Friends & Family, FL

After Christine and the kids leave for home, we drive to Oviedo.  There we meet up again with Jill and Mark to visit with Aunt Ann and cousins.

Mark & Jill's new van

Aunt Ann with Peter

Mark makes a new friend

Cousins Mac and Joann treat us all to dinner at Tibby's New Orleans Kitchen. Thank you Mac and Joann - the food was delicious and our time together was precious.

Inspecting the menu

Fun New Orleans decor

Joann and Mac with grand baby

The next morning we clean up the rental condo and drive to Palmetto, FL for a visit with our friends and former neighbors Martha and Pete. 

We start off with lunch at the local marina

Peter and Martha take in the view

while Pete catches up on the news

After lunch we wander down the docks getting a laugh out of some of the boat names and picking out which ones we would like to own.

Offshore Investment

Daddy's Money

Ohh - I like this one! Buy me?

The next day starts with a shopping trip to the Amish run Ditwiler's Market.  Next door is a wonderful store of beautifully built Amish furniture.  Apparently there's a large Amish community in the area.  I ask how they got here visualizing a whole caravan of Amish horse drawn buggies migrating to Florida. Martha just laughs and explains they probably came down in buses not buggies. As a concession to modern society, the  Amish can ride in modern vehicles, just not drive them. Also, the Amish can use cell phones for business. Amazing, I learn something new every day.

After picking up supplies it's time for the beach. Martha and Pete take us to their favorite - Lido Key Beach. In a small beach side sandwich shop, we all order lobster rolls for lunch. It is delicious and hopefully not my last one.  OK, I'm ready to go to New England for a fall foliage and lobster rolls trip.

Jackfruit in Detwiler's

Lido Key Beach

Curious Egret by lunch tables

A great day at Lido Key Beach

Later Pete and Martha treat us for a ride on their new boat to the De Soto Memorial.

Pete at the wheel

Peter on look out

We're out of the marina

Waiting for the Citrus Train to cross a bridge

Yes - we can go now

Anchored at beach by De Soto Memorial

Since we've never been here before, we walk the short distance to the Visitors Center.  Hernando de Soto was an early Spanish explorer who had come to the New World in search of gold, silver, or a route to China. Originally, he had found wealth and renown as one of Francisco Pizarro's captains in the plunder of the Inca Empire. He was known both for his bravery and his ruthless subjection of native villages by capturing village chiefs and holding them ransom.

Even though historians dispute the exact route, De Soto's three year expedition throughout the southeast was epic in proportion covering nine states. It started in 1539 with nine ships, 620 men and 220 horses in an area generally described as south Tampa Bay, approximately in the location of the De Soto Memorial. Only a few of the men survived. De Soto himself died somewhere along the Mississippi River and was buried there. As far as the Spanish were concerned the expedition was a bust for not finding any gold or silver, or even a viable route to China; however, they did explore vast amounts of the southeast and provided descriptions of native tribes long since disappeared.

Sign for De Soto Memorial

Native canoe

Spanish subjugation of native peoples

We spend the rest of the afternoon lazing on the beach.  While reading in the shade of an umbrella, I notice sand being tossed out of a small hole next to me and wonder what kind of critter lives there. Soon a curious and surprisingly friendly ghost crab climbs out of the hole. S/he even poses nicely for the camera before scurrying back home inside its burrow.

Lazing under a beach umbrella

Crab burrow

Curious ghost crab

The tide has receded while we are on the beach, so we recruit some helpful picnickers to help push the boat off the sand bar.  Soon we are afloat and on our way to the marina.

Captain Martha

Yes - the bridge is open this time

First Mate Pete

The next day we are on the road toward the Tampa airport to catch a plane going all the way to San Jose. We have a few hours before our flight, so we take the Hwy 275 bridge over to St. Petersburg to see the Salvadore Dali Museum. Florida's long causeway like bridges are themselves works of modern art.

Salvadore Dali Museum

Large geodesic dome-like window

Fabulous staircase

Early painting

Peter studies a cubist portrait of Lincoln

Classical Dali melting figures

Lobster phone

Tribute to Native Americans

I love this melting garden bench

Salvador Dali still looms large over modern art even many years after his death

We are pleasantly surprised by the light and airy Tampa airport where we enjoy an excellent lunch at a restaurant close to our gate. Sitting at a table next to us is a retired Florida couple who are on our same flight to California.  They ask what trip we have planned next. When we tell them we are going to eastern Oregon to see the total eclipse of the sun, the man responds he has seen seven of them and while all total eclipses are special, our first one will be a spectacular experience not to be missed. Sounds good to me!

Waiting for our flight

and we are off

back across the deserts

and wide open spaces

to land back in San Jose