Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013--San Antonio, TX
I've been packing this afternoon. It's easier to do for a short trip. Wes and I will be going on a 10-day trip to Mexico tomorrow morning:
3 Days in Veracruz (Hotel Amparo--Not the best, but great reviews for location and value)
1 Day in Xalapa (Posada del Cafeto)
4 Days in Puebla (El Hotelito)
1 Day in Cordoba (Hotel Palacio)
1 Day in Veracruz
These are places neither of us has visited before. Veracruz has appealed to me since I saw the film Danzon in the early 1990s. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101658/ and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101658/reviews and http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/danzon/ (Trailer link on this last one) Also, I've been interested in Veracruz because it is somewhat the Corpus Christi of Mexico--a smaller city on the Gulf of Mexico with a large port.
Puebla is an old colonial city. It's only about 3 1/2 hours by bus away from Veracruz. After researching where to go other than Veracruz, Puebla won out over Tampico because of being larger, being higher in altitude (an alternative to staying at the coast), and having more choices of things of interest to tourists. Once we settled on those two cities, we realized by looking at the map that another advantage was that we could make a circular route by bus that would allow us to stop at Xalapa on the way and Cordoba on the way back--two smaller cities with enough to interest a tourist for at least a day.
Unfortunately, Wes arrived today with a severe cold. At least it isn't the flu which is raging in Texas and in Corpus Christi in particular. It consists only of a sore throat and nasal congestion (so far). But it is bad enough that it has tired him to the point that he is drowsy today. I'm glad he made the drive safely, because he sat in a chair nodding off for 2 hours after his arrival and before I convinced him to go to bed and sleep. Anyway, it means that the first part of our trip will be affected by the way he feels.
All of our hotels should have free wifi, although one may have it only in their lobby. Anyway, I will try to post regularly to let you know what we have been doing.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Back to San Antonio
Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013--Wilburton, OK, to San Antonio
It was sunny with fresh air. After checking out of the motel, I headed eastward. I took a different route back to Talihina with plans to explore Talihina State Park. As I drove into the park entrance, I was surprised. There were no park roads really. There was just a turn to the right to a camping area and the entrance road going about a block to the cabins. Unlike the other parks I had visited, there were no scenic drives. There wasn't even really a parking lot. Signs were up saying that a $5 parking permit was needed, apparently because the number of parking spaces was so limited they were reserved mostly for the use of people staying overnight.
I left the park and turned at the nearby junction to retrace my route on Oklahoma Hwy. 1 that I had covered yesterday. In the sunshine, the color of the trees was much brighter. The most frustrating aspect of this drive is that there are no shoulders. There were beautiful scenes that I would have liked to have photographed, but there was no place to stop. Where they have pull-off areas for scenic views, the photos were all the same--views of the mixture of colorful trees in the valley rather than close-up photos. Therefore, I skipped most of the pull-offs this time hoping to see some interesting sights in Arkansas.
I passed the spot where I entered Hwy. 1 yesterday, and a short distance away pulled into the parking lot of a National Forest office and hiking trail. The office was closed, but many people were stopping for the rest rooms. Only a few took the hike which was a nice loop trail back through the trees. For the most part, it seemed that the trees here were past their prime. With nothing special to see, the fact it was November and a crispy cool morning made me think of picking up pecans. This is the time of the year when people in Texas head out to pecan orchards to gather pecans that have fallen from the trees.
The mountaintop ridge climbed as I entered Arkansas and led to a great disappointment. Although color could be observed in the forests in the valleys below, the trees along the ridge were far past their prime. Most had no leaves at all. It was just an ugly, dull brown, wintry look. I had planned to stop, and maybe even camp out, at Magazine Mountain, the highest point in Arkansas, for the evening. It was obvious that if the trees were already ugly at this atmosphere they would be the same on top of the highest point in the state. I made a quick decision based on the following thoughts: I had enjoyed the trees the past couple of days. It seemed that I wouldn't see any better fall foliage on this trip. I had intended to eventually be in Hot Springs only because the scenic byway in Arkansas would lead me there. I really had no interest to drive through a wintry forest to get there. I had planned to visit Bob and Judy Maroney again on Tuesday evening, but there really was nothing I wanted to do between now and then. They were in Dallas where they were attending the opera. It was Sunday, and the traffic would be better than it would be on a weekday.
I made a right turn and started heading back to San Antonio. After driving straight through except for quick stops for something to eat, I got home at 10:30 p.m.
It was sunny with fresh air. After checking out of the motel, I headed eastward. I took a different route back to Talihina with plans to explore Talihina State Park. As I drove into the park entrance, I was surprised. There were no park roads really. There was just a turn to the right to a camping area and the entrance road going about a block to the cabins. Unlike the other parks I had visited, there were no scenic drives. There wasn't even really a parking lot. Signs were up saying that a $5 parking permit was needed, apparently because the number of parking spaces was so limited they were reserved mostly for the use of people staying overnight.
I left the park and turned at the nearby junction to retrace my route on Oklahoma Hwy. 1 that I had covered yesterday. In the sunshine, the color of the trees was much brighter. The most frustrating aspect of this drive is that there are no shoulders. There were beautiful scenes that I would have liked to have photographed, but there was no place to stop. Where they have pull-off areas for scenic views, the photos were all the same--views of the mixture of colorful trees in the valley rather than close-up photos. Therefore, I skipped most of the pull-offs this time hoping to see some interesting sights in Arkansas.
I passed the spot where I entered Hwy. 1 yesterday, and a short distance away pulled into the parking lot of a National Forest office and hiking trail. The office was closed, but many people were stopping for the rest rooms. Only a few took the hike which was a nice loop trail back through the trees. For the most part, it seemed that the trees here were past their prime. With nothing special to see, the fact it was November and a crispy cool morning made me think of picking up pecans. This is the time of the year when people in Texas head out to pecan orchards to gather pecans that have fallen from the trees.
The mountaintop ridge climbed as I entered Arkansas and led to a great disappointment. Although color could be observed in the forests in the valleys below, the trees along the ridge were far past their prime. Most had no leaves at all. It was just an ugly, dull brown, wintry look. I had planned to stop, and maybe even camp out, at Magazine Mountain, the highest point in Arkansas, for the evening. It was obvious that if the trees were already ugly at this atmosphere they would be the same on top of the highest point in the state. I made a quick decision based on the following thoughts: I had enjoyed the trees the past couple of days. It seemed that I wouldn't see any better fall foliage on this trip. I had intended to eventually be in Hot Springs only because the scenic byway in Arkansas would lead me there. I really had no interest to drive through a wintry forest to get there. I had planned to visit Bob and Judy Maroney again on Tuesday evening, but there really was nothing I wanted to do between now and then. They were in Dallas where they were attending the opera. It was Sunday, and the traffic would be better than it would be on a weekday.
I made a right turn and started heading back to San Antonio. After driving straight through except for quick stops for something to eat, I got home at 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
OK Hwy 1 Byway and Robbers Cave State Park
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013--Beavers Bend State Park to Wilburton, OK
After another night of sleeping 12 hours (with earplugs this time to keep me from hearing the horns announcing water releases from the dam), I awoke to find the campground overflowing. As I took apart my tent and cleaned the bottom of it on top of the picnic table, a couple came over from a tent that had been put up on a non-designated site. They asked if they could take my site if I were leaving. Of course, I told them they were welcome to it. They were so excited. They said it was the best camping spot in the park and that they had stayed there last year. Before driving away, I took my trash to the garbage bin and stopped at the toilet. By the time I returned, their tent was already at my site!
Today was cloudy. The evening had been warmer than the night before, because it didn't bother me to have my hands out in the air rather than under the covers. But the clouds made the day seem cooler than the day before. Also, I found it difficult to take good photos of the trees due to the darkness of the day.
Anyway, I drove northward until I got to Oklahoma Highway 1, a National Scenic Byway known for its fall foliage. I turned westward on it toward Talihina. The highway follows the ridge of the Ozark Mountains with views on both sides of valleys of trees. About half the trees here are pines, so they are a lush green. Contrasted with them are many oaks and a few maples. The oaks are brown to yellow in color, while the maples are a bright red. It's a beautiful sight with all the contrasts.
After two nights camping and with no access to the Internet, I wanted to try to find a bigger town. I expected Talihina to be that town, but it was small, too. Therefore, I continued to Wilburton which I had planned to visit tomorrow. Fortunately, I saw a McDonalds when I pulled into town. It was lunchtime, so I stopped to eat and to use their free wifi. I posted the entries to my blog that I had written the past two nights at the picnic table at my campsite and researched motels in the town. There apparently are only about 3 places to stay here, so I went to the one that seemed to have the best reviews--The Traveler's Inn. They had a room that seemed fresh from recent remodeling for only $50 plus tax, so I took it. That would allow me to bathe, to use the Internet, to recharge my camera batteries, etc. First came a LONG, hot shower!!
The big tourist site here in Wilburton is the Robbers Cave State Park about 4 miles further down the road from my motel. I drove there and explored the cave. Then I took a long hike thought the woods. The Ozark Mountains used to be a very tall mountain range back when there was one land mass before the continents were formed. Over the millions of years, they have worn down for various reasons. What is left is rolling mountains and land with lots of scattered stones. The walking trail would have been impossible to follow if it hadn't been marked with red paint on the trees. The trail was filled with stones, and between the stones the land was covered with fallen leaves. There was no trail to be seen, only one that was marked by those red dots. I walked about 3 miles in about 1 hour, 10 minutes. Most of the trail went through rather drab woods with a few colorful trees showing up occasionally. But on the last quarter of the trail, it followed a ridge that had lots of yellow and red trees. I was so glad I had turned clockwise so that the best part was at the end of the hike.
Wilburton has a movie theater, and I considered going to it tonight. However, it was showing a children's cartoon. Therefore, I decided to stay in the room and take care of other matters. First, I stopped at a local food store that has a smokehouse and deli inside it. I had a sliced beef sandwich, potato salad, and jalapeno beans. The beef was more like pulled beef--tender and delicious. From there, I headed to the room where I stayed for the rest of the evening.
After another night of sleeping 12 hours (with earplugs this time to keep me from hearing the horns announcing water releases from the dam), I awoke to find the campground overflowing. As I took apart my tent and cleaned the bottom of it on top of the picnic table, a couple came over from a tent that had been put up on a non-designated site. They asked if they could take my site if I were leaving. Of course, I told them they were welcome to it. They were so excited. They said it was the best camping spot in the park and that they had stayed there last year. Before driving away, I took my trash to the garbage bin and stopped at the toilet. By the time I returned, their tent was already at my site!
Today was cloudy. The evening had been warmer than the night before, because it didn't bother me to have my hands out in the air rather than under the covers. But the clouds made the day seem cooler than the day before. Also, I found it difficult to take good photos of the trees due to the darkness of the day.
Anyway, I drove northward until I got to Oklahoma Highway 1, a National Scenic Byway known for its fall foliage. I turned westward on it toward Talihina. The highway follows the ridge of the Ozark Mountains with views on both sides of valleys of trees. About half the trees here are pines, so they are a lush green. Contrasted with them are many oaks and a few maples. The oaks are brown to yellow in color, while the maples are a bright red. It's a beautiful sight with all the contrasts.
After two nights camping and with no access to the Internet, I wanted to try to find a bigger town. I expected Talihina to be that town, but it was small, too. Therefore, I continued to Wilburton which I had planned to visit tomorrow. Fortunately, I saw a McDonalds when I pulled into town. It was lunchtime, so I stopped to eat and to use their free wifi. I posted the entries to my blog that I had written the past two nights at the picnic table at my campsite and researched motels in the town. There apparently are only about 3 places to stay here, so I went to the one that seemed to have the best reviews--The Traveler's Inn. They had a room that seemed fresh from recent remodeling for only $50 plus tax, so I took it. That would allow me to bathe, to use the Internet, to recharge my camera batteries, etc. First came a LONG, hot shower!!
The big tourist site here in Wilburton is the Robbers Cave State Park about 4 miles further down the road from my motel. I drove there and explored the cave. Then I took a long hike thought the woods. The Ozark Mountains used to be a very tall mountain range back when there was one land mass before the continents were formed. Over the millions of years, they have worn down for various reasons. What is left is rolling mountains and land with lots of scattered stones. The walking trail would have been impossible to follow if it hadn't been marked with red paint on the trees. The trail was filled with stones, and between the stones the land was covered with fallen leaves. There was no trail to be seen, only one that was marked by those red dots. I walked about 3 miles in about 1 hour, 10 minutes. Most of the trail went through rather drab woods with a few colorful trees showing up occasionally. But on the last quarter of the trail, it followed a ridge that had lots of yellow and red trees. I was so glad I had turned clockwise so that the best part was at the end of the hike.
Wilburton has a movie theater, and I considered going to it tonight. However, it was showing a children's cartoon. Therefore, I decided to stay in the room and take care of other matters. First, I stopped at a local food store that has a smokehouse and deli inside it. I had a sliced beef sandwich, potato salad, and jalapeno beans. The beef was more like pulled beef--tender and delicious. From there, I headed to the room where I stayed for the rest of the evening.
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Beavers Bend State Park
Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013—Boxelder to Beavers
Bend
Judy cooked breakfast for us this morning—scrambled
eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls. We
continued our conversations from last night talking about lots of different
topics—her quilting, Bob’s grapevines, Bob’s wine, their jellies and preserves,
public radio, preferred magazines, computer connections in rural areas, novels,
classes over the Internet, etc. There
seems to be a neverending series of topics when we get together.
After breakfast, Bob gave me a tour of his
vineyard. He told me what he has learned
in the last year to improve his production and to keep the leaves free of
fungus. We tasted the different grapes
which he said are not as sweet now as they were a month ago when he was
harvesting them.
He then gave me a tour on his new mule—a
great improvement over the old one he had.
This one has a glass windshield and side windows. It has a hard roof. It has two bench seats so that it carries
more people, and it has a small truck bed on back. We went down the road a short distance and
then returned.
By then, it was 11:30 and I needed to head
for Oklahoma
The trip took me across the Red River just
north of Clarksville and then through Idabel and
Broken Bow in Oklahoma
I knew I would be in remote areas, so I
stopped to get gas and to eat a burger at a Dairy Queen. I was surprised at the size of Broken
Bow. I remembered it as being smaller
than Idabel, but there isn’t a big difference in size. Both have Wal-marts, and both have small
Choctaw Casinos even though they are only 12 miles apart. Neither is a great town, but each is better
than I thought it might be. The main
reason, I guess, is that there are no larger towns nearby. Clarksville
was once the size of these towns, but people started going to Paris
and Texarkana Oklahoma
This is my first visit to Beavers Bend
State Park
They were already setting up for the folk
festival when I stopped at the office to get a tent site. There are food booths being set up. I understand that there will be exhibits,
demonstrations, etc., tomorrow and Saturday.
Bob and Judy will drive up and meet me here late tomorrow morning. We will see the festival, then Bob wants to
go to a nearby winery operated by two women.
I’ll stay two nights before heading further north into the mountains on
Saturday.
Friday, Sept. 8, 2013—Beavers Bend
I read using my headlamp for about an hour
after it got dark last night. My hands
were getting cold being out of the covers, though, so I put everything away and
went to sleep at 19:30. I slept very
well except for one problem. About 4
times during the night there were loud horn noises—a series of 3-4 short honks
followed by one lone one. I kept
thinking maybe it was a warning for a bridge raising to let a boat
through. Bob suggested today that it was
probably warning that they were releasing water downstream from the dam. Anyway, it was disturbing, and I will wear
earplugs tonight to try to lessen the interruption.
I slept 12 hours, getting up at 7:30 this
morning. I washed, changed clothes, and
walked to the festival grounds for the Beavers Bend Folk Festival. It was only about a 25-minute walk from the
campground to there.
I went through the exhibits, surprised that
they were already crowded mostly with elderly people and with groups of school
children. There are many demonstrations—making
lye soap, blacksmithing, carving, making candles, making ropes, quilting,
weaving, spinning yarn, pressing flowers and leaves, etc. They were fun to watch, but the most fun was
to participate in a lesson teaching us to play the dulcimer. There were 6 of us given dulcimers. We were shown how to position them, how to
hold the pick, how to stroke the pick, how to use our left finger to position
for different notes. Then the woman
guided us through playing by telling us the positions for our fingers as we
stroked the pick across the strings. It
was easy and fun. Within 10 minutes, she
had us playing while reading from a sheet of music.
A great Irish band was playing as I waited
for Bob and Judy. They arrived just on
time at 11:45 as Bob had said they would.
We went through the exhibits together, then we ate. Bob and I had pork loin sandwiches
(charcoal-grilled pork loin, tomato, onion, lettuce, and a spicy chipotle
sauce. Judy had a box of stir-fried
noodles and vegetables.
Bob and I listened as the Irish band played
a second set. Judy went back inside to
do some shopping. After that, we headed
just north of here to visit the Girls Gone Wine shop. Bob bought us each a glass of wine which we
drank on their patio. There, we
continued to visit about various topics.
Around 16:15, we left there, and they brought be back to the
campground. I’ll spend the evening here again. I’ll read and probably be heading to sleep at
an early hour again this evening. I’ll
wear my earplugs tonight, though.
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Back in Boxelder for a Visit
Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013--San Antonio to Boxelder
It's still a very long drive from San Antonio to Boxelder (which is in northeast Texas just south of Clarksville). I left San Antonio at 8:20 and arrived at Boxelder at 16:30--8 hours and 10 minutes with very little stopping. I pulled off the highway in West to get kolaches for lunch at 11:30, then ate them as I continued driving. I had a sausage-cheese-jalapeno one, a pulled pork one, and a cinnamon-maple twist one. UMMMM! I pulled off again in Rockwall to get gasoline at Costco. Then I detoured through Commerce briefly. There, I drove through town to see changes--new Luigi's Restaurant, new Dollar Tree, new sporting goods store, construction to expand the student center, etc. I went to the art gallery in the art building, saw some interesting panoramic photographs of the university and the town on the walls in the Wathena Temple art building, and saw some nice photographs on the third floor of the Journalism Building. Before leaving campus, I met a man in the development building who showed me some artwork which has been donated to the university by one of its former students.
I arrived in Boxelder just as Judy was getting home from her quilting date with the area women. Bob had a fire going in the fireplace. We sat and visited for a while. Then Bob made caipirinhas for us while Judy cooked dinner--a chicken-spaghetti-cheese casserole with a green bean-pecan-feta cheese salad and garlic toast. Bob served his homemade muscadine wine to go with the dinner. It was all very delicious.
Afterward, we talked more. We discussed health issues, friends, the university in Corpus, estate planning, travel, etc.
It was a nice evening. It's just too bad we live so far apart. It would be good to get together more often.
Tomorrow, I will head into Oklahoma. Bob and Judy will drive up on Friday to join me for a folk festival they will be having at Beaver's Bend State Park where I will be camping for two nights.
It's still a very long drive from San Antonio to Boxelder (which is in northeast Texas just south of Clarksville). I left San Antonio at 8:20 and arrived at Boxelder at 16:30--8 hours and 10 minutes with very little stopping. I pulled off the highway in West to get kolaches for lunch at 11:30, then ate them as I continued driving. I had a sausage-cheese-jalapeno one, a pulled pork one, and a cinnamon-maple twist one. UMMMM! I pulled off again in Rockwall to get gasoline at Costco. Then I detoured through Commerce briefly. There, I drove through town to see changes--new Luigi's Restaurant, new Dollar Tree, new sporting goods store, construction to expand the student center, etc. I went to the art gallery in the art building, saw some interesting panoramic photographs of the university and the town on the walls in the Wathena Temple art building, and saw some nice photographs on the third floor of the Journalism Building. Before leaving campus, I met a man in the development building who showed me some artwork which has been donated to the university by one of its former students.
I arrived in Boxelder just as Judy was getting home from her quilting date with the area women. Bob had a fire going in the fireplace. We sat and visited for a while. Then Bob made caipirinhas for us while Judy cooked dinner--a chicken-spaghetti-cheese casserole with a green bean-pecan-feta cheese salad and garlic toast. Bob served his homemade muscadine wine to go with the dinner. It was all very delicious.
Afterward, we talked more. We discussed health issues, friends, the university in Corpus, estate planning, travel, etc.
It was a nice evening. It's just too bad we live so far apart. It would be good to get together more often.
Tomorrow, I will head into Oklahoma. Bob and Judy will drive up on Friday to join me for a folk festival they will be having at Beaver's Bend State Park where I will be camping for two nights.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Returning to Texas
Sunday, May 26, 2013--Tampa to San Antonio
Sunday was a travel day--up at 5:30, quick breakfast at the hotel, check-in at the airport, wait for flight, flight to Houston, delayed flight in Houston due to mechanical problems, then flight to San Antonio. We got back about 13:00.
The length of the trip was just about right for exploring the western coast of Florida. We had plenty to do each day, and we didn't run out of things we wanted to do until the end of the last day. We found Florida to be very lush and a nice place to visit. Of all the stops, we decided that Sarasota would be the place to head if we ever wanted to move to the western coast of Florida. The city is attractive, has lots of opportunities for entertainment, has excellent beaches with easy access and free parking, and has a Costco (which Wes thinks is an especially good one because it is attached to a mall).
Sunday was a travel day--up at 5:30, quick breakfast at the hotel, check-in at the airport, wait for flight, flight to Houston, delayed flight in Houston due to mechanical problems, then flight to San Antonio. We got back about 13:00.
The length of the trip was just about right for exploring the western coast of Florida. We had plenty to do each day, and we didn't run out of things we wanted to do until the end of the last day. We found Florida to be very lush and a nice place to visit. Of all the stops, we decided that Sarasota would be the place to head if we ever wanted to move to the western coast of Florida. The city is attractive, has lots of opportunities for entertainment, has excellent beaches with easy access and free parking, and has a Costco (which Wes thinks is an especially good one because it is attached to a mall).
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Final Day in Tampa
Saturday, May 25, 2013--Tampa
We headed to the Saturday Market held at Centennial Park every Saturday. I expected a farmer's market. Although there were a few stands with food products, it was mostly an arts and crafts market. It was rather quiet which made it easy to see what was there. Most interesting was a table with woven baskets made from pine needles. Also interesting were yard sculptures made from metal in the shapes of animals--alligator, dragonfly, a man on a Segway, etc.
The park is in Ybor City which is an historical area of Tampa which was settled by immigrants from Italy, Spain, and Cuba and has been named a national historic site. After seeing the market, we walked up and down the streets seeing the old business center which once housed cigar factories and now serves mostly as the dining and entertainment center for Tampa. Some shops had people in the window making cigars by hand to draw the tourists toward them, but cigar manufacturing is no longer a major business of the area. People come here to party for the most part. There are several venues with live music. There are lots of restaurants. And there are shops selling items that will appeal to those who come to dine and party. There is also a new mural we saw which was dedicated just this past week.
In the early afternoon, we explored the Channel District of downtown which is also an entertainment district with an aquarium, a terminal for passenger ships, a large arena for hockey and concerts, etc. We also turned onto Harbour Island, an area of very expensive homes on the waterfront downtown.
We stopped at the University of Tampa campus which is across the river from downtown Tampa and is housed in what was originally the defunct Tampa Bay Hotel, a large Moorish looking hotel that was built in the late 1800s. The Henry Plant Museum that tells the story of the hotel and showcases original furnishings from it is located in one portion of the lower floor of the building. We toured the museum, then we walked all through the old hotel building seeing the old dining room, the music room, etc., which are all facilities still used by the university. The campus now has many other structures, but it is the old hotel building that draws people there, and it still houses many offices of the university as serves as a symbol for it.
Before returning to our hotel in Clearwater, we explored two more near-downtown affluent and trendy neighborhoods with nice homes and shops. One was Hyde Park and the other was SoHo. We drove up and down Bayshore Blvd. in the area of both which is like Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi with fancy homes and condos facing the water.
We headed to the Saturday Market held at Centennial Park every Saturday. I expected a farmer's market. Although there were a few stands with food products, it was mostly an arts and crafts market. It was rather quiet which made it easy to see what was there. Most interesting was a table with woven baskets made from pine needles. Also interesting were yard sculptures made from metal in the shapes of animals--alligator, dragonfly, a man on a Segway, etc.
The park is in Ybor City which is an historical area of Tampa which was settled by immigrants from Italy, Spain, and Cuba and has been named a national historic site. After seeing the market, we walked up and down the streets seeing the old business center which once housed cigar factories and now serves mostly as the dining and entertainment center for Tampa. Some shops had people in the window making cigars by hand to draw the tourists toward them, but cigar manufacturing is no longer a major business of the area. People come here to party for the most part. There are several venues with live music. There are lots of restaurants. And there are shops selling items that will appeal to those who come to dine and party. There is also a new mural we saw which was dedicated just this past week.
In the early afternoon, we explored the Channel District of downtown which is also an entertainment district with an aquarium, a terminal for passenger ships, a large arena for hockey and concerts, etc. We also turned onto Harbour Island, an area of very expensive homes on the waterfront downtown.
We stopped at the University of Tampa campus which is across the river from downtown Tampa and is housed in what was originally the defunct Tampa Bay Hotel, a large Moorish looking hotel that was built in the late 1800s. The Henry Plant Museum that tells the story of the hotel and showcases original furnishings from it is located in one portion of the lower floor of the building. We toured the museum, then we walked all through the old hotel building seeing the old dining room, the music room, etc., which are all facilities still used by the university. The campus now has many other structures, but it is the old hotel building that draws people there, and it still houses many offices of the university as serves as a symbol for it.
Before returning to our hotel in Clearwater, we explored two more near-downtown affluent and trendy neighborhoods with nice homes and shops. One was Hyde Park and the other was SoHo. We drove up and down Bayshore Blvd. in the area of both which is like Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi with fancy homes and condos facing the water.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Exploring Tampa
Friday, May 24, 2013--Tampa
Since it was a weekday, we planned most of our activities for suburban areas. Tomorrow, we will head to the downtown area when parking will be easier and free at meters.
We started at Lettuce Lake Regional Park. It's a large park along a river with a very long set of boardwalks over the swampy terrain. It has many old-growth cypress trees that are huge in diameter. It also has alligators, lots of water birds, etc.
From there, we went down the street to explore the main campus of the University of South Florida. Founded in 1960, it has grown from 5 buildings then to 164 now. The Tampa campus has 40,000 students. It's a nice campus with a golf course, a large riverside park with recreation facilities, the SunDome for basketball games and entertainment events, some nice (and some not so nice) architecture, etc.
In the late afternoon we went to the Skatepark of Tampa, a world-famous skateboarding institution. It is privately owned and located in an industrial area. There is a shop selling everything a skateboarder might need. But the main attractions are two buildings and a patio between which make up a huge skatepark with ramps, rails, curved walls, etc. School students were just arriving when we got there, but so were the "shaving" group of 20- and 30-year-olds who are still into the sport. It was amazing seeing how skilled one of the older guys was and several of the very younger guys (8-10-year-olds) were. One family arrived with one of their boys dressed in gear. I talked to the mother. He has had one class and was there for the first time to try to skate in the park. He was 6. He was hesitant at first, and it was obvious that he was a bit afraid that the fast boys might run over him. Eventually, he got bolder and bolder. An hour later, he was going up ramps, down ramps, learning to push himself off with his feet, etc. He has a long way to go, but he had made quite a bit of progress at learning to take his chances inside the park.
We arrived downtown at 6:00 when the parking meters become free and headed for the Tampa Museum of Art. It is open late on Fridays and is free. We were glad we didn't pay to go there. Although in a very nice building, there is really very little to see other than special exhibits--one of large photographs from Cuba by Michael Eastman, one representing stages in paintings from the revolution to the present in Mexico, and one of sculptures that won national recognition recently. The photographs from Cuba were by far the best of the show.
Since it was a weekday, we planned most of our activities for suburban areas. Tomorrow, we will head to the downtown area when parking will be easier and free at meters.
We started at Lettuce Lake Regional Park. It's a large park along a river with a very long set of boardwalks over the swampy terrain. It has many old-growth cypress trees that are huge in diameter. It also has alligators, lots of water birds, etc.
From there, we went down the street to explore the main campus of the University of South Florida. Founded in 1960, it has grown from 5 buildings then to 164 now. The Tampa campus has 40,000 students. It's a nice campus with a golf course, a large riverside park with recreation facilities, the SunDome for basketball games and entertainment events, some nice (and some not so nice) architecture, etc.
In the late afternoon we went to the Skatepark of Tampa, a world-famous skateboarding institution. It is privately owned and located in an industrial area. There is a shop selling everything a skateboarder might need. But the main attractions are two buildings and a patio between which make up a huge skatepark with ramps, rails, curved walls, etc. School students were just arriving when we got there, but so were the "shaving" group of 20- and 30-year-olds who are still into the sport. It was amazing seeing how skilled one of the older guys was and several of the very younger guys (8-10-year-olds) were. One family arrived with one of their boys dressed in gear. I talked to the mother. He has had one class and was there for the first time to try to skate in the park. He was 6. He was hesitant at first, and it was obvious that he was a bit afraid that the fast boys might run over him. Eventually, he got bolder and bolder. An hour later, he was going up ramps, down ramps, learning to push himself off with his feet, etc. He has a long way to go, but he had made quite a bit of progress at learning to take his chances inside the park.
We arrived downtown at 6:00 when the parking meters become free and headed for the Tampa Museum of Art. It is open late on Fridays and is free. We were glad we didn't pay to go there. Although in a very nice building, there is really very little to see other than special exhibits--one of large photographs from Cuba by Michael Eastman, one representing stages in paintings from the revolution to the present in Mexico, and one of sculptures that won national recognition recently. The photographs from Cuba were by far the best of the show.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Beaches and Tampa
Thursday, May 23, 2013--From Sarasota to Tampa/St. Petersburg
We began the final leg of our trip today. Checking out of our hotel in Sarasota, we started the trek toward Tampa-St. Petersburg. Just north of Sarasota, we made a detour at Bradenton to visit two beaches--Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach. Both had beautiful, white sand. The beaches were narrower than those in Sarasota, and had a few more shells near the water line. These beaches and the surrounding areas seemed to be a bit more "Old Florida," since there were no high rise apartments and most of the homes and motels were from decades ago.
Our motel is in St. Petersburg. It had a higher rating on TripAdvisor than any of the similar ones in Tampa. There seems to be quite a bit of disgruntlement by visitors in relation to their experiences at their motels over there. Anyway, this one is just at the western edge of St. Petersburg where the highway to downtown Tampa begins.
We ate lunch and picked up the weekly newspapers to see what is happening in town for the weekend. Then around 17:45, we headed for downtown Tampa. We parked and spent about 45 minutes walking up and down the streets. Unfortunately, it is a rather dead city in the center. There were far more homeless people than others as we walked. Any older buildings that are still standing were mostly vacant and available for lease. Several blocks had been completely redeveloped with office buildings that left a sterile feel to the area. A "riverwalk" was sunny and hot with little character. We talked about how unfortunate it would be to have to stay in the downtown area for a convention or business meetings. (There is an entertainment district called Ybor City 10-15 blocks from downtown that is accessible by street car [and not really accessible by walking due to expressways and neighborhoods], but that does not solve the problem of downtown itself being dead.)
Our main purpose for going downtown was to see a film at the Tampa Theater. It is an old-fashioned movie palace similar to, but smaller than, the Majestic in San Antonio. Both of them were designed by John Eberson making the similarities easy to spot. Unfortunately, the Tampa Theater is not as well restored as the Majestic; it has faded tiles, missing plaster in places, and a general "worn" look. Unlike the Majestic, the Tampa Theater, however, still shows films every night that they do not have a stage show performance. Tonight, after wandering into the balcony and basement, we settled in orchestra seats and saw the French film Renoir which was interesting both for the story and for the many scenes that were planned to look like Renoir paintings themselves.
We began the final leg of our trip today. Checking out of our hotel in Sarasota, we started the trek toward Tampa-St. Petersburg. Just north of Sarasota, we made a detour at Bradenton to visit two beaches--Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach. Both had beautiful, white sand. The beaches were narrower than those in Sarasota, and had a few more shells near the water line. These beaches and the surrounding areas seemed to be a bit more "Old Florida," since there were no high rise apartments and most of the homes and motels were from decades ago.
Our motel is in St. Petersburg. It had a higher rating on TripAdvisor than any of the similar ones in Tampa. There seems to be quite a bit of disgruntlement by visitors in relation to their experiences at their motels over there. Anyway, this one is just at the western edge of St. Petersburg where the highway to downtown Tampa begins.
We ate lunch and picked up the weekly newspapers to see what is happening in town for the weekend. Then around 17:45, we headed for downtown Tampa. We parked and spent about 45 minutes walking up and down the streets. Unfortunately, it is a rather dead city in the center. There were far more homeless people than others as we walked. Any older buildings that are still standing were mostly vacant and available for lease. Several blocks had been completely redeveloped with office buildings that left a sterile feel to the area. A "riverwalk" was sunny and hot with little character. We talked about how unfortunate it would be to have to stay in the downtown area for a convention or business meetings. (There is an entertainment district called Ybor City 10-15 blocks from downtown that is accessible by street car [and not really accessible by walking due to expressways and neighborhoods], but that does not solve the problem of downtown itself being dead.)
Our main purpose for going downtown was to see a film at the Tampa Theater. It is an old-fashioned movie palace similar to, but smaller than, the Majestic in San Antonio. Both of them were designed by John Eberson making the similarities easy to spot. Unfortunately, the Tampa Theater is not as well restored as the Majestic; it has faded tiles, missing plaster in places, and a general "worn" look. Unlike the Majestic, the Tampa Theater, however, still shows films every night that they do not have a stage show performance. Tonight, after wandering into the balcony and basement, we settled in orchestra seats and saw the French film Renoir which was interesting both for the story and for the many scenes that were planned to look like Renoir paintings themselves.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Forests and Beaches
Wednesday, May 22, 2013--Sarasota Area
We headed out into the countryside this morning to Myakka River State Park. The river itself is a slow one lined with a forest of mostly palm trees. They are so thick, however, that they produce a nice cover of shade. Where there were clearings, however, the fields were covered with beautiful, yellow wildflowers. We hiked a riverside trail watching birds and critters. We didn't see an alligator until we reached the end of the trail and began returning. One was swimming down the river beside us. We watched as it hunted for food on the opposite riverbank. Ahead we saw a couple with two small dogs coming up the river on our side. The alligator saw them, too. He stopped and lowered himself into the water so that only his eyes and nostrils were exposed. We warned the couple that he was there. The alligator stayed in place until it was obvious the couple were taking their dogs away from the bank, then he started slowly moving again and eventually turned around to go back in the opposite direction.
Further into the park, we took a nature trail that went a through more mixed forest of palms, oaks and other trees. To one side, there was a short canopy walk. We climbed a tower about 25 feet (8 m) and walked across a suspension bridge that bounced and swayed at a level just above the tops of the trees. The second tower at the end of the walk was taller, so we further climbed to 70 feet (22 m) for a view over the entire park.
Before leaving the park, we drove to a lake with a boardwalk overlooking wetlands. It reminded me of the wetlands that were across from my home in Corpus Christi, especially since there were roseate spoonbills and other birds the same as we have in CC.
Returning to Sarasota, we stopped at Costco and ate lunch--hot dogs, drinks, free samples, and a hand-dipped ice cream bar. Then we headed for the beaches.
We stopped first at Siesta Beach and walked essentially the same area that we had walked on our visit two days ago. From there, we drove to Lido Beach were we walked to the north from where we had parked before (vs. having walked to the south yesterday). Both beaches are so nice and so pleasant to visit. Also, both have public facilities available which make it nice to be there.
Before returning to the room, we explored two college campuses that are near our hotel--New College of Florida and the University of South Florida--Sarasota-Manatee. The former is a public liberal arts honors university which has received extensive recognition for the unique and quality programs that they offer. All those years I was at A&M-CC and they "talked" of doing special things, I kept reading national articles regularly praising New College for what it was doing. The second campus is a new branch of USF which currently has only two buildings. It is at a similar stage of development as the A&M-San Antonio campus, but, like the latter, has great potential for growth.
Next to hour hotel is a Goodwill Store. We walked into there to look around before going back to the room. I had hoped to find some nice shorts or a swimsuit that were short enough that they wouldn't fall below the knees. Instead, I found two very nice long-sleeve shirts by Daniel Cremieux in my size. I got both of them (maybe a $140 value if new) for $10!
We headed out into the countryside this morning to Myakka River State Park. The river itself is a slow one lined with a forest of mostly palm trees. They are so thick, however, that they produce a nice cover of shade. Where there were clearings, however, the fields were covered with beautiful, yellow wildflowers. We hiked a riverside trail watching birds and critters. We didn't see an alligator until we reached the end of the trail and began returning. One was swimming down the river beside us. We watched as it hunted for food on the opposite riverbank. Ahead we saw a couple with two small dogs coming up the river on our side. The alligator saw them, too. He stopped and lowered himself into the water so that only his eyes and nostrils were exposed. We warned the couple that he was there. The alligator stayed in place until it was obvious the couple were taking their dogs away from the bank, then he started slowly moving again and eventually turned around to go back in the opposite direction.
Further into the park, we took a nature trail that went a through more mixed forest of palms, oaks and other trees. To one side, there was a short canopy walk. We climbed a tower about 25 feet (8 m) and walked across a suspension bridge that bounced and swayed at a level just above the tops of the trees. The second tower at the end of the walk was taller, so we further climbed to 70 feet (22 m) for a view over the entire park.
Before leaving the park, we drove to a lake with a boardwalk overlooking wetlands. It reminded me of the wetlands that were across from my home in Corpus Christi, especially since there were roseate spoonbills and other birds the same as we have in CC.
Returning to Sarasota, we stopped at Costco and ate lunch--hot dogs, drinks, free samples, and a hand-dipped ice cream bar. Then we headed for the beaches.
We stopped first at Siesta Beach and walked essentially the same area that we had walked on our visit two days ago. From there, we drove to Lido Beach were we walked to the north from where we had parked before (vs. having walked to the south yesterday). Both beaches are so nice and so pleasant to visit. Also, both have public facilities available which make it nice to be there.
Before returning to the room, we explored two college campuses that are near our hotel--New College of Florida and the University of South Florida--Sarasota-Manatee. The former is a public liberal arts honors university which has received extensive recognition for the unique and quality programs that they offer. All those years I was at A&M-CC and they "talked" of doing special things, I kept reading national articles regularly praising New College for what it was doing. The second campus is a new branch of USF which currently has only two buildings. It is at a similar stage of development as the A&M-San Antonio campus, but, like the latter, has great potential for growth.
Next to hour hotel is a Goodwill Store. We walked into there to look around before going back to the room. I had hoped to find some nice shorts or a swimsuit that were short enough that they wouldn't fall below the knees. Instead, I found two very nice long-sleeve shirts by Daniel Cremieux in my size. I got both of them (maybe a $140 value if new) for $10!
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Exploring Sarasota
Monday and Tuesday, May 20 and 21, 2013--Sarasota, FL
The Ringling Museum of Art is just one part of a large complex within the Ringling compound. Admission to the art museum is free on Mondays. Since the complex seemed too large to want to see it all in one outing, we decided to go only to the art museum today for free and to pay tomorrow to see the rest of the complex.
The art museum is in a large building that is designed like an Italian palace. It has two wings. Between the two wings are gardens with sculptures leading down to the waterfront. Best known for its large paintings and a tapestry by Rubens, the museum also includes many other paintings, sculptures, and decorative objects. It seems that some, if not most, of the objects were purchased just to impress others. Also, most of the sculptures in the gardens are not originals; instead, they are copies of originals. It's a nice museum, but something just seems a bit less than grand about it.
The grounds of the Ringling complex are beautiful. We found a bench in the shade with flower gardens around us and a lake with various water fowl to the side and in front of us. We sat there enjoying the view, the fresh air, and the opportunity to relax for maybe half an hour after going through the museum.
For lunch, we went to Costco and ordered a whole pizza so we would have leftovers for later. What's interesting about Costco here is that it is an anchor store in a large, indoor mall! The store looks just like a Costco. They tore down an old Dillard's and built the Costco on its site. What was a bit different is that the Costco restaurant was outside the main walls of the store so that it could be accessed by anyone at the mall.
We headed to Siesta Beach on Siesta Key in the late afternoon. It was named the top beach in the world in 2011. Fortunately, there was free city parking to make it easily accessible!! The beach is wide and VERY WHITE! A reference said that it is over 90% quartz crystals. It has a light, sugary feel to it. It is soft, but a bit grainy. Many people were sunbathing and playing in the water. We walked up the beach about half a mile and back again watching the people and enjoying the view of the white sand and the clear, turquoise-colored water.
Before returning to the hotel, we stopped downtown. Four blocks of Main Street, 1 block of Palm Avenue and another block off of Main were lined with small, independent shops, restaurants, bars, and galleries. Another block to the side has a large Whole Foods supermarket. Only 3-4 buildings were vacant, and one of those had a sign saying it had been leased. Besides Whole Foods, the only other national stores in the area were Starbucks, Brooks Bros., and Sur la Table; all others were local businesses.
________
Tuesday was similar to Monday with variations. We returned in the morning to the Ringling Complex. This time, we visited the Ringling private home Ca'd'Zan, the Circus Museum (2 buildings), and the gardens. Returning, I tried to figure out why something just didn't seem right about this complex. I think what it is that bothers me is that so much of it is not of high quality. Yes, there are Rubens and works by other famous painters in the museum, but so much of the construction of both the museum and the house seems to be substandard. The foundations were weak enough that the tiles are often broken. So many of the statues around the grounds and on the roofs are really just cast concrete (and very poor quality concrete at that). Even many of the furnishings in the house are second-hand.
For a beach experience, we went to Lido Beach. Actually, it was a repeat for Wes, since he stayed there for a week after graduating from high school in 1975. The Sand Castle Hotel where he stayed is still there, but it is surrounded by condominiums and fancy houses. This part of Sarasota has the most expensive neighborhoods in town. We walked up and down the beaches enjoying the soft, white sand and watching the people before heading to our next stop.
To walk a shopping district, we stayed on Lido and walked the St. Armand's Circle. It was originally planned by Ringling as a high class shopping district to be surrounded by high class housing. He never managed to develop it, but it eventually got built anyway. The circle has shops, restaurants, bars, real estate offices, galleries, etc. It is an expensive and pretty shopping district. We walked around the circle and up and down the side blocks looking around. Many people were out dining and shopping.
The Ringling Museum of Art is just one part of a large complex within the Ringling compound. Admission to the art museum is free on Mondays. Since the complex seemed too large to want to see it all in one outing, we decided to go only to the art museum today for free and to pay tomorrow to see the rest of the complex.
The art museum is in a large building that is designed like an Italian palace. It has two wings. Between the two wings are gardens with sculptures leading down to the waterfront. Best known for its large paintings and a tapestry by Rubens, the museum also includes many other paintings, sculptures, and decorative objects. It seems that some, if not most, of the objects were purchased just to impress others. Also, most of the sculptures in the gardens are not originals; instead, they are copies of originals. It's a nice museum, but something just seems a bit less than grand about it.
The grounds of the Ringling complex are beautiful. We found a bench in the shade with flower gardens around us and a lake with various water fowl to the side and in front of us. We sat there enjoying the view, the fresh air, and the opportunity to relax for maybe half an hour after going through the museum.
For lunch, we went to Costco and ordered a whole pizza so we would have leftovers for later. What's interesting about Costco here is that it is an anchor store in a large, indoor mall! The store looks just like a Costco. They tore down an old Dillard's and built the Costco on its site. What was a bit different is that the Costco restaurant was outside the main walls of the store so that it could be accessed by anyone at the mall.
We headed to Siesta Beach on Siesta Key in the late afternoon. It was named the top beach in the world in 2011. Fortunately, there was free city parking to make it easily accessible!! The beach is wide and VERY WHITE! A reference said that it is over 90% quartz crystals. It has a light, sugary feel to it. It is soft, but a bit grainy. Many people were sunbathing and playing in the water. We walked up the beach about half a mile and back again watching the people and enjoying the view of the white sand and the clear, turquoise-colored water.
Before returning to the hotel, we stopped downtown. Four blocks of Main Street, 1 block of Palm Avenue and another block off of Main were lined with small, independent shops, restaurants, bars, and galleries. Another block to the side has a large Whole Foods supermarket. Only 3-4 buildings were vacant, and one of those had a sign saying it had been leased. Besides Whole Foods, the only other national stores in the area were Starbucks, Brooks Bros., and Sur la Table; all others were local businesses.
________
Tuesday was similar to Monday with variations. We returned in the morning to the Ringling Complex. This time, we visited the Ringling private home Ca'd'Zan, the Circus Museum (2 buildings), and the gardens. Returning, I tried to figure out why something just didn't seem right about this complex. I think what it is that bothers me is that so much of it is not of high quality. Yes, there are Rubens and works by other famous painters in the museum, but so much of the construction of both the museum and the house seems to be substandard. The foundations were weak enough that the tiles are often broken. So many of the statues around the grounds and on the roofs are really just cast concrete (and very poor quality concrete at that). Even many of the furnishings in the house are second-hand.
For a beach experience, we went to Lido Beach. Actually, it was a repeat for Wes, since he stayed there for a week after graduating from high school in 1975. The Sand Castle Hotel where he stayed is still there, but it is surrounded by condominiums and fancy houses. This part of Sarasota has the most expensive neighborhoods in town. We walked up and down the beaches enjoying the soft, white sand and watching the people before heading to our next stop.
To walk a shopping district, we stayed on Lido and walked the St. Armand's Circle. It was originally planned by Ringling as a high class shopping district to be surrounded by high class housing. He never managed to develop it, but it eventually got built anyway. The circle has shops, restaurants, bars, real estate offices, galleries, etc. It is an expensive and pretty shopping district. We walked around the circle and up and down the side blocks looking around. Many people were out dining and shopping.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Southwest Florida
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; May 17, 18 and 19, 2013--From the Everglades to Sarasota
Friday we drove southward. Our first stop was Marco Island which I expected to maybe be a bit interesting due to being at the "end of civilization" when going down the western coast of Florida. What a surprise to find it is just like the islands in the St. Petersburg area--completely developed with private homes and high-rise condominiums! There is no place to park without paying a high parking fee, and there is nothing really worth trying to see except maybe the beaches. We just drove around a while and left.
If Marco Island is the end of the islands, then Everglades City is the end of the towns in the western area of Florida going southward (not including the Keys). It is a small town that does have a bit of a quaint atmosphere. We stopped at the headquarters of the Everglades National Park to see exhibits. We didn't go any further into the park, since it would have taken hours to do so and we would not have seen anything we hadn't already seen.
Near Everglades City, we did stop to walk down the boardwalk at the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. There we, walked along a small waterway that had alligators in it. Then we proceeded down a long boardwalk into the swamps. We saw an owl, a couple of types of herons, turtles, etc. We think we were near a black bear. Some Australians reported seeing one, and we kept hearing loud popping/breaking sounds related to movement through the swamp woods, but we never saw the animal itself.
On our return back toward Ft. Myers, we explored Naples. I knew it was a boomtown, but I knew little else about it. It is the upscale city on the western coast of Florida and is huge. Filled with mansions and with upper-class shops, it has the feel of a place like Beverly Hills or a high-class resort town. What it does have that was nice are places to park. What a relief. We walked the streets seeing the people at the expensive sidewalk cafes and the nice homes, especially some of the older ones. We accessed part of the white sand beach and then explored the pier jutting into the water. At the pier, we watched the people in the water interacting with dolphins and pelicans. There was a manatee nearby, too, but it stayed under water and was apparently not noticed by those near it. The town had a nice look and feel to it, although it is definitely for those with higher incomes. Being only 30 miles south of Ft. Myers, Naples is really just the upper-class neighborhood for the metropolitan area. In fact, there is no gap between the two cities; they have grown together along US 41 which runs near the coast.
__________
Saturday was spent in the Ft. Myers area. We drove first to Sanibel Island/Captiva Island. They have a different feel to them from most of the islands we have visited so far--less developed and more "natural." They lack the highrises we have seen elsewhere. Development seems to have been more haphazard than the large, planned communities we have seen on other islands. Sanibel has what appears to be a poorer look to it, and Captiva seems to be where the rich people live.
While on the island, we went to the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Park. It takes up a large tract of the island with a walking trail, boating trails, and a driving trail. We hiked the walking trail and then drove the driving one. We saw raccoons in the trees eating fig berries. For the most part, it was probably too hot for animals to be out, however.
In the afternoon, we drove into town and toured the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford owned winter houses beside each other in Ft. Myers in the early 20th Century. The houses are very nice, but not the mansions that would be "first" houses for either family. Edison also had a laboratory there used mainly for researching plants that could produce latex for making rubber products. It's amazing how many things that Edison did in his life related to electricity, sound, manufacturing, etc., which were all outlined in exhibits at the museum.
During the evening, we went to a football game between the Ft. Myers Stingrays and the Sarasota Millionaires. It was like a small-town game, but the teams consisted of guys unwilling to give up their high school or college glory days. It was a championship game, so the fans were excited.
_________
On Sunday, we made our way up the coast from Ft. Myers to Sarasota. We started by driving through Cape Coral, a city across the river from Ft. Myers that is best left unexplored. We didn't find anything worth seeing there. We drove through Punta Gorda, a small, older city that is quite pretty on the Peace River. They were having a small festival at the park there. Next, we drove through Port Charlotte, another city that did not seem worth exploring.
Our main stop for the day was Venice which proved to be a surprise. I had read about it being a boom town and had expected it to be somewhat like Naples. Whereas Naples is a rich town, however, Venice seems to be mostly a middle class town. It is a pretty town, although it lacks the lush greenery that other Florida coastal towns tend to have; instead, it has mostly palm trees which do little to make the landscape lush or to provide shade. The downtown of Venice consists mostly of buildings that look like they are from the 1950s. They house lots of small specialty shops and restaurants. There are dolphin and turtle statues along the streets that have been painted by various artists the way that other cities have cows or other painted plastic sculptures. The best feature of Venice is that it provides free parking near its beaches so that it is easy for people to go to the beach. We stopped in two locations--at the pier near the airport and at the beach just west of downtown. The sand is not as nice (a bit grainy and gray) as at other beaches we have visited, but they were open, free, and easily accessed. The Venice "crowd" seemed to be quite a bit lower class than those in Naples and some of the other islands we have visited.
For 3 days we have had trouble with car tires. One has been losing air to the point that we have had to air it up daily. Another tire developed a bubble. We went to the rental agency lot here in Sarasota, but it was a franchisee, and they could not help us with our problem. They suggested that we drive into Tampa and exchange the car at the lot there. That's how we spent the rest of Sunday. It was 100 miles round-trip, but now we can relax and continue to enjoy the last week of our visit.
Friday we drove southward. Our first stop was Marco Island which I expected to maybe be a bit interesting due to being at the "end of civilization" when going down the western coast of Florida. What a surprise to find it is just like the islands in the St. Petersburg area--completely developed with private homes and high-rise condominiums! There is no place to park without paying a high parking fee, and there is nothing really worth trying to see except maybe the beaches. We just drove around a while and left.
If Marco Island is the end of the islands, then Everglades City is the end of the towns in the western area of Florida going southward (not including the Keys). It is a small town that does have a bit of a quaint atmosphere. We stopped at the headquarters of the Everglades National Park to see exhibits. We didn't go any further into the park, since it would have taken hours to do so and we would not have seen anything we hadn't already seen.
Near Everglades City, we did stop to walk down the boardwalk at the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. There we, walked along a small waterway that had alligators in it. Then we proceeded down a long boardwalk into the swamps. We saw an owl, a couple of types of herons, turtles, etc. We think we were near a black bear. Some Australians reported seeing one, and we kept hearing loud popping/breaking sounds related to movement through the swamp woods, but we never saw the animal itself.
On our return back toward Ft. Myers, we explored Naples. I knew it was a boomtown, but I knew little else about it. It is the upscale city on the western coast of Florida and is huge. Filled with mansions and with upper-class shops, it has the feel of a place like Beverly Hills or a high-class resort town. What it does have that was nice are places to park. What a relief. We walked the streets seeing the people at the expensive sidewalk cafes and the nice homes, especially some of the older ones. We accessed part of the white sand beach and then explored the pier jutting into the water. At the pier, we watched the people in the water interacting with dolphins and pelicans. There was a manatee nearby, too, but it stayed under water and was apparently not noticed by those near it. The town had a nice look and feel to it, although it is definitely for those with higher incomes. Being only 30 miles south of Ft. Myers, Naples is really just the upper-class neighborhood for the metropolitan area. In fact, there is no gap between the two cities; they have grown together along US 41 which runs near the coast.
__________
Saturday was spent in the Ft. Myers area. We drove first to Sanibel Island/Captiva Island. They have a different feel to them from most of the islands we have visited so far--less developed and more "natural." They lack the highrises we have seen elsewhere. Development seems to have been more haphazard than the large, planned communities we have seen on other islands. Sanibel has what appears to be a poorer look to it, and Captiva seems to be where the rich people live.
While on the island, we went to the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Park. It takes up a large tract of the island with a walking trail, boating trails, and a driving trail. We hiked the walking trail and then drove the driving one. We saw raccoons in the trees eating fig berries. For the most part, it was probably too hot for animals to be out, however.
In the afternoon, we drove into town and toured the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford owned winter houses beside each other in Ft. Myers in the early 20th Century. The houses are very nice, but not the mansions that would be "first" houses for either family. Edison also had a laboratory there used mainly for researching plants that could produce latex for making rubber products. It's amazing how many things that Edison did in his life related to electricity, sound, manufacturing, etc., which were all outlined in exhibits at the museum.
During the evening, we went to a football game between the Ft. Myers Stingrays and the Sarasota Millionaires. It was like a small-town game, but the teams consisted of guys unwilling to give up their high school or college glory days. It was a championship game, so the fans were excited.
_________
On Sunday, we made our way up the coast from Ft. Myers to Sarasota. We started by driving through Cape Coral, a city across the river from Ft. Myers that is best left unexplored. We didn't find anything worth seeing there. We drove through Punta Gorda, a small, older city that is quite pretty on the Peace River. They were having a small festival at the park there. Next, we drove through Port Charlotte, another city that did not seem worth exploring.
Our main stop for the day was Venice which proved to be a surprise. I had read about it being a boom town and had expected it to be somewhat like Naples. Whereas Naples is a rich town, however, Venice seems to be mostly a middle class town. It is a pretty town, although it lacks the lush greenery that other Florida coastal towns tend to have; instead, it has mostly palm trees which do little to make the landscape lush or to provide shade. The downtown of Venice consists mostly of buildings that look like they are from the 1950s. They house lots of small specialty shops and restaurants. There are dolphin and turtle statues along the streets that have been painted by various artists the way that other cities have cows or other painted plastic sculptures. The best feature of Venice is that it provides free parking near its beaches so that it is easy for people to go to the beach. We stopped in two locations--at the pier near the airport and at the beach just west of downtown. The sand is not as nice (a bit grainy and gray) as at other beaches we have visited, but they were open, free, and easily accessed. The Venice "crowd" seemed to be quite a bit lower class than those in Naples and some of the other islands we have visited.
For 3 days we have had trouble with car tires. One has been losing air to the point that we have had to air it up daily. Another tire developed a bubble. We went to the rental agency lot here in Sarasota, but it was a franchisee, and they could not help us with our problem. They suggested that we drive into Tampa and exchange the car at the lot there. That's how we spent the rest of Sunday. It was 100 miles round-trip, but now we can relax and continue to enjoy the last week of our visit.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Nature Hikes and Moving South
Wednesday and Thursday, May 15 and 16, 2013--Brooksville to Ft. Myers
There are lots of places for hiking in Florida. Today, we headed to the Chinsegut Wilderness Area north of where we are staying. We stopped first to hike the Big Pine Tract. It has a large stand of old-growth pines (200 years old). We took a loop hike and a side hike through the woods along an old state highway. From there, we headed to the Nature Center Tract of the same wilderness area and took a long wooded loop trail and a cut-across trail that took us through a wetlands area. Both were nice walks with lots of nice songbird sounds, views of wildlife (turtle, deer, butterflies, etc.), and a quietness that is hard to find today. Toward the end, we just sat on a bench for a while enjoying the fresh air and the quiet. I'm not sure how far we walked, but it took us about 3 hours at a regular pace (which is rather fast for most people).
Returning to the hotel, we explored the town of Nobleton located on the Withlacooche River. It's a small town, but it's a good place for river recreation. There were lots of canoes and kayaks for rent, but today only one person seemed to be on the river. Several people, however, were at the outdoor tables at River Ratz.
_______
Thursday became a long driving day. We started it, however, with a stop for hiking at the Withlachooche River Wilderness Park and at the nearby Green Swamp Preserve. Both are just outside of Dade City which was 20 miles south of where we have been staying. We hiked loop trails, sat at the river, watched canoeists preparing their boat for the river, etc. It's a beautiful area with nice woods, green open areas, a cypress-lined river, etc.
Most of the rest of the daytime was spent driving to Ft. Myers at the bottom of the area where we will be visiting on this trip. We wanted to go there and use our final 10 days to move upward towards Tampa for our return. To get to Ft. Myers, we drove through the central part of the state--an area with lots of orange orchards. Many of the orchards were harvesting oranges, and we saw large truckloads of them being taken to market.
In the early evening, we went to downtown Ft. Myers to explore it. It's a very nice downtown that seems occupied and alive. Part of that is due to the fact that almost every building has had its floors above street level developed into apartments. However, their plan seems to have been to make EVERY building look as if its top floors are apartments even if they aren't yet; they've done this by putting interior window coverings on each window to make it look occupied. Downtown attracts both those who are residents there and those who are drawn there from other parts of town, too. The streets are lined with sidewalk restaurants, small shops, and offices. It's a clean and attractive city. We walked up and down the streets and over to the riverfront which has views of bridges to Cape Coral and of the sunset to the west.
There are lots of places for hiking in Florida. Today, we headed to the Chinsegut Wilderness Area north of where we are staying. We stopped first to hike the Big Pine Tract. It has a large stand of old-growth pines (200 years old). We took a loop hike and a side hike through the woods along an old state highway. From there, we headed to the Nature Center Tract of the same wilderness area and took a long wooded loop trail and a cut-across trail that took us through a wetlands area. Both were nice walks with lots of nice songbird sounds, views of wildlife (turtle, deer, butterflies, etc.), and a quietness that is hard to find today. Toward the end, we just sat on a bench for a while enjoying the fresh air and the quiet. I'm not sure how far we walked, but it took us about 3 hours at a regular pace (which is rather fast for most people).
Returning to the hotel, we explored the town of Nobleton located on the Withlacooche River. It's a small town, but it's a good place for river recreation. There were lots of canoes and kayaks for rent, but today only one person seemed to be on the river. Several people, however, were at the outdoor tables at River Ratz.
_______
Thursday became a long driving day. We started it, however, with a stop for hiking at the Withlachooche River Wilderness Park and at the nearby Green Swamp Preserve. Both are just outside of Dade City which was 20 miles south of where we have been staying. We hiked loop trails, sat at the river, watched canoeists preparing their boat for the river, etc. It's a beautiful area with nice woods, green open areas, a cypress-lined river, etc.
Most of the rest of the daytime was spent driving to Ft. Myers at the bottom of the area where we will be visiting on this trip. We wanted to go there and use our final 10 days to move upward towards Tampa for our return. To get to Ft. Myers, we drove through the central part of the state--an area with lots of orange orchards. Many of the orchards were harvesting oranges, and we saw large truckloads of them being taken to market.
In the early evening, we went to downtown Ft. Myers to explore it. It's a very nice downtown that seems occupied and alive. Part of that is due to the fact that almost every building has had its floors above street level developed into apartments. However, their plan seems to have been to make EVERY building look as if its top floors are apartments even if they aren't yet; they've done this by putting interior window coverings on each window to make it look occupied. Downtown attracts both those who are residents there and those who are drawn there from other parts of town, too. The streets are lined with sidewalk restaurants, small shops, and offices. It's a clean and attractive city. We walked up and down the streets and over to the riverfront which has views of bridges to Cape Coral and of the sunset to the west.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Towns, Honeymoon Island, Manatees, and River Cruise
Monday & Tuesday, May 13 & 14, 2013--Northward along the West Florida Coast
We checked out of the hotel in Clearwater and headed up the coast with a list of places to explore on our way to Brooksville where we are staying for the next 3 nights. We followed Highway 19 Alt, the coastal highway. These were our stops on the first day:
Dunedin--We had driven through here once before, but we returned and saw more of the town including their baseball stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays play during their spring training. We visited the downtown again, and went down to the port area.
Honeymoon Island--This is an island in the north side of Dunedin. It has a very good reputation among fans of nice beaches, and it has an interesting history. An early promoter built grass huts and invited people to sponsor honeymooners to come there for 1-2 weeks following their marriages (at a cost of $25 per week). There are historical photos with accompanying texts. The island is also great for seeing birds. We took a hiking trail and saw osprey nests with birds in them, two owls in trees, and a nest with an American Bald Eagle in it. Unfortunately, in walking the VERY WHITE beach, we got sunburned!!
Tarpon Springs--This town was founded by Greeks who came here to fish for sponges. Still, a large part of the population has Greek names. The downtown has historical buildings, but it fails as a tourist destination. There is little of interest to see or do there beyond the architecture. The waterfront, is quite successful as a tourist destination, but it fails as a worthwhile one. It is filled with souvenir shops and restaurants hoping to take advantage of tourists and little else. I would not recommend this town as a tourist site to anyone.
New Port Richey has little to make it a destination, but it is nice for a quick ride through town before continuing up the highway. The downtown has a nice theater and some cute buildings. The riverside is quite interesting with homes, apartments, a nice park, and a restaurant or two.
___________
On Tuesday, we headed northeast of Brooksville. Our first stop was the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Historic Site. It's a place where they used to crush the sugar cane and make sugar. There's not much to the site, but it was interesting.
Our main stop was the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. It's essentially a zoo dedicated to Florida species, but the main feature is the manatees that are there. There are few places on land where manatees can be seen, and this is one. They help rehabilitate injured manatees and release them back into the wild. However, they also had a wide variety of animals--Florida black bears, red foxes, bald eagles, whooping cranes, roseate spoonbills, ospreys, white-tail deer, alligators, snakes, etc. We spent 4 hours there seeing the animals and also attending three information shows about the animals.
The park also has a walking trail and a boat ride down a river. Both connect the visitor's center to the park itself. We parked the car at the park, so we walked up the trail to the center and then took the boat back to the parking lot. The trip was down a narrow river with turtles and alligators along the side. The river was lined with thick woods of various trees many of which had Spanish moss hanging from the limbs.
Returning to Brooksville, we stopped for a late afternoon matinee of Iron Man 3 in 3-D at the local theater. Then we bought sandwiches and cookies at Sam's Club for dinner in our room.
We checked out of the hotel in Clearwater and headed up the coast with a list of places to explore on our way to Brooksville where we are staying for the next 3 nights. We followed Highway 19 Alt, the coastal highway. These were our stops on the first day:
Dunedin--We had driven through here once before, but we returned and saw more of the town including their baseball stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays play during their spring training. We visited the downtown again, and went down to the port area.
Honeymoon Island--This is an island in the north side of Dunedin. It has a very good reputation among fans of nice beaches, and it has an interesting history. An early promoter built grass huts and invited people to sponsor honeymooners to come there for 1-2 weeks following their marriages (at a cost of $25 per week). There are historical photos with accompanying texts. The island is also great for seeing birds. We took a hiking trail and saw osprey nests with birds in them, two owls in trees, and a nest with an American Bald Eagle in it. Unfortunately, in walking the VERY WHITE beach, we got sunburned!!
Tarpon Springs--This town was founded by Greeks who came here to fish for sponges. Still, a large part of the population has Greek names. The downtown has historical buildings, but it fails as a tourist destination. There is little of interest to see or do there beyond the architecture. The waterfront, is quite successful as a tourist destination, but it fails as a worthwhile one. It is filled with souvenir shops and restaurants hoping to take advantage of tourists and little else. I would not recommend this town as a tourist site to anyone.
New Port Richey has little to make it a destination, but it is nice for a quick ride through town before continuing up the highway. The downtown has a nice theater and some cute buildings. The riverside is quite interesting with homes, apartments, a nice park, and a restaurant or two.
___________
On Tuesday, we headed northeast of Brooksville. Our first stop was the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Historic Site. It's a place where they used to crush the sugar cane and make sugar. There's not much to the site, but it was interesting.
Our main stop was the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. It's essentially a zoo dedicated to Florida species, but the main feature is the manatees that are there. There are few places on land where manatees can be seen, and this is one. They help rehabilitate injured manatees and release them back into the wild. However, they also had a wide variety of animals--Florida black bears, red foxes, bald eagles, whooping cranes, roseate spoonbills, ospreys, white-tail deer, alligators, snakes, etc. We spent 4 hours there seeing the animals and also attending three information shows about the animals.
The park also has a walking trail and a boat ride down a river. Both connect the visitor's center to the park itself. We parked the car at the park, so we walked up the trail to the center and then took the boat back to the parking lot. The trip was down a narrow river with turtles and alligators along the side. The river was lined with thick woods of various trees many of which had Spanish moss hanging from the limbs.
Returning to Brooksville, we stopped for a late afternoon matinee of Iron Man 3 in 3-D at the local theater. Then we bought sandwiches and cookies at Sam's Club for dinner in our room.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Culture and Nature in God's Waiting Room
Saturday & Sunday, May 11 & 12, 2013--St. Petersburg
Our guidebook information says that St. Petersburg became known as "God's Waiting Room" because of the large number of retirees who moved here. There are still a lot of elderly here, but it seems to be a young person's town, too, these days.
Saturday was our first day to explore St. Petersburg. We drove downtown and parked just a few blocks from the waterfront and a few blocks south of downtown on one of the few streets that did not have a 2-hour time limit for parking. That allowed us to leave our car there for about 6 hours as we explored.
We headed first to the Dali Museum which was only down the street about 4 blocks from where we parked. It is one of the two major museums in the world dedicated to the work of Dali and the only one that is in the US. They get lots of tourism here because of it. We were lucky with our timing, since the day was the anniversary of Dali's birthday! As we entered, they were announcing a presentation in the auditorium, so we went there. Ladies were dressed with live roses on their heads to represent one of Dali's paintings, and they did a dramatic presentation about Dali's life and his love of Catalonia. Afterward, we went to the galleries to see the paintings. Although I had seen some pieces by Dali, it was interesting to see a full collection of paintings showing the variety of his work. Also, they had very good docents giving tours; we stopped to hear the explanations of two paintings by two different docents which were interesting. Toward the end of our visit, we went into an education room where a lady guided me in using a black pipe cleaner to make myself a Dali mustache which stayed in place because of tension created when two v-shapes were placed inside my nostrils.
We could see the University of South Florida St. Petersburg from the Museum. It actually was only two blocks from where we were parked, so we explored the campus which is clean and nice and located on the waterfront. Malcolm Butler who used to teach at A&M-CC with Wes and me teachers there now. He has a nice place to work.
The next stop was the Museum of Fine Arts downtown. It is a small museum with some nice pieces in it. A special exhibit of paintings by Philip Pearlstein, an artist I didn't know before seeing this exhibition, was quite good.
Near there is the St. Petersburg Pier which juts out into the water and has an inverted pyramid housing shops, restaurants, an aquarium, and an observation deck. We walked the pier and explored inside the pyramid. At the end of this month, it will be torn down and a new pier constructed according to a publication we have.
At 17:30 we drove out Central Avenue to the Bodega Restaurant which we had read had some of the best Cuban food in St. Petersburg and which was listed among the 6 best Cuban restaurants on TripAdvisor in the whole Tampa Bay area. We got sandwiches, rice and beans, and fried plantains for our dinner, and ate them at a sidewalk table watching the crowds arrive for the nearby Tropicana Field for a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game.
Central Avenue is lined for about two miles with small locally-owned shops, restaurants, and galleries. On the second Saturday of every month, which this was, they have a gallery walk in the evening. After eating, we went up and down several blocks looking at the art work and listening to the street musicians who were performing. Our best stop was the Morean Art Center which is a museum featuring the glass art of Chihuly. Inside a choir was performing very nice music as a part of the open house.
__________
Since Saturday was dedicated much to seeing art, Sunday was a day for nature. Saturday had been Wes' worst day with his cold, but he made it through it. Saturday night had been his worst night with difficulties sleeping due to a cough, sore throat, and drainage. Fortunately, he got better and better as Sunday went along and seems to be on the mend now.
We started with a stop at Weeden Island Nature Preserve. It has lakes, mangrove swamps, pine trees, etc., which can be explored by trails. We saw a large tortoise, big fish (about 18 inches long), small black crabs, lizzards, a large spider, etc., as we walked about 4 miles of trails. It's a great natural area within the city limits (instead of having to drive far as we do in Texas to get somewhere like the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge)! We were hot and sticky when we left there, so we decided to skip another park we had planned to explore and headed to Sam's Club for a large cola to re-hydrate ourselves.
Our next stop was Gulfport which used to be a small town and is now just part of the large metropolitan area around Tampa Bay. However, it retains its quaint charm, and the guidebooks say it reminds those who have been in Florida for a long time as being like "Old Florida." We parked (amazingly for free) at the two-block long beach and walked along it. We went out on the pier. We passed the Gulfport Casino which is famous as a place for dancing (with different nights dedicated to different styles of dance--Sunday night for ballroom dancing, Wednesday night for swing, etc.) and was featured in the film Cocoon. We walked and drove up and down the streets paved with red bricks to see the many small restaurants which make the town famous also and to see the nice, old houses within the neighborhoods a few blocks from the beach.
From there, we decided to head back out to the barrier island and drive from the bottom up to the location where we had turned off it on Friday. Unfortunately, the WHOLE stretch is developed. There are no places to pull off and enjoy nature without paying $10-20 to park. There are buildings after buildings--mostly large hotels and apartment buildings on the water side, and restaurants and smaller hotels backed by streets with houses on the left. If Padre Island at home every develops like this, it will be sad.
Tomorrow, we leave the Clearwater-St. Petersburg area to explore to the north. We haven't seen any of Tampa yet. We will leave that for when we return to the area at the end of our trip.
Our guidebook information says that St. Petersburg became known as "God's Waiting Room" because of the large number of retirees who moved here. There are still a lot of elderly here, but it seems to be a young person's town, too, these days.
Saturday was our first day to explore St. Petersburg. We drove downtown and parked just a few blocks from the waterfront and a few blocks south of downtown on one of the few streets that did not have a 2-hour time limit for parking. That allowed us to leave our car there for about 6 hours as we explored.
We headed first to the Dali Museum which was only down the street about 4 blocks from where we parked. It is one of the two major museums in the world dedicated to the work of Dali and the only one that is in the US. They get lots of tourism here because of it. We were lucky with our timing, since the day was the anniversary of Dali's birthday! As we entered, they were announcing a presentation in the auditorium, so we went there. Ladies were dressed with live roses on their heads to represent one of Dali's paintings, and they did a dramatic presentation about Dali's life and his love of Catalonia. Afterward, we went to the galleries to see the paintings. Although I had seen some pieces by Dali, it was interesting to see a full collection of paintings showing the variety of his work. Also, they had very good docents giving tours; we stopped to hear the explanations of two paintings by two different docents which were interesting. Toward the end of our visit, we went into an education room where a lady guided me in using a black pipe cleaner to make myself a Dali mustache which stayed in place because of tension created when two v-shapes were placed inside my nostrils.
We could see the University of South Florida St. Petersburg from the Museum. It actually was only two blocks from where we were parked, so we explored the campus which is clean and nice and located on the waterfront. Malcolm Butler who used to teach at A&M-CC with Wes and me teachers there now. He has a nice place to work.
The next stop was the Museum of Fine Arts downtown. It is a small museum with some nice pieces in it. A special exhibit of paintings by Philip Pearlstein, an artist I didn't know before seeing this exhibition, was quite good.
Near there is the St. Petersburg Pier which juts out into the water and has an inverted pyramid housing shops, restaurants, an aquarium, and an observation deck. We walked the pier and explored inside the pyramid. At the end of this month, it will be torn down and a new pier constructed according to a publication we have.
At 17:30 we drove out Central Avenue to the Bodega Restaurant which we had read had some of the best Cuban food in St. Petersburg and which was listed among the 6 best Cuban restaurants on TripAdvisor in the whole Tampa Bay area. We got sandwiches, rice and beans, and fried plantains for our dinner, and ate them at a sidewalk table watching the crowds arrive for the nearby Tropicana Field for a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game.
Central Avenue is lined for about two miles with small locally-owned shops, restaurants, and galleries. On the second Saturday of every month, which this was, they have a gallery walk in the evening. After eating, we went up and down several blocks looking at the art work and listening to the street musicians who were performing. Our best stop was the Morean Art Center which is a museum featuring the glass art of Chihuly. Inside a choir was performing very nice music as a part of the open house.
__________
Since Saturday was dedicated much to seeing art, Sunday was a day for nature. Saturday had been Wes' worst day with his cold, but he made it through it. Saturday night had been his worst night with difficulties sleeping due to a cough, sore throat, and drainage. Fortunately, he got better and better as Sunday went along and seems to be on the mend now.
We started with a stop at Weeden Island Nature Preserve. It has lakes, mangrove swamps, pine trees, etc., which can be explored by trails. We saw a large tortoise, big fish (about 18 inches long), small black crabs, lizzards, a large spider, etc., as we walked about 4 miles of trails. It's a great natural area within the city limits (instead of having to drive far as we do in Texas to get somewhere like the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge)! We were hot and sticky when we left there, so we decided to skip another park we had planned to explore and headed to Sam's Club for a large cola to re-hydrate ourselves.
Our next stop was Gulfport which used to be a small town and is now just part of the large metropolitan area around Tampa Bay. However, it retains its quaint charm, and the guidebooks say it reminds those who have been in Florida for a long time as being like "Old Florida." We parked (amazingly for free) at the two-block long beach and walked along it. We went out on the pier. We passed the Gulfport Casino which is famous as a place for dancing (with different nights dedicated to different styles of dance--Sunday night for ballroom dancing, Wednesday night for swing, etc.) and was featured in the film Cocoon. We walked and drove up and down the streets paved with red bricks to see the many small restaurants which make the town famous also and to see the nice, old houses within the neighborhoods a few blocks from the beach.
From there, we decided to head back out to the barrier island and drive from the bottom up to the location where we had turned off it on Friday. Unfortunately, the WHOLE stretch is developed. There are no places to pull off and enjoy nature without paying $10-20 to park. There are buildings after buildings--mostly large hotels and apartment buildings on the water side, and restaurants and smaller hotels backed by streets with houses on the left. If Padre Island at home every develops like this, it will be sad.
Tomorrow, we leave the Clearwater-St. Petersburg area to explore to the north. We haven't seen any of Tampa yet. We will leave that for when we return to the area at the end of our trip.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Arriving in Tampa
Thursday and Friday, May 9 & 10, 2013--Tampa, Clearwater, and Clearwater Beach
It was an early day on Thursday. Our flight left San Antonio at 5:30, so we were up at 3:30, on our way to the airport at 3:45, at the parking lot waiting for the shuttle at 4:00, and going through security at 4:15. The flight left on time, and we made our connection in Houston fine. We arrived at Tampa around 11:30.
About 4 weeks ago, I requested a map of Florida and a guidebook from the Florida Tourism Office via their website. I had lots of trouble with the site, but it seemed that it eventually took my request. However, the guide and map never arrived in my mail. Unfortunately, no one at the information counter or at the traveler's aid counter could help us. No one knew of any tourist office in the area that would have either of them. The map was what we needed most, since we plan to drive throughout the western coastal area of Florida for the next 2 1/2 weeks. Therefore, we spent much of the day looking for tourist offices while exploring.
After getting the car, we drove to Clearwater where we checked in at the Travelodge. We ate at a nearby Costco and headed downtown to explore. Clearwater is an attractive town with lush greenery, lots of new development, and lots of major redevelopment happening downtown. We parked by the waterfront and walked for blocks exploring. No one knew where a tourist office could be located, although they said that the Capitol Theater undergoing restoration had included one until it closed in the spring. We not only saw the theater, but also the Cleveland Street District, the exterior of the old Fort Harrison Hotel (now owned by Scientology), the old post office, etc.
From Clearwater, we drove up the coast to Dunedin, a Scottish community, just to take a different route back toward the motel. It's a quaint town. As we drove through, we finally saw a tourist office. We parked, and the lady there fortunately had a state map for us!! What a relief. We walked around the town, but it was getting late and we were tired.
Unfortunately, Wes has a cold which developed on Tuesday. We returned to the room and stayed there for the evening with him having a drippy nose and a cough.
_________
Friday morning, we drove to Clearwater Beach. It's a town on a barrier island just across the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater. What is amazing is the amount of development there. It is lined with huge hotels and apartment buildings. We parked the car and walked out to the wide beach which consists of beautiful white sand and has very clear (I see where the town got its name), turquoise-colored water. We walked maybe a mile down the beach watching swimmers and sunbathers,. It was funny to see a woman surprised by a stingray we had seen that swam by her before continuing through the clear waters. At the end of the beach, we returned to the car by walking down the main street.
We continued driving down the island and across to Sand Key Island south of it. Eventually, we to the mainland and spent much of the afternoon at Heritage Park. We hiked a trail through the mostly pine forests with trees often draped with Spanish moss. One interesting sight was a big turtle lying just at the entrance to his hole in the ground watching the walkers and joggers go by on the trail. We then toured Heritage Village, an open-air museum of historical buildings from around the area. The houses were mostly furnished with antiques from the time of their construction. There was an old store stocked with items it would have sold years ago. The store building actually was a combination of a store, a barber shop, a post office, and a garage. Parked in front was a beautifully restored Ford Thunderbird from years ago, and in the garage were a Model T car and a Model TT delivery truck. We also saw a railroad station, a church, a school, etc.
After Heritage Village, we toured the nearby Florida Botanical Gardens. Although not very large, they had very nice sections. One interesting one was of climbing vines. I don't think I've ever noticed such a section in a botanical garden before. We sat on a bench inside a special wedding garden and watched the butterflies and a bumble bee enjoying the nectar from the flowering plants there.
Since Wes was still ill and it was after 16:00, we returned to the room for the rest of the evening. It seemed that his cold was beginning to improve some. His nose wasn't running as much, so we are hoping he will feel better tomorrow. In the meantime, I am washing my hands a lot, trying to keep him from touching too many things, doing anything I can do for him to keep him from spreading germs (I made his waffle at breakfast this morning and got him his cereal and yogurt), etc.
It was an early day on Thursday. Our flight left San Antonio at 5:30, so we were up at 3:30, on our way to the airport at 3:45, at the parking lot waiting for the shuttle at 4:00, and going through security at 4:15. The flight left on time, and we made our connection in Houston fine. We arrived at Tampa around 11:30.
About 4 weeks ago, I requested a map of Florida and a guidebook from the Florida Tourism Office via their website. I had lots of trouble with the site, but it seemed that it eventually took my request. However, the guide and map never arrived in my mail. Unfortunately, no one at the information counter or at the traveler's aid counter could help us. No one knew of any tourist office in the area that would have either of them. The map was what we needed most, since we plan to drive throughout the western coastal area of Florida for the next 2 1/2 weeks. Therefore, we spent much of the day looking for tourist offices while exploring.
After getting the car, we drove to Clearwater where we checked in at the Travelodge. We ate at a nearby Costco and headed downtown to explore. Clearwater is an attractive town with lush greenery, lots of new development, and lots of major redevelopment happening downtown. We parked by the waterfront and walked for blocks exploring. No one knew where a tourist office could be located, although they said that the Capitol Theater undergoing restoration had included one until it closed in the spring. We not only saw the theater, but also the Cleveland Street District, the exterior of the old Fort Harrison Hotel (now owned by Scientology), the old post office, etc.
From Clearwater, we drove up the coast to Dunedin, a Scottish community, just to take a different route back toward the motel. It's a quaint town. As we drove through, we finally saw a tourist office. We parked, and the lady there fortunately had a state map for us!! What a relief. We walked around the town, but it was getting late and we were tired.
Unfortunately, Wes has a cold which developed on Tuesday. We returned to the room and stayed there for the evening with him having a drippy nose and a cough.
_________
Friday morning, we drove to Clearwater Beach. It's a town on a barrier island just across the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater. What is amazing is the amount of development there. It is lined with huge hotels and apartment buildings. We parked the car and walked out to the wide beach which consists of beautiful white sand and has very clear (I see where the town got its name), turquoise-colored water. We walked maybe a mile down the beach watching swimmers and sunbathers,. It was funny to see a woman surprised by a stingray we had seen that swam by her before continuing through the clear waters. At the end of the beach, we returned to the car by walking down the main street.
We continued driving down the island and across to Sand Key Island south of it. Eventually, we to the mainland and spent much of the afternoon at Heritage Park. We hiked a trail through the mostly pine forests with trees often draped with Spanish moss. One interesting sight was a big turtle lying just at the entrance to his hole in the ground watching the walkers and joggers go by on the trail. We then toured Heritage Village, an open-air museum of historical buildings from around the area. The houses were mostly furnished with antiques from the time of their construction. There was an old store stocked with items it would have sold years ago. The store building actually was a combination of a store, a barber shop, a post office, and a garage. Parked in front was a beautifully restored Ford Thunderbird from years ago, and in the garage were a Model T car and a Model TT delivery truck. We also saw a railroad station, a church, a school, etc.
After Heritage Village, we toured the nearby Florida Botanical Gardens. Although not very large, they had very nice sections. One interesting one was of climbing vines. I don't think I've ever noticed such a section in a botanical garden before. We sat on a bench inside a special wedding garden and watched the butterflies and a bumble bee enjoying the nectar from the flowering plants there.
Since Wes was still ill and it was after 16:00, we returned to the room for the rest of the evening. It seemed that his cold was beginning to improve some. His nose wasn't running as much, so we are hoping he will feel better tomorrow. In the meantime, I am washing my hands a lot, trying to keep him from touching too many things, doing anything I can do for him to keep him from spreading germs (I made his waffle at breakfast this morning and got him his cereal and yogurt), etc.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Home--Final Spending Update
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013--Managua to Houston to San Antonio
I awoke at 2:00 not able to go back to sleep. (Nicaragua is in the same time zone as Texas.) I was worried about whether the hotel would remember my wake-up call. Also, I had bad indigestion for some reason. Anyway, I read on the computer and in my last book, then they called about 4:25. There was a fruit plate and a glass of juice ready for me in the lobby at 4:50. Then I caught the taxi at 5:00.
As usual, things were disorganized at the airport. The fact that airlines can't ever seem to get their check-in act together amazes me. They had a perfectly nice long line. Then they tried to move it. Then another group of airline people tried to tell the ones who were moved that they had to go to the end of the line. Those people started fussing that they were told to be there and would be losing their place in line. Then the airline personnel decided just to turn it into two different lines, although they only had 3 machines for checking non-elite/non-first class passengers in for the flight. That created a mess at the fronts of the lines. Fortunately, I was already toward the front of the queue when all of this happened and was not affected much. But why didn't they just work the long queue ask quickly and smoothly as possible rather than make all that trouble?
I created a mess for myself while on the computer at the hotel. I decided to go ahead and reactivate my Netflix account. Then I called to ask them to add DVDs to the streaming, because they don't have this option online anymore. (They like to discourage DVD usage, since it costs them more.) But when I called, I was told I had created a Nicaraguan account and that DVDs were not available in Nicaragua. (Their computer had read my computer's location at the time and had ignored the fact that my request was to REACTIVATE my old account.) The said they wouldn't change anything until I was back in the US.
In Houston, I called, and I got one of those call center people who should not be working in a call center. She just created a totally new account for me. And in doing so, everything had to be spelled out to her 3-4 times. She had 3 different spellings for Chambers Rd. before she got it right! Anyway, then I went online to find that in creating a new account, I no longer had a queue of films I had selected, and it no longer showed the ratings I had given films (which I use as an indicator that I have seen the film and should not put it back in my queue). I had to call a third time. Fortunately, I got a guy who understood exactly what I was saying, called in a supervisor and got it all straightened out. But my e-mail has about 9 messages from Netflix regarding all of this, and my credit card account will have multiple debits and credits they created in trying to fix it all. What a hassle that was. Now I know never to use the computer to restart the account until I am inside the US.
The flights went well. It was my first time at Houston Intercontinental with a layover in many years. I was very disappointed in their food services. They have tried to emphasize expensive sit-down restaurants. In doing so, the fast food restaurants have small counters and very limited, if any at all, seating. I bought a Subway sandwich after waiting in a long line (because most people wanted something cheap rather than an expensive restaurant meal), then I had to go to a nearby gate to have a place to sit and eat it.
My sister Sue met me at the airport here in San Antonio. Everything was fine here at home. I'm unpacking, doing laundry, putting things back in their places, etc. Later, I will go through my mail. The worst chore will be taking down the Christmas tree which is still up due to having left on Dec. 25 for this trip.
I finished reading the last novel I had found in my luggage--Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh. It was the winner of a Pen/Hemingway Award. It's an interesting story about a cad and the women who become his wives through the years. It's a very fast read, and it is definitely light reading rather than serious, well written literature. I gave the book 3 stars out of 4.
Final Spending Update: During the 28 days I was in Nicaragua, I spent $1024.59 for an average of $36.59 per day. That rate was somewhat inflated from what it might have been by stays in very nice (more expensive) hotels on 12 of the nights. That compares with a daily average of $48.01 in Panama and $36.89 in Costa Rica. For the entire trip, I spent $1982.03 over 51 days for an average of $38.86 per day.
I awoke at 2:00 not able to go back to sleep. (Nicaragua is in the same time zone as Texas.) I was worried about whether the hotel would remember my wake-up call. Also, I had bad indigestion for some reason. Anyway, I read on the computer and in my last book, then they called about 4:25. There was a fruit plate and a glass of juice ready for me in the lobby at 4:50. Then I caught the taxi at 5:00.
As usual, things were disorganized at the airport. The fact that airlines can't ever seem to get their check-in act together amazes me. They had a perfectly nice long line. Then they tried to move it. Then another group of airline people tried to tell the ones who were moved that they had to go to the end of the line. Those people started fussing that they were told to be there and would be losing their place in line. Then the airline personnel decided just to turn it into two different lines, although they only had 3 machines for checking non-elite/non-first class passengers in for the flight. That created a mess at the fronts of the lines. Fortunately, I was already toward the front of the queue when all of this happened and was not affected much. But why didn't they just work the long queue ask quickly and smoothly as possible rather than make all that trouble?
I created a mess for myself while on the computer at the hotel. I decided to go ahead and reactivate my Netflix account. Then I called to ask them to add DVDs to the streaming, because they don't have this option online anymore. (They like to discourage DVD usage, since it costs them more.) But when I called, I was told I had created a Nicaraguan account and that DVDs were not available in Nicaragua. (Their computer had read my computer's location at the time and had ignored the fact that my request was to REACTIVATE my old account.) The said they wouldn't change anything until I was back in the US.
In Houston, I called, and I got one of those call center people who should not be working in a call center. She just created a totally new account for me. And in doing so, everything had to be spelled out to her 3-4 times. She had 3 different spellings for Chambers Rd. before she got it right! Anyway, then I went online to find that in creating a new account, I no longer had a queue of films I had selected, and it no longer showed the ratings I had given films (which I use as an indicator that I have seen the film and should not put it back in my queue). I had to call a third time. Fortunately, I got a guy who understood exactly what I was saying, called in a supervisor and got it all straightened out. But my e-mail has about 9 messages from Netflix regarding all of this, and my credit card account will have multiple debits and credits they created in trying to fix it all. What a hassle that was. Now I know never to use the computer to restart the account until I am inside the US.
The flights went well. It was my first time at Houston Intercontinental with a layover in many years. I was very disappointed in their food services. They have tried to emphasize expensive sit-down restaurants. In doing so, the fast food restaurants have small counters and very limited, if any at all, seating. I bought a Subway sandwich after waiting in a long line (because most people wanted something cheap rather than an expensive restaurant meal), then I had to go to a nearby gate to have a place to sit and eat it.
My sister Sue met me at the airport here in San Antonio. Everything was fine here at home. I'm unpacking, doing laundry, putting things back in their places, etc. Later, I will go through my mail. The worst chore will be taking down the Christmas tree which is still up due to having left on Dec. 25 for this trip.
I finished reading the last novel I had found in my luggage--Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh. It was the winner of a Pen/Hemingway Award. It's an interesting story about a cad and the women who become his wives through the years. It's a very fast read, and it is definitely light reading rather than serious, well written literature. I gave the book 3 stars out of 4.
Final Spending Update: During the 28 days I was in Nicaragua, I spent $1024.59 for an average of $36.59 per day. That rate was somewhat inflated from what it might have been by stays in very nice (more expensive) hotels on 12 of the nights. That compares with a daily average of $48.01 in Panama and $36.89 in Costa Rica. For the entire trip, I spent $1982.03 over 51 days for an average of $38.86 per day.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Odds and Ends on My Last Full Day
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013--Managua
I can tell it is time for me to return home. Some of the things that bother me when traveling are really starting to get onto my nerves:
1. People throwing trash onto the ground rather than using receptacles.
2. Drivers expecting passengers to jump or run so that the vehicles have the right of way.
3. Drivers, especially motorcycle drivers, going out of their way to cross in FRONT of a pedestrian rather than behind him even when the pedestrian has already gone 2/3 of the way across the intersection (I guess because it is so important to be the big shot).
4. The fact that there are no crosswalks/lights for pedestrians.
5. Having to be careful about putting used paper in a trash can rather than down the toilet.
6. Having to worry about which water is drinkable. (Fortunately, the local tap water has been drinkable everywhere on this trip, although I've had to ask in each place and worry about drinking it at first.)
Today, I stayed at the hotel all day. I have been to all but one of the major tourist sites in Managua, and the one that I missed is just a bunch of grass huts along the lakefront where people go to drink in the evenings.
I finished reading Light Fell by Evan Fallenberg. I found it to be a much more fascinating book than the reviews by readers imply. The reviews tend to concentrate on the gay aspect of the book. However, it is really about family dynamics and individuals dealing with events that affect their lives. It takes place in Israel within a conservative orthodox family with arranged marriage, extended family, rowdy kids, graduate education, religious challenges, different sides to the same story, lost love, building an acceptable life, trying to bridge gaps, family healing, etc., as topics within this short novel. It's well written. I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4.
I will be up early tomorrow for my return home. My flight to Houston leaves at 7:39, so I have booked a taxi for 5:15. I'll be back in San Antonio around 4:00.
I can tell it is time for me to return home. Some of the things that bother me when traveling are really starting to get onto my nerves:
1. People throwing trash onto the ground rather than using receptacles.
2. Drivers expecting passengers to jump or run so that the vehicles have the right of way.
3. Drivers, especially motorcycle drivers, going out of their way to cross in FRONT of a pedestrian rather than behind him even when the pedestrian has already gone 2/3 of the way across the intersection (I guess because it is so important to be the big shot).
4. The fact that there are no crosswalks/lights for pedestrians.
5. Having to be careful about putting used paper in a trash can rather than down the toilet.
6. Having to worry about which water is drinkable. (Fortunately, the local tap water has been drinkable everywhere on this trip, although I've had to ask in each place and worry about drinking it at first.)
Today, I stayed at the hotel all day. I have been to all but one of the major tourist sites in Managua, and the one that I missed is just a bunch of grass huts along the lakefront where people go to drink in the evenings.
I finished reading Light Fell by Evan Fallenberg. I found it to be a much more fascinating book than the reviews by readers imply. The reviews tend to concentrate on the gay aspect of the book. However, it is really about family dynamics and individuals dealing with events that affect their lives. It takes place in Israel within a conservative orthodox family with arranged marriage, extended family, rowdy kids, graduate education, religious challenges, different sides to the same story, lost love, building an acceptable life, trying to bridge gaps, family healing, etc., as topics within this short novel. It's well written. I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4.
I will be up early tomorrow for my return home. My flight to Houston leaves at 7:39, so I have booked a taxi for 5:15. I'll be back in San Antonio around 4:00.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Oriental Market
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013--Managua
Breakfast has been interesting at my hotel. It is a buffet. But every day there have been slight variations that seem strange. On Friday, we had sour cream to go over the beans and rice; I haven't seen that since then. Also on Friday, they had butter and jam to go with the toast, but neither has been evident since until today when only butter showed up. Yesterday, there was no juice, although there had been juice every day up to then; it was back today. They have had pancakes every day, but on Sunday while I was there, they had run out of pancakes and no replacement pancakes were made during the time I was eating. Usually hotels with a buffet tend to have essentially the same things day by day and keep the items refreshed as long as the time period for breakfast continues. I have NOT been dining at the end of the period either; I've been there around the middle of the 3 hours they serve the buffet.
My outing today was to the Oriental Market, the biggest market in Nicaragua. And it is TRULY big covering several square blocks. What I have noticed is that Nicaraguans still do most of their shopping at markets. That's why the malls are so small. And that is why even smaller cities I visited often had 2-3 markets in town.
On the way there, however, there was a disturbing incidence. I had stopped at a bus stop just to watch the crowd get on a bus and to observe the bus number in case I wanted to try to take a bus with the same number back for my return. I heard a slight sound of anguish and turned just in time to see a woman on crutches fall to the sidewalk after having tripped over its broken pieces. She was right in front of me, but I didn't speak Spanish and new I couldn't comfort her or help her without talking to her. And to be honest, I also have to admit that the thought flashed through my mind that this could be some kind of tactic used to get a tourist to start assisting someone so that others could rush to assist and pick the pockets of the tourist as they all helped lift the person. Fortunately, a man eating nearby rushed over and helped her. He turned her slightly, and she had a large knot on her forehead and was bleeding. I knew there was nothing I could do and felt awkward just standing there, so I continued walking to the market and hoped that she would be okay.
The Oriental Market is probably the top shopping destination in the whole country. It was interesting going through it. I had to keep my directional orientation in mind at all times so I would be able to find my way back out in the general direction I had come from. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known where I was as I exited or which way I needed to go to get back to the hotel. The market was crowded, but not to the point where people touched each other. There was room for everyone to pass close to each other. I never sensed any danger there, although the guidebook warns against pickpockets.
Anything can be bought or done at the market, it seems. I passed a section that had maybe 10-12 barber shops. I passed at least 5 small casinos filled with slot machines and their players. There were electronics, clothing, kitchen utensil, fruits and vegetables, etc., sections. There were pharmacies, hardware stores, etc. The market had it all squeezed into small, individually-operated spaces covering maybe 12 square blocks.
It was interesting to see, but there was nothing I needed to buy. Therefore, after maybe an hour of exploring, I headed back out in the direction I had entered, found my way to the street I had followed getting there, and returned to the hotel. The rest of the day was spent on the Internet and reading.
Breakfast has been interesting at my hotel. It is a buffet. But every day there have been slight variations that seem strange. On Friday, we had sour cream to go over the beans and rice; I haven't seen that since then. Also on Friday, they had butter and jam to go with the toast, but neither has been evident since until today when only butter showed up. Yesterday, there was no juice, although there had been juice every day up to then; it was back today. They have had pancakes every day, but on Sunday while I was there, they had run out of pancakes and no replacement pancakes were made during the time I was eating. Usually hotels with a buffet tend to have essentially the same things day by day and keep the items refreshed as long as the time period for breakfast continues. I have NOT been dining at the end of the period either; I've been there around the middle of the 3 hours they serve the buffet.
My outing today was to the Oriental Market, the biggest market in Nicaragua. And it is TRULY big covering several square blocks. What I have noticed is that Nicaraguans still do most of their shopping at markets. That's why the malls are so small. And that is why even smaller cities I visited often had 2-3 markets in town.
On the way there, however, there was a disturbing incidence. I had stopped at a bus stop just to watch the crowd get on a bus and to observe the bus number in case I wanted to try to take a bus with the same number back for my return. I heard a slight sound of anguish and turned just in time to see a woman on crutches fall to the sidewalk after having tripped over its broken pieces. She was right in front of me, but I didn't speak Spanish and new I couldn't comfort her or help her without talking to her. And to be honest, I also have to admit that the thought flashed through my mind that this could be some kind of tactic used to get a tourist to start assisting someone so that others could rush to assist and pick the pockets of the tourist as they all helped lift the person. Fortunately, a man eating nearby rushed over and helped her. He turned her slightly, and she had a large knot on her forehead and was bleeding. I knew there was nothing I could do and felt awkward just standing there, so I continued walking to the market and hoped that she would be okay.
The Oriental Market is probably the top shopping destination in the whole country. It was interesting going through it. I had to keep my directional orientation in mind at all times so I would be able to find my way back out in the general direction I had come from. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known where I was as I exited or which way I needed to go to get back to the hotel. The market was crowded, but not to the point where people touched each other. There was room for everyone to pass close to each other. I never sensed any danger there, although the guidebook warns against pickpockets.
Anything can be bought or done at the market, it seems. I passed a section that had maybe 10-12 barber shops. I passed at least 5 small casinos filled with slot machines and their players. There were electronics, clothing, kitchen utensil, fruits and vegetables, etc., sections. There were pharmacies, hardware stores, etc. The market had it all squeezed into small, individually-operated spaces covering maybe 12 square blocks.
It was interesting to see, but there was nothing I needed to buy. Therefore, after maybe an hour of exploring, I headed back out in the direction I had entered, found my way to the street I had followed getting there, and returned to the hotel. The rest of the day was spent on the Internet and reading.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Strange City
Sunday and Monday, Feb. 10-11, 2013--Managua
Note: The Internet was out at the hotel last night and this morning, so I have combined the posts for yesterday and today
Sunday morning is always a quiet time, so I just stayed at my hotel and read most of the morning. Then around 11:00, I headed for the neighborhood that has the new cathedral and one of the most popular shopping malls across the street from each other.
Getting there just reinforced how strange this city is and why it has the reputation for being a place where tourists should take taxis. Maybe neighborhoods along the lake shore, except for the center destroyed in the earthquake, are side by side without gaps. But the rest of the city seems to exists as pods of development with lots of empty space between. Half the distance I walked to get to my destination consisted of open, undeveloped area.
The new cathedral was built in a suburban area rather than in the old center which was found to have many crisscrossing fault lines after being destroyed twice by earthquakes. It was designed by the famous Mexican architect, Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis, who also designed the San Antonio Central Library and the addition to the Art Museum of South Texas extension in Corpus Christi. The cathedral is a modern concrete structure. It's most evident feature is lots of small domes which supposedly represent the various independent churches within the diocese and serve as a form to withstand earthquakes more easily. Inside, the church is bright, because each dome has a square skylight. But the walls are mostly gray concrete. There are sections of walls that consist of bright orange open concrete blocks to allow breezes to flow through, and a central area has been painted bright yellow. Because of its modernity and its openness to fresh air, it reminds me a bit of the new cathedral in Rio de Janeiro, but it is not nearly as attractive inside as the cathedral is in Rio which has beautiful stained glass windows.
Just across the street is the MetroCentro Mall. It's similar to malls I have visited in Guatemala City and elsewhere in Central America. It has two main department stores and a collection of other shops. It's not very large, and what's available is not of high quality except for what one of the department stores offers. It has a nice food court, however, and it has a nice cinema. I was only there for about 30 minutes. I bought some food items at the La Colonia supermarket, then I returned to the hotel for the rest of the day.
Today, Monday, my goal was to explore Barrio Martha Quezada, the district of town that is the popular place for tourists to stay. My hotel is in an embassy district a few blocks to the south of it. I walked up to there and up and down the streets. It was VERY quiet. Most tourists only stay a night or two in Managua and none were evident around 10:30 this morning. And from the looks of the places where they tend to stay, I can understand why. They are mostly inexpensive hostels and hotels. Without any major tourist sites in town, why would anyone want to stay there more than a night or two? I imagine that most tourists who were here last night are on their way to other places in the country today.
From there, I walked to my neighborhood La Colonia and bought supplies for my dinners and snacks for the next 3 nights. I'm planning to just relax these next two days before my departure. I may go walking some each morning, but there is only one other place I may explore before I depart for home.
I finished reading another book today--Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. It is a humorous book which was nice to enjoy for a change. It was on the short list for the National Book Award, so it is well written with an interesting story line about people working in an office together during a period of layoffs. I gave the book 3 stars out of 4.
Note: The Internet was out at the hotel last night and this morning, so I have combined the posts for yesterday and today
Sunday morning is always a quiet time, so I just stayed at my hotel and read most of the morning. Then around 11:00, I headed for the neighborhood that has the new cathedral and one of the most popular shopping malls across the street from each other.
Getting there just reinforced how strange this city is and why it has the reputation for being a place where tourists should take taxis. Maybe neighborhoods along the lake shore, except for the center destroyed in the earthquake, are side by side without gaps. But the rest of the city seems to exists as pods of development with lots of empty space between. Half the distance I walked to get to my destination consisted of open, undeveloped area.
The new cathedral was built in a suburban area rather than in the old center which was found to have many crisscrossing fault lines after being destroyed twice by earthquakes. It was designed by the famous Mexican architect, Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis, who also designed the San Antonio Central Library and the addition to the Art Museum of South Texas extension in Corpus Christi. The cathedral is a modern concrete structure. It's most evident feature is lots of small domes which supposedly represent the various independent churches within the diocese and serve as a form to withstand earthquakes more easily. Inside, the church is bright, because each dome has a square skylight. But the walls are mostly gray concrete. There are sections of walls that consist of bright orange open concrete blocks to allow breezes to flow through, and a central area has been painted bright yellow. Because of its modernity and its openness to fresh air, it reminds me a bit of the new cathedral in Rio de Janeiro, but it is not nearly as attractive inside as the cathedral is in Rio which has beautiful stained glass windows.
Just across the street is the MetroCentro Mall. It's similar to malls I have visited in Guatemala City and elsewhere in Central America. It has two main department stores and a collection of other shops. It's not very large, and what's available is not of high quality except for what one of the department stores offers. It has a nice food court, however, and it has a nice cinema. I was only there for about 30 minutes. I bought some food items at the La Colonia supermarket, then I returned to the hotel for the rest of the day.
Today, Monday, my goal was to explore Barrio Martha Quezada, the district of town that is the popular place for tourists to stay. My hotel is in an embassy district a few blocks to the south of it. I walked up to there and up and down the streets. It was VERY quiet. Most tourists only stay a night or two in Managua and none were evident around 10:30 this morning. And from the looks of the places where they tend to stay, I can understand why. They are mostly inexpensive hostels and hotels. Without any major tourist sites in town, why would anyone want to stay there more than a night or two? I imagine that most tourists who were here last night are on their way to other places in the country today.
From there, I walked to my neighborhood La Colonia and bought supplies for my dinners and snacks for the next 3 nights. I'm planning to just relax these next two days before my departure. I may go walking some each morning, but there is only one other place I may explore before I depart for home.
I finished reading another book today--Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. It is a humorous book which was nice to enjoy for a change. It was on the short list for the National Book Award, so it is well written with an interesting story line about people working in an office together during a period of layoffs. I gave the book 3 stars out of 4.
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