oh – almost forgot! We lucked out and were here for the park’s once monthly “Coffee House” evening of entertainment. It was SO great. They had a series of musical groups performing old-time mountain songs, some of which I remember my mother singing way back when. (My mom grew up in the mountains of New York State during the Depression.) 

Here is a not-great-quality video of a sample. This senior citizen musician was very funny and sang some old country tunes, such as "always marry an ugly girl."

This was a surprisingly enjoyable two-night stay. And we learned a lot -- especially about Stephen Foster and the incredible number of his songs, including some you may have forgotten:

Old Folks at Home (Swanee)

Camptown Races

(I Dream of ) Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

My Old Kentucky Home

Old Black Joe

Oh! Susanna

This blog is too long...toodles.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 51: Spring Hill Reunions

Beau is very happy that he connected with his old friends here in Spring Hill. First, we had dinner with Tom and Kathleen Meehan. Tom was in Beau's high school band, "The Nomads," and Kathy and Beau have known one another since grammar school -- more than 40 years. They all had a lovely time catching up. Such a nice couple.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take any photos and we are both bummed about that!

Next, Beau managed to find Carl Schott, his guitar player from his second band, "The Rhythm Method" (when he was all grown up). Carl and his wife Ilona joined us for a lunch at Bob Evans. They all reminisced and laughed about younger days. A fun duo, and full of life. Here is a photo of the two of them that I filched from their Facebook page (since once again we forgot to take a photo).

OK, about Spring Hill - kind of a snooze. But what the heck is a pink dinosaur doing here along the highway? Beats us. But had to get a photo.

There is also a curiosity of sorts within our park. They have a great nature trail for walking that we are enjoying every day, but at the end of the trail, near the natural spring pool, we saw this:

It is tough to make out, but this is a grave with a pair of sneakers placed at the end, and two markers. One says Rest in Peace. The other says. "Here lies Fred, he lost his head."

Hmm. This is a weird place, methinks.

Off to the excitement that is Weeki Wachee...

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 50: Weeki Wachee Whoopee?

Beau wanted to post these photos of the rows of RVs from Sarasota and the Sun n Fun RV park -- just to give you an idea of why he is always drooling about the high-end coaches. Every time he sees them, he says pretty much the same thing: "Think about all the money invested in these!"

By chance, Beau's son Mat was here to take care of some personal matters related to a house he has in nearby Englewood. We all went for the afternoon to Myakka State Park, which Beau says looks like the "forest primeval." There was a cool wooden suspension bridge in the park connected to towers from which you can see for miles. We climbed the tower and crossed over, despite the swinging and creaking of the bridge. Neat.

Mat at the top of the tower in Myakka park.

We also took the boat tour, during which we saw some gators and birdlife. We got to see and hear  two alligators challenging one another, rising out of the water and making "whuffing" noises.

But you don't necessarily need a state park for wildlife. Check out the armadillo we saw by the side of the highway, right outside Sun n Fun resort. Beau got pretty close to it and it ignored him.

Isn't he a prehistoric cutie?

We are now ensconced in a mediocre trailer park/RV park in Spring Hill, FL. The thrill will be going to Weeki Wachee to see "mermaids," I guess. The only reason we stopped here was to visit Beau's high school pals -- and so far, we have yet to hear back from them. 

Oh well. We will whoop it up at Weeki Wachee to console ourselves.

Tanks, Panky