Little Manatee River State Park http://www.floridastateparks.org/littlemanateeriver/default.cfm
was a short hop from Estero/Koreshan and was selected because of its location
south of Tampa and St. Petersburg and not too far from Sarasota; the latter proximity,
in order to visit former neighbors, the Stubicans, who retired from Penn State
and subsequently relocated to Sarasota.
The park is really big, as evidenced by a statement on the
home page: Wildlife enthusiasts can enjoy
hiking a six-and-a-half mile trail through the park's northern wilderness area.
For those who prefer their hikes on horseback, the park has 12 miles of
equestrian trails and four equestrian campsites. Also, the camp sites are
attractive, spacious and restroom facilities quite good. The often encountered
book exchange shelve at this campground had a book on Mozart and one on
Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, the park is rather remote and proved somewhat
distant from the areas of our interest.
Fickie and Stella opted for exploring beaches by bicycle
while Willem and Susan were to visit with their friends. So, on a dreary Friday
morning we took off for Madeira Beach, and 45 miles and some beautiful bridges
later, dropped the Ficks off and headed south to Sarasota some 40 miles away.
We made it exactly on time to their charming location with a beautiful view of
a golf course across their swimming pool. What a way to enjoy retirement! It
was really good seeing Vladimir and Borza in good health, albeit 20 years after
having left State College at age 70. They are fortunate to have their son,
Miroslav, close by and enjoy visits from their daughter, Julie and her husband,
Mattias, and family from London twice a year, with Julie interspersing these
with other visitations. Having enjoyed pleasant conversation, tea, cookies and
appreciating their art work and home, it was time to leave. Our fond memories
of these excellent neighbors were thoroughly enhanced!
By the looks of the weather, we were a bit apprehensive of
Fickie and Stella’s cycling experience on a day that just didn’t shape up for
out-doors activities. Cell phone contact established coordinates for meeting
them at Treasure Island. They had discovered Johns Pass Historic Fishing
Village and Boardwalk and spent useful time there. But by the time Willem and
Susan got to Treasure Island, it was pretty chilly and they were shielding
themselves against the wind besides a building. However, they encouraged the
picker uppers to cross a dune to watch a kite flying exhibition on the beach, for
which the day was very suitable. Always something to appreciate -- even against
personal odds! With bicycles back in the truck bed, we headed east through
Tampa for site seeing and adding to our favorable impressions of St.
Petersburg, the continuous series of beaches and resorts along the coast, and
the notable architecture extending beyond Tampa. This got us back into the
country side by Brandon and heading south to Little Manatee. The last day had
us staying around camp, doing administrative work, preparing for moving on by
getting gas before hooking up the trailer.
This would obviate negotiating a tight encounter at a filling station
somewhere along a route that seemed to follow an almost deserted stretch compared
to most of what we grew accustomed to. And off we were northward to Cedar Key
on the Gulf Coast.
Cedar Kay RV Resort is a beautiful place: http://www.cedarkeyrvresort.com/
. We found ourselves here by default after not being able to secure a site at
an alternative campground on the ocean front. Willem had identified the latter
years ago but reservations were not taken at the time he was doing such for
Florida and was advised by a new employee to call in December. When he did so,
nothing was available; hence the above resort. It was actually a blessing in
disguise and a real morale booster to behold. The facilities were impeccable
and the management very supportive. A large common room with attractive furnishing
and excellent Wi-Fi was exactly what Susan needed at that time. She had been
approached to contribute to a publication on the South African sculptor, Petro van
der Walt. Some 34 years ago she published a review article on his work up to
that time. Having lived in the States for the past 30 years, she remained not
nearly as much in touch as would now be necessary and was acquiring resources
-- mostly via the internet to assess the feasibility for such an assignment.
Our little onboard printer worked overtime on the downloaded materials and she
appreciated some private time to deal with it all. Hence, we others made
ourselves out of the way by exploring Cedar Key, which turned out to be quite a
place, although small by some of the Florida coastal standards.
Some 40 miles inland is the inconspicuous village of Dunnellon.
This is the location we had for most friendly folks we encountered way up at Sturgeon
Falls in Ontario in August last year. They sparked our interest in Wolfeboro,
New Hampshire, which we included in our itinerary and invited contact, should
we make it close to where they had resettled. This resulted in an astounding experience
with Jim and Barbara Vander Mey, one day.
As indicated before (On People Along the Way 1) Jim is
pursuing a very productive professional involvement during retirement. The
environment for such is breathtaking – on the river front in a most charming cottage
residence with a pontoon boat moored at a dock, virtually on the doorstep. Jim’s work place is defined by multiple
computers, screens and joysticks which facilitate controlling a complex system
of air craft propelling devices akin to a flight simulator. One has no reason
to doubt that new concepts in avionics are about to emerge. Another project
addresses capturing and utilizing solar energy in a very novel way. Yet, busy as they are, Jim and Barbara
entertained us on a wonderful boat trip up the Rainbow River and we alighting
at a riverside restaurant for lunch. We parted with the possibility of crossing
paths with them again in the North-West somewhere later in the summer of this
year. What an experience; what a lovely prospect!
Our excitement increased at the prospect of the Ficks’ son,
Marnus, joining us in Panama City, Florida, for a couple of days. And that is
where we headed next, to St. Andrews State Park (http://www.floridastateparks.org/standrews/default.cfm
) ; Google Maps: 30.1357,-85.738463 . As with all our other experiences with the Florida State Park System, this
was no disappointment either. It was in fact most beautiful and exactly the
kind of place where one would like to receive visitors. Having set up camp, we had
dinner and retired after a fairly long drive that day. We had followed Route
98, which hugged the coast, rather than speeding along an interstate highway
and found it to have been a good decision. Villages, such as Lanark, Carrabelle,
Apalachicola, Port St. Joe and Mexico Beach time and again prompted the
question: why not settle right here for good?
Marnus, who resides in Graz, Austria, was flying in on
Saturday morning from Houston, where he attended a business meeting until
Friday night. This gave us ample opportunity to explore the Panama City Beach
area beforehand and to identify points of interest where Fickie and Stella
could take him to. We also acquired a variety of meats to barbecue, as we had a
suitable fire place and were running low in this regard. Willem, Fickie and
Stella took off for the airport Saturday morning and were an hour early on
account of the time zone change, we were unaware of. It didn’t occur to us that
a tiny western piece of the Florida pan handle would be on Central Standard
Time. This afforded ample opportunity to appreciate the brand new lovely
airport terminal. It is in fact so new that even our TomTom GPS was caught
unawares and had we followed its directions, we would have found ourselves on
an abandoned little dirt path terminating in the woods , shy of the new wide
and inviting entry way. Marnus arrived on time and we headed back to camp for
lunch, after which they took off for the afternoon and Willem took care of
getting the meat grilled.
St. Andrews Park has
a lagoon on the one side, the Gulf on the other and the entry to St. Andrews
Bay on the third side, defined by an extensive rocky jetty. The beaches to the
south are pretty and inviting. But during the time of our stay there were not
many who braved the rather cold wind to accept the invitation. It was nice to
see, though, and we went there a couple of times to admire the tenacity of fishermen
on the rocks and the odd result of their efforts.
After a strenuous week and a desperately early start from
Houston, via Atlanta, Marnus was ready for sleeping in and a slow day Sunday,
and we were glad to comply. We capped the day with an excellent restaurant meal
to which Marnus treated us and afterwards prepared for take-off the next
morning. Having established that we could haul the RV via the departure entry
of the airport, our trip to Mobile, Alabama, continued after saying goodbye to Marnus.
Once again, we returned to route 98 and
followed the coast line, rather than Interstate 10 westward. It was a real
pretty drive which raised the same appreciation as we've had for the scenery en
route to Panama City.
Our camp site at Shady Acres Campground just outside of
Mobile wasn’t all that shady but it was a pull though that met our needs for
one night. And it was right off Interstate 10, which we were to take the next
day for New Orleans, Louisiana.
Between Mobile and New Orleans the coastal portion of the
state of Mississippi – all 75 miles of it, comprise the largest part of the 135
mile distance. Again we opted for the side route 90 along the coast, which had
been hit really hard, together with New Orleans, by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina . We
were interested in the results of the aftermath and there is no lack of
remaining evidence of the devastation from Pascagoula to New Orleans. But
evidence of recovery also abounds and at lunch time we hauled the rig into a
vacant site where once a building stood in Biloxi, for sightseeing. Across the
street a major demolition undertaking was underway on the beach. It used to be
a casino, previously connected by a pedestrian overpass to the casino hotel
next to where we were parked. The hotel appeared to now be the casino, while an
accommodation part had been added to the away side from the beach. Someone
informed us that gambling activities were pulled from the beach and the
demolition site will ultimately be a park on the beach.
We were intrigued by a new building at a distance, partially
obscured by large live oak trees to the other side of our parking spot. It was
clear that those trees once shaded a significant tourist attraction mansion, of
which only the foundations, and by now, the overgrown extensive parking lot
remained, following the hurricane. We crossed the latter to reach the newly
constructed Art Museum, courtesy of architect, Frank Gehry, http://www.southernliving.com/travel/south-central/ohr-okeefe-museum-of-art-00417000070768/.
Interestingly, it was a rather small project compared to his famous other works
and on the drawing board at the time of the hurricane. Mr. Gehry was
constrained by the very old oaks to which he responded with a museum comprised
of three separate but connected buildings amongst the live oaks. The last of
the three is nearing completion, while it was a memorable experience to see the
exhibits in the completed buildings. Back at our vehicles, Fickie and Stella
were still away on a photography excursion, so Susan and Willem quickly scanned
the goings-on inside the casino, without being tempted to joining in the
activities of a limited number of patrons.
Much of the same was in evidence at Gulfport, which we
passed next and of course, the seemingly endless beautiful beaches vaguely
discernible through the fog that had closed in.
By the time we reached Jude Travel Park ( http://www.judetravelparkofneworleans.com/
) outside of New Orleans, we were still pondering the lessons of that day on
how the human spirit invariably responds constructively to adversity. More of
the same were to follow.
Jude is on route 90 and not in the most attractive
environment imaginable; between the highway and a railway shunting yard. We
picked it from our RV travel directory because of its proximity and easy access
to the city and the full hookups it provided. Although our site was pretty
tight, we were soon comfortable, to which the owner-lady contributed
significantly. She runs a very neat operation with excellent facilities and was
forthcoming with navigation to get the rig in place, visitor information and a
map that were most helpful. So we learned where to park on the edge of the
French Quarters (‘…make a sharp right, pass the first entrance to the parking
lot; the second on the left has a cheaper daily rate; walk the Quarters; when
your feet hurt, pick up a day pass on the street car for $3 per person – good
for changing over to other public transportation as well; consider XYZ for
dining; close to camp the ABC seafood place is good, but don’t eat there – get
take-a ways to bring home….’) etc. This was worth a lot.
We had a good start the next morning, headed to town and did
exactly as the fine lady said. We parted ways and agreed where to meet by 2:00
pm. Wandering through relatively deserted streets afforded stopping in at shops
not frequented by many early in the day. One of which was an art dealer with an
incredible number of original artwork for sale.
Susan was in her element, browsing through the stacks of Chagall, Picasso,
Miro and other silk screen prints and sketches to name a few, and gaining insight into the street prices of
objects she knew from museums and other exhibits we’ve frequented over the
years. Very interesting. Willem was intrigued by the physical aspects of the
enterprise on street level in a town that frequently has to deal with weather
adversity; the most recent memorable, Hurricane Katrina. While Susan and the
charming lady exchanged ooh’s and ah’s, Willem had a chat with a gentleman that
had an air of ownership about him. Although the downtown part of New Orleans
escaped the flooding due Katrina, they did move the entire lower floor contents
upstairs as a preemptive measure and suffered no damage to what should be
considered a treasure trove. A hint by Willem as to the insurance aspect of the
business did not provoke a quantitative response, which would have been
interesting. Spread over the objects for sale, it would have been informative
to get a feel for how an item’s market price would compare to the same at a
higher altitude dealer. Just a thought.
At the appointed time we met up and with feet protesting,
the four of us were on the St. Charles Avenue street car for relaxed round trip
sightseeing. The stately mansions provided abundant camera fodder. Meanwhile,
we’ve learned about an orchestra concert that evening and after having changed
street cars on Canal Street, we got to the Mississippi River front and found an
attractive restaurant for sampling the local cuisine. Fick and Stella were looking forward to
Po-boys, Willem ordered Jambalaya, while Susan was scared into no more than a
club sandwich. The dishes were huge and the first three consumers rose to the
challenge, while Susan’s doggy bag turned out to be a gift that kept on giving
over the next day or two. Well nourished, we continued on the street car to the
car parking lot to extend the time, drop off the doggy bag and returned to the
St. Louis Cathedral for the music concert. To our surprise there were two very
long lines in place 40 minutes before starting time and we joined one. We fared
a lot better than later comers and at least got seats, while many only got
standing space. This surprise concert was an interesting mix of selections from
Louis Varney, Mozart, Massenet, Ernest Gutraud, Sydney Bechet, Stravinsky,
Georg Schmitt, Chopin, and Gershwin. The program, entitled Postcards from Paris had a connection with New Orleans, either via
composer, performer, content or French. The young Australian conductor,
Nicholas Carter, exhibited great command of the music and the Louisiana
Philharmonic Orchestra. It resulted in an excellent concert, which concluded
with a rowdy performance of Gershwin’s An American in Paris. The New Orleans
audience seemed to have a genetic connection to it and there wasn’t a single
troubled facial expression noticeable on leaving the cathedral.
Our second day started later than the first, as we had to
address administrative issues and had a good Wi-Fi connection. But eventually
we took off for the New Orleans Museum of Art, located in a huge park to the
north of the city. It surely is an outstanding and well organized collection of
work covering some 500 years of European art of virtually all important
movements http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Museum_of_Art . American, Asian and native art of various
origin are also represented. A most notable large sculpture garden with a
strong representation of international 20th Century works extends
outside of the Museum.
After we’ve munched on delicious sandwiches at a park bench,
we took off for the second part of the day – crossing Lake Pontchartrain via
the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain_Causeway , which at 27 miles had been considered the
longest bridge spanning water in the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZMdIsBvMRs . The way back to New Orleans curved west
around the lake and bore evidence of varying economic activity. Fickie was able
to get a few shots of the footprint of hurricane activity in recent years. That night Willem was the last to retire and
as he was working on this narrative, there were emergency interruptions on TV,
alerting viewers to a tornado watch for the New Orleans area in effect until
3:00 am. He retracted the awning of the RV and continued to track the
progression of the storm system on the internet and the weather channel but by
midnight decided to let the soothing sound of rain on the roof, no more than 5
feet above his pillow, take care of the rest of the night. The next morning we
had an early start for the long trek to Beaumont, Texas.
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