April 4, 2012
The last port of call on my Floridian west coast tour was
the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater area. The weather was gray and rainy, not
the right conditions for getting my rollercoaster fix at Busch Gardens or even
the old standby of bathing at the beach.
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| Twisted mind, twisted architecture- Dali Museum |
So what can you do on a dismal day? Go to the movies or go
to a museum, I chose the latter and visited the Dali Museum in St. Pete's. The
building itself is interesting and worth a gander for the architecture, but the
exhibit is what you go for and I wasn't disappointed. If you happen to go on a
Thursday evening you can get a half price ticket for entrance from 5-8pm.
Enough time to take it all in and not feel rushed. I recommend partaking of the free audio guide headset to
get a deeper appreciation of the art and a more in depth peek into the wonderfully
warped mind of Dali and his obsessions with the atomic world, clocks and his
muse. As a bonus, with the audio guide it's like going to a museum and catching
a movie all at the same time!
April 5
Traveling back eastward I camped out at Kissimmee State
Park. Unfortunately I didn't get anyone to kiss-a-me and even the wildlife
seemed to be hiding from me, but it's always nice to sleep under the stars.
April 6-10
The following day I made it to Melbourne Beach where I would
eventually meet up with a buddy that I hadn't seen since high school. While
grabbing some dinner and watching the Flyers play another horrible game I
quizzed the gentlemen on my left from Iowa about what I should see if I head
through his home state. "If you like floating down a cold lazy river, we
got them. Otherwise, not much else." O.K., I'll be sure to keep Iowa off
of the itinerary! Then a guy sat to my right and after discovering that he grew
up in San Diego and surfed, we hit it off right away. Rich would quickly become
my newest best friend over the next few days, surfing together, sipping
frosties, and capping it all off with a great dinner courtesy of his lovely
wife. To boot I also came away with a great seaweed salad recipe and a freshly
made batch for the road! A couple of other suggestions where he didn't steer me
wrong were Da Kine Diego which has an "Insane Burrito" which is Huge!
I was just insane enough to eat the whole thing in one sitting. Also, The Big
Mansion in Historic Melbourne is a great roof top open air venue for sunset
dining or drinks.
My high school buddy, Eric, hooked me up with a couple of great lures and the guys at
Spectrum Surf Shop in Indiatlantic who were cool enough to let me park there
for a few days. The first night there I ran into Spectrum's manager at The
Monkey Bar. An entertaining place to say the least. Part surf bar, part rock
bar, part country bar this place had it all. Hotties running around in their
cowboy boots, halter tops and daisy dukes (gets me everytime), 3 live hard rock
bands, pool tables and beer. What more can you ask for? Well how about, and I
think every bar should have one of these, a mechanical Bull! I had to give it a
ride and yes, I made it more than 8 seconds. I won't say if I rode one of the
cowgirls, but I will say that if I did you can believe it would be for longer
than 8 seconds!
April 11
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| Canaveral National Seashore- great spot for shell picking |
Beginning a northerly track I moved on up to Cape Canaveral
National Seashore. There I picked up my "America the Beautiful Pass"
which will get me into all the National Parks and Federally managed lands. I
headed to the southernmost point, maybe because I prefer the "road less
traveled", maybe because I heard that it was a "clothing
optional" beach! After a short bike ride I hit the beach and went for a
swim as Mother Nature intended. It's amazing how fast the body surfing is
without any unnecessary drag.
I would have camped out there for the night, but all they
had available were island sites that you had to reach by canoe. The beach sites
are currently all reserved for the Sea Turtles. As great as it sounded to camp
out on your own deserted island, the water/wind conditions weren't great and
I just couldn't bare to do it without my camera gear coming along. I also just
couldn't risk it.
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| Mage wasn't quick enough to qualify! :( |
Oh well, on to Daytona Beach, "America's Most Famous
Beach" and home to "Bike Week" and the Daytona International
Speedway. No need for a pit stop there as I couldn't drive on the track, but I did do a
few laps by it, "clean passes" if you will. One note of interest: the
beaches there are of fine compact sand and very wide facilitating beach access
for your car! Talk about a good parking spot!
April 13
On the way out of Daytona I attempted to make reservations
to camp out at Ocala State Forest, putting in several phone calls that went
unanswered. Thinking that they might be sleeping by the phone I drove there,
but either no one was home or the one manning the office is a bear in
hibernation! So I missed out on that. Ce la vie!
Next stop, the haunted town of St. Augustine, first city of
Florida, landing spot of Ponce de Leon!..........
