I wanted to see the sunrise over the Atlantic before we left, so we went to the beachfront Starbuck's an got hot coffee before going to stand near the water's edge. The sky was a solid mass of dark grey with a little break on the horizon. I can't remember if it was raining but an icy wind was blowing. I never drank a coffee so fast.
The sun appeared for maybe 10 or 20 seconds before disappearing in the clouds. Anticlimactic. We climbed back into the car and headed west in the early morning funk of gloominess.
We worked our way northwest. There were many strange sights as we entered the family entertainment culture of Orlando.
Some serious rain began as we headed toward Ocala. Once we were in Ocala, it was only 30 minutes to the Marjorie Rawlins Historical Site in Cross Creek. She was a writer in the 1930's who wrote The Yearling, Cross Creek, The Sojourner, and more.
We found the park but a note on the door said the volunteer guide would be back in two hours. A flock of chickens raced through the rain to greet me. I guessed that they hadn't been fed yet that day. We peeked through the window and I was a little jealous of Marjorie's life.
Continuing on, the drive to Gainesville was dangerous with all the standing water on the roads. The drive from Gainesville to Cedar Key takes about an hour as you drive through pine barrens to get to the Gulf of Mexico. The scenery along the road is pretty monotonous, but the Cedar Key more than makes up for the drive.
While in the Gainesville area, we stopped at an IGA market to buy food, having been told there was only one small market in Cedar Key. The IGA sold quails in a 12-pack, rabbit meat, and goat meat, but they didn't carry Kleenex.
The town has about 800 inhabitants. It would be the perfect place to have a writing retreat or to write that novel if it had a good coffee place, and if it wasn't so hard to get to. There are excellent restaurants, a little library, kayaks, boat tours, birds and fish, and I could go on. The walking was great.
We had a reservation at a condo place located on the water. The photos on the website must have been old because the buildings were a little run down, but the location was perfect. Our first condo had no heat and, with the record-breaking cold, we moved to another unit. I was a bit disconcerted when I realized our balcony had a view of the nuclear power plant in Crystal River but I got used to it. Sort of.
The sun appeared for maybe 10 or 20 seconds before disappearing in the clouds. Anticlimactic. We climbed back into the car and headed west in the early morning funk of gloominess.
We worked our way northwest. There were many strange sights as we entered the family entertainment culture of Orlando.
We found the park but a note on the door said the volunteer guide would be back in two hours. A flock of chickens raced through the rain to greet me. I guessed that they hadn't been fed yet that day. We peeked through the window and I was a little jealous of Marjorie's life.
Continuing on, the drive to Gainesville was dangerous with all the standing water on the roads. The drive from Gainesville to Cedar Key takes about an hour as you drive through pine barrens to get to the Gulf of Mexico. The scenery along the road is pretty monotonous, but the Cedar Key more than makes up for the drive.
While in the Gainesville area, we stopped at an IGA market to buy food, having been told there was only one small market in Cedar Key. The IGA sold quails in a 12-pack, rabbit meat, and goat meat, but they didn't carry Kleenex.
The town has about 800 inhabitants. It would be the perfect place to have a writing retreat or to write that novel if it had a good coffee place, and if it wasn't so hard to get to. There are excellent restaurants, a little library, kayaks, boat tours, birds and fish, and I could go on. The walking was great.
We had a reservation at a condo place located on the water. The photos on the website must have been old because the buildings were a little run down, but the location was perfect. Our first condo had no heat and, with the record-breaking cold, we moved to another unit. I was a bit disconcerted when I realized our balcony had a view of the nuclear power plant in Crystal River but I got used to it. Sort of.
Still raining.
I love the photos of [unidentifiable blue-hooded man]. It begs the question... who is he? Why so mysterious? So secretive? What's he hiding beneath that hood? Is he a lover? A stalker? A hobo that won't go away? There's just no telling.
ReplyDeleteThe blue guy is Steve. We were the only people determined enough to be outside getting drenched.
DeleteDriving through central Florida can still be a whole lot of nothing, even with all the development in that state over the last few decades. The little cities are islands amidst the wilderness on long car rides. My wife and I, back when we were just a college dating couple, would often stop in Chiefland (about 45min north of Crystal River and 45min east of Gainesville) off US 19. There is a small burger joint/diner in Chiefland - Ralph's Burger House - that served these massive homemade hamburgers with huge chunks of tomato and onion. It wasn't one bit heart-healthy, but it was exactly the type of comfort you needed on long car rides. And the fact they had toilets was also nice.
ReplyDelete