The Big Apple

I went to NYC a couple of weeks ago to take a test (long story). I had a fantastic time with my friend Joel and his girlfriend, Susan. We ate lots of delicious food and I was able to enjoy many of the perks of a big city, which I have been missing, without the hassle, which I have not.

Some of the highlights:

Farmer's market in Brooklyn


At the farmer's market, locally produced jams and honeys and breads ... yum...


Great restaurants. At this restaurant I ordered this tea flower. The tea came wrapped in a little bundle that looked like tobacco. As the hot water seeped into it, it slowly unfurled like a flower. I think it was jasmine.


What I love about traveling is that there are so many new things to try. I miss that when I live in Gainesville.

Also...

Kim just showed me how to stitch a panorama together in Photoshop. If you click on it it gets bigger.


In this photo I am standing with a "world famous" banana daquiri at some weird tourist trap called Mountaintop, which is, you guessed it, at the top of a mountain.

That's Magen's Bay down below, and you can see the side bits of some hurricane (Gustav?) blowing quickly through in the background. Magen's Bay, incidentally, is named after the daughter of some famous Florida guy named Fairchild (can't figure out his first name...). The Fairchilds, who created the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in South Florida, lived in St. Thomas, or had a house there, and have bequeathed a large swath of property to the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to preserve in perpetuity. Alex said this land is actually totally neglected -- there is no management plan -- and no public outreach and education, which is sad.

Back, with Gills

I have returned from my trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands.


I visited my friend Alex, who lives on St. Thomas. She is a scuba instructor and got me my open-water certification!

Scuba diving is amazing. Breathing underwater and coming close to all of these otherwise inaccessible plants and animals is indescribably cool.

We also went snorkeling about three different times, once after we took a kayak out in a bay on a beautiful day.






It's unbelievably beautiful there.



Then I left. :(


Thanks, Alex and Ed!

Hurricanes

I have been avoiding posting because I haven't done anything outdoorsy lately and all I've been thinking about is my upcoming vacation to the Virgin Islands.

I was supposed to fly out from Tampa on Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Fay is on track to hit Tampa on Wednesday.

River Holiday

This weekend I stayed at a friend's parents' house near Vero Beach. We arrived in late afternoon and spent the evening fishing and watching the sun go down over the Indian River from the dock in back of the house.




The next day we went to the beach. We took a two-hour walk and picked up interesting shells and rocks.


As I drove home Sunday, I entered a terrible storm.


Up ahead was smooth sailing though. When I got on the turnpike, this was the contradiction I saw:

Another Springs Trip

Because he's been helping another friend open a restaurant, I haven't seen my friend Rob in a while. So when he asked if I wanted to take Tuesday off to go canoeing, I of course said yes.

Rob's on restaurant time, so we didn't leave Gainesville till around noon. Ominous skies.


Well, whatever -- I got out of the office and got to go to a new spring, Manatee Springs in Levy County.


It's a state park, so there was lots of interpretative signage around. This one was called "Waterfront Dining for Thousands of Years." It basically said the American Indians/Native Americans who used to live by this spring probably had a pretty sweet life -- plenty of food, a mellow climate, and a beautiful spring to swim and bathe in. I've often thought the same thing.


Manatee Springs is a 1st magnitude spring, which means it flows at a rate of more than 100 cubic feet per second. I can tell you that that's a pretty strong current when you're trying to swim against it. Evidently it is the largest spring flowing directly into the Suwannee River.

The spring is named for the large, slow-moving aquatic mammals that enter it in the winter, when the 72-degree water is warmer than wherever they're coming from. Rob needed to let off a little restaurant stress.

The vegetation around all the springs I've been to is fairly consistent. You have your old-growth oaks.


Cypress trees. (In the middle of a lush lawn, in this case.)


Saw palmetto.


Gotta love the friendly local fauna.


I feel like I'm forgetting something.

OH! The spring! Yeah, that was ok, I guess. If you go in for that sort of thing. Crystal-clear, deep water, few other people ... yawn.

Dirty Thirty

I'll be gone for the next week or two, as I am taking a vacation to celebrate my 30th birthday. I'll miss you, Florida!

Getting Away

Another beautiful and relaxing weekend in St. Pete.


I got sunburned.

What I Love about Florida, Pt. 454

I spent a long weekend with my friend Chris and her boyfriend, Eddie, this summer in the panhandle. We were on Blackwater Bay, just east (I think--I'm not so great with directions) of Pensacola. It was so beautiful.

We went kayaking one afternoon. Her two dogs rode with her (one got seasick and then fell into the bay). We watched a pod of dolphins feeding at sunset.


The house was off the grid, relying solely on solar energy and a well to function. There was a backup generator that ran on biodiesel. Pretty cool! It's hard to see in the below photo, but it's a beautiful house owned by a couple who are friends of Chris'.


For miles and miles around was conservation land, owned by the air force base and the water management district, among others. There was an estuarine stream (not sure of the exact terminology) right next to the house. It fed into the bay, really swiftly at high tide. If one was in the water trying not to think about sharks, one felt as though one would be swept away.


We also went on a boat ride (my favorite!) on the Yellow River.


Thanks, Chris!!