Mar 2007

Ahh to have things to write about and the time to do it…hard to find. St Augustine reminds us of home since it too started as a Spanish colony although it didn’t take the British long to try to take it over. The French tried to which brings me to our first tourist stop here which is called Fort Matanza. We wondered why the name because when we hear the word matanza our mouths start to water thinking of the yummy pig we get to eat at home when a matanza is held but hardly a name we would call a fort. It turns out that the Spanish slaughtered a bunch of French people who were trying to usurp the Spanish land here and hence the name Ft Matanza. There is a very fun street in downtown St Augustine called St. George that has shops and restaurants and at night, there are ghost tours that one can take. I guess there are lots of ghosts here. The architecture is colonial Spanish and English and is quite pretty. In downtown, there is a restored Spanish fort called the Castillo de San Marcos and they have live demonstrations of daily life during the Spanish colonial days. Olivia’s home school lesson for that day was how to load and fire an 18th century flintlock musket or Englishman hunting safety training course. The fort is made of coquina blocks, a material comprised of compressed crushed shells. Mark’s funny for the day: “If you sold it, you would be a coquina dealer.” The park we are staying at is one of the prettiest yet. It is called Anastasia and we can hear the surf from our site. The beach is not only pretty but there is a café with internet on it. I wish we could live here.
Despite Mariah’s protest we were able to take her to the Castillo the next day but only if we promised she could spend the afternoon at the café on the beach working on her homework, we acquiesced. She really enjoyed it despite her reservations about another fort with long concrete rooms. We learned that many western Indian tribes were sent to this fort to “confuse and reprogram” them. We learned that this was one of the only forts in America never to be taken by force.
We spent the afternoon at the beach where Olivia and I made sand castles and played in the water. We made a sand castle that looked like the Castillo and Olivia named it the Castillo de Sand Marcos, like father like daughter! If sand were not so ubiquitous I would have had my camera and taken a picture of it but alas you will have to use your imagination.
Our next stop was Fort Clinch, a fort of a different color. It was a civil war and Spanish American war fort. Our friend Bill came and visited us from Jacksonville and we jammed one evening. We are near the historic town of Fernandina on Amelia Island which has one of the best preserved historic districts around (ie no destruction from war, hurricanes or neglect). The fort at the campground is considered a 3rd tier fort started before the civil war, fortified for the Spanish American war and abandoned when modern armament made it obsolete. The fort was designed to protect the harbour at the confluence of the Amelia and St Mary’s Rivers and the harbour of Fernandina. There was a senator named David (I think) Yulee who saw Fernandina as a perfect port for moving goods west across Florida so ships wouldn’t have to negotiate the Dry Tortuga’s (considered very dangerous now and at the turn of the 20th century). He instigated the building of a railroad between Fernandina and Cedar Key on the west coast and so this is a thriving port town to this day with the charm of an old port town.
I keep saying that the well of human kindness seems infinite and I have another story. We were supposed to be moving north yesterday but Bill, our friend from Jacksonville, had some work in Fernandina and invited us to have lunch with him. Together we toured the fort and packed up and went into Fernandino. We ate at a place Bill recommended and he knew the owner who came over and we all started talking about music. It turned out there was a bluegrass jam night that night at the Florida House Inn where we were at. This is a large two story historic bed and breakfast with a café and bar inside called the Frisky Mermaid (don’t you love the name, the mermaid art inside is fun too). They had a stage where musicians can play and covered veranda overlooking a beautiful courtyard with a mermaid fountain in the middle. To make a long story even longer (ha ha) the owner offered us a space in his parking lot if we would like to stay and jam. Not only that Joe, the owner, had a stand up bass that needed repair and Mark had his tools with us so Mark spent the afternoon working on a bass, happy as a clam. We not only sing for our supper, we fix the instruments to play with too! We had a great evening of jamming and meeting people and just overall fun. The owner Joe has an adorable son who Olivia took an instant shine to and she has been wined and dined by Tanner and feels like the belle of the ball. I keep thinking that there is no way any experience can top the previous one but I think that is what gets us up every day because that is what life is all about. That the Meanderthal update for now. Hugs to all.

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What could be more magical than Key West…..well how about the Magic Kingdom itself. Yes we decided that for my birthday we should take the kids to Walt Disney World. It was a gorgeous day both in weather and events. We took in as much as we could pack in for 12 hours. To make sure it was educational we watch the Hall of Presidents where the kids watch a movie about the US and then heard animotronic presidents talk about their experiences and what makes America special. Patriotic and corny, I love it. The park we are returning to is like the animal kingdom with deer, wild turkeys and alligators (sounds like a menu don’t it.). We thought it was the most peaceful place we had found until the weekend. One of the biggest sports in this part of Florida is frog hunting at night with air boats. I don’t mean a small boat till 10pm, I mean a boat that sounds like Hughes Spruce goose till about 3 am. We spent about 2 hours trying to figure out what it was and decided some developer was behind on his loan and was developing land but when we asked we found the real source of the racket. We found a genuine small town in Lake Wales. The people are friendly and act unthreatenend by the impending Mc-america-ing of Florida. I suspect the farther north we go the better it will get. The other great attraction at Lake Kissimee was an 1860 cow camp, authentic down to the “cracker” that was living there. For those of you interested and not in the know, a “cracker” is what the native Floridians are called. I say the rest of the natives are called Seminoles… Anyway the term “cracker” comes from the sound of the whip that the cowboys used to control the dogs that helped round up the scrub cattle. It imitates the sound of a gun but is cheaper since after the civil war, powder was “dear” down in the south. Florida at one time was the largest cattle producer in the US so it was big business down here.
Spring must be here because we are traveling without reservations. After a night at the Ocala National Forest where we left the airstream so we could go to a bluegrass festival in Live Oak, we had our first brush with life threatening adventure. It started with our power steering gear box seal developing a leak. We tried some stop leak magic fluid but that didn’t encourage it to quit. What we didn’t realize was how bad the leak was and how it can affect the brakes if the reservoir runs dry. We were pulling up to the Suwanee River Music Camp when the brakes and steering simultaneously chose to go on vacation. We were extremely lucky for several reasons. We were on a hill so we were slowing down naturally due to gravity and we were able to, using the Armstrong method, to get the truck off the road and we were not towing the airstream. We went into the park and met the most helpful, nicest people who helped us get mechanic and then let us spend the night in their camp. If you are going to break down I highly recommend doing it outside a bluegrass festival. We met a great guy named Bill who is letting us camp in his cabin until our truck is fixed. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.
Fluffy rides again! We managed to get our beloved truck back and get to Ocala to pick up our bigger half (ha ha) and wing our way to Daytona Beach where spring breakers rule this week. We are visiting a class mate of my mother who lives here. After a great time in Ormond Beach and Daytona where we were absolutely spoiled rotten by mom’s friend, we have moved to St Augustine which I will write a great deal about when I have more time.
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Mark has been wielding his sarcastic pen again after we had our expectations crushed by an abundance of heat, humidity and no-see-ums at Bahia Honda. We all realize that the tropics can have some uncomfortable areas but this was ridiculous. Mark now calls the park “Bahia humbug”. We started our adventure into the Keys by spending the night in a Kmart parking lot where we found the New Zealand family that we had met in the Everglades. They wanted to go to Bahia Honda so we all met at there. We spent a lovely day at the beach and then they got a campsite that was one of the non reservable sites for 2 weeks. At first we were a little envious but didn’t want to be tied down anyway. That night after a lovely dinner we all went to bed. It was about 94 degress and 99 percent humidity and the bugs were hungry. I spent a very uncomfortable evening taking refuge under the covers until I was drenched in sweat then throwing the covers off to be eaten alive. Mark seemed unbothered by the whole situation. Needless to say I was a bit grumpy the next day when I had no sleep but realized that here I was in the beautiful Keys and the sun was shining just like I had asked for so I took a shower and washed my bad attitude away. Mariah had a similar night so we comforted each other and enjoyed the day. We went snorkeling and exploring. It was too bad there was 3 feet of sea grass piled up like a speed bump on the beach and there were Man ‘o War floats all over but we had fun none the less. That evening I was determined to be prepared so I took an ice cold shower before bed and slept in a long sleeve nightgown and threw a light weight shirt over my legs and I slept great but Mark was the bugs dinner that night. I felt for him but he had been warned. I swear he had 3000 bites all over him. He looks like he has the chicken pox! All he wanted to do was leave the keys but we convinced him he had to see Key West (which he was calling Flea West) so off we went.

We love Key West! The drive was gorgeous with all the water and the islands everywhere. We went to Fort Taylor and found the best beach in KW and played there in the morning and then rode our bikes around town that afternoon. There are tons of quaint houses in KW and Duvall St is full of bars, stores and restaurants. We saw Ernest Hemingsways house and had dinner on the harbor. The full lunar eclipse was occurring so we watched that and then went back to our truck camper. The park had closed but one of the gates was still open so we went back and loaded the bikes and headed out. Whoops, they closed and locked the gates in the interim and we almost spent the night in the park by ourselves but the grumpy lone ranger came and let us out. There are certainly worse places to sleep than the western most point of Florida on a beach! We wanted to see Duvall St. at night so we headed downtown and parked at the city hall lot and wandered around. It was full of people and everyone was having a great time. We had heard that you shouldn’t take kids there after dark but there were lots of families and only a few instances of akward questions (Mom, why is that man dressed like a woman?, well honey why don’t we just “Let the mystery be”). It turns out Kenny Chesney was filming a music video that night at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Bar so we watched the crowd for awhile. It was an invitation only event but that didn’t keep the crowds from hanging around outside. There was a rumour that JB might show up (he didn’t) and so we stood around until Olivia passed out and we took her back to the camper. When we got back Mark suggested that Mariah and I go play on the street with our instruments (busking as it were). We made $36 in half an hour, I got to play a Jimmy Buffet song on Duvall St and get paid. Just like the big guys! It was so fun. After we had sweated enough and I mean that literally, we went back to the camper and Mariah begged to go see Kenny Chesney so I went with her and we stood outside till some drunk started telling us about what a fake it all was and I told him to not crash my 14 year olds trance. He told us that if we wanted to see KC to go around the corner and look at his bus, so we went to get away from the drunk. It is funny how things work out sometimes. We were on our way back when Kenny came around the corner and almost bumped right into Mariah. Needless to say she is still walking on cloud 9!

We decided to stay right where we were and spend the night and it turned out okay. We spent the next day living in KW. We did laundry and Mariah did school. While she did school we checked out a boat show where Olivia took a fishing class and got a free rod and reel and tackle box for her efforts. She is now the casting queen of the family. Later in the afternoon, Mark, Olivia and I checked out a 120 year old light house, lots of steps and very interesting. Great views of KW from the top. We spent the evening on the White St pier where Olivia went fishing. I had to explain to her why they call it fishing and not catching. We stayed another evening in lovely downtown KW. Before we left we went in search of a secret garden that a friend recommended and after finding it and appreciating the lovely orchids we headed to Bahia Honda to dump tanks and shower and pick up our can opener we left when we fled away. Off to Naples to pick up our Airstream and head north.

Don’t know when I will get to write again so I will tell of this last adventure. We decided to drive to Naples in one day which isn’t a big deal. We arrived late to find out that the refridgerator in the Airstream doesn’t work without a battery and frozen chicken doesn’t last long without it’s heat removed. YUUUUUCKKK! I spent my night cleaning the fridge but bless Mariah’s heart she stayed up and read to me. Who says teenagers are troublesome? Are not! Hugs to all from sunny Florida