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

FTJ, Entry 49: Sanibel & Captiva, Then on to Sarasota

OMG - check out the Bald Eagle we saw on our last day in Fort Myers Beach -- at the top of a tree right in our campground! AMAZING. What a thrill for this bird lover.

Before we left Fort Myers Beach, we decided to drive through Sanibel and Captiva Islands. Very lovely places. Sort of ticked us off we had to pay a toll of $6 to get over the bridge to these isles, but you quickly forget that when you walk out on Sanibel Beach. Well worth it.

Both islands were very upscale and Captiva in particular was quite impressive, with one waterfront  mansion after another hidden from the road. You can just catch glimpses of their immense facades and 5-car garages from the highway.

Some small homes we could see on the road on the islands. The biggies were hidden!

We also drove through the JN "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge and Bird Sanctuary. A bit of a disappointment, although we saw quite a few birds off in the distance, including some scarlet ibises.

Below, if you look closely you can see there is a pelican in a tree (never knew they roosted like this!), and a couple of nonchalant storks who posed for our camera.

Sun n Fun in Sarasota

So now here we are at Sun n Fun RV Resort in Sarasota. Cannot get over 1. how big this park is; and 2. how spread out everything is around here -- Sarasota seems to go on for miles and miles in every direction.

Beau wants to post some photos of the big and beautiful RVs here that he drools over daily. They are impressive. We will put them in the next blog.

Last night,  we drove up to Oldsmar, FL to see Dave and Joyce and get our free teeth cleaning. Wow! What an impressive practice Dave has built, with something like10 assistants, hygienists, and technicians. Afterward, we saw their beautiful home (the sale of which is final on Feb. 15) and took them out to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, the Cop Shop. 

We are all pretty hyped up about the forthcoming trip we are taking together.

We are warming up slowly here...65 today, low 70s by the weekend. We'll take it!

Tanks, Panky

P.S. from Beau: This blog is boring! (Except for Dave and Joyce, of course!)

FTJ, Entry 48: Beaching It Again

It has been a while.  I remembered I was going to post a few pics of where we were in Naples (Crystal Lake RV Resort). Here they are:

A very upscale lakefront RV park, indeed. And we had our own laundry room right on the site.

And here is a collage of the Naples beach and pier. It is truly a beautiful town.

Two Weeks in Fort Myers Beach

We have been in Fort Myers Beach for 11 days now. Our campground, sigh, is once again more like a mobile home park with RV sites -- but we have a large grassy site and the facility is neat and in very good shape, with friendly people. The beach is 2 miles away and beautiful - hard sand, and Buddy is allowed on it. 

View of the town center, Fort Myers Beach, from the bridge.
Cute honky tonk look with beach bars and funky shops.

The Ft. Myers Beach sand is sugary and white,
yet hard as asphalt by the water. Great for walking.

We've managed to blow our budget for the month with some repairs and improvements to Harvey the Marv-ee RV. He got a stabilizer bar and new shock absorbers (mainly for safety and an improved ride). Topping it off, the mechanic discovered that all our batteries were shot.

Another lesson learned: Do NOT run the inverter while hooked up to power at a campground. Apparently, it melts your batteries. Never mind how much all this cost. Jeesh.

In general, we have been taking it easy here at Fort Myers Beach. But we'll check out Captiva and Sanibel Islands before we leave. Why not -- we're here!

Oh - I don't think I blogged about our new pals Dave and Joyce (whom we met during our Key West stay) joining us for our cross-country trek. Well, they are definitely IN. We are so excited. They will meet up with us in March in Orange Beach, AL, and then on we go to New Orleans! From there it is westward ho, my friends.  

As we all agreed, it is more fun--and much safer--to travel with another RVing couple. You always have that support system on the road, you know?

We will confer about the trip with Dave and Joyce next week when we get our teeth cleaned (for free) at Dave's dental practice. Thanks, guys -- cannot wait to see you!

A note about our weather. Overall, it has been super. Mid/high 70s and sunny. But we had fog and some rain yesterday as a cold front came in. Today it is going to be in the 60s. Not complaining -- we know what has been happening up north. Brrrrrr. Big warm hugs to all of you freezing your you-know-whatses off.

Before I sign off, this message comes from Beau: GO JETS!!

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 47: Farewell to the Keys

Last week we said a sad farewell to the Keys. We will miss Key West especially.

Before we left Key Largo, however, Beau decided he had to try the "all you can eat" stone crabs at a local restaurant. He ate 22 while I watched. I was semi impressed. Thought he would eat more of them!

We also went to Key Largo's bird sanctuary, which, although small, was highly entertaining. The sanctuary is really more of a rescue operation, housing various types of birds that have been in distress or injured somehow. It was great to see the birds up close, but I felt bad for them in their cages. And the place stunk to high heaven, as you can imagine.

A one-legged anhinga

Love the way the cat is eyeing the heron....

Oh - and we stopped at the Hurricane Memorial, which commemorates the devastating storm of 1935, which killed more than 500 people, with winds of 200 mph and extensive flooding.

On to Naples

We arrived with no problem at our next destination, Naples. We stayed four nights at Crystal Lake RV Resort -- another misnomer, in that it is really more of a "park model" (a more genteel name for a trailer) resort than an RV resort, but I am splitting hairs.. The big difference for us personally was that this park was decidedly upscale. Gorgeous landscaping, a beautiful clubhouse and several pools, new residences, all surrounding a small lake. Will add a few photos of the park next time.

But for some reason we both agreed that as a place to stay it lacked appeal. Too homogenous? Too perfect? No soul? I think all of these play a factor in our emotional reaction to the town. It is truly a manicured and upscale setting, though. And there's a lot of $$$ there, for sure. I did like the Saks and Nordstrom's, but they're too dangerous! We are on a budget--sort of.

While in Naples, we visited the nearby locales of Goodland and Marco Island -- finding the wild and wacky Stan's Idle Hour on Sunday at Goodland. They have all kinds there, including Stan, who tells very racist and mildly dirty jokes before the band plays. The special dance there is the Buzzard Lope, but we didn't see anyone doing it.

What can I say?

Buddy was underwhelmed by the spectacle at Stan's.

The crowd at Stan's seems to be mainly...well, older. Like us!

Stan's bandstand

Hope you are not snowed in up north. Hear it's a pretty bad storm.

Tanks, Panky