traci in the swamp

Treasure Island, Florida - family, return to childhood

My sister, Michelle and her husband Ron and my nephews drove from (straight through) Texas to Florida a few weekends ago (how, I don't know).  They stopped in Gainesville Saturday night before heading to Treasure Island for the rest of their vacation.  Matt and I spent some time with them that Sunday, taking them to the Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park, the Butterfly Garden at the University, and lunch at Leonardo's Millhopper.  (The picture is us at the Devil's Millhopper).

There isn't anything cooler than spending time with your sister.  Thankfully fate worked out that I was able to head down to Treasure Island and spend some more time with them and our other sister Jackie and her kids.   It was just a regular family reunion, as we took our dad to the St.Petersburg Pier and enjoyed lunch together (imagine nine people at a fast food restaurant, with four of them under 13 - talk about crazy).

Our dad made us his famous spaghetti and meatballs and I headed back to Treasure Island to spend time with our mom enjoy the beach a little more.  Gotta love getting time off!!

Jacksonville and excuses

I do have some valid excuses (which I can't share just yet) for not writing more on my poor blog.  But my absence, has told me that I do have readers!!  I received an email, from a nice lady named Keri, who lives in Brooker, Florida.  She actually reads my blog and likes my Florida day trips/adventure tales - so thank you, Kari for serving as an inspiration (and semi kick in the pants) for me to write again.

Anyway, since last writing - Matt and I have been to New Orleans, Jacksonville and White Springs, Florida
(stay tuned for next post).   We've also checked out a few good restaurants and some not so much.  So on top of my valid excuses, we have been pretty busy.

We visited the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens - while we were in Jacksonville - which was a great day trip to a big city, which sometimes for some reason I need.  Jacksonville is actually huge!  Jacksonville (according to wikipedia is "the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States").

Matt and I enjoyed lunch at a great BBQ joint called Mojo's (since Matt's the seasoned food-guy, I'll let him do the talking).  I love smoked turkey and french fries and this place served both to near perfection!

We also took some time for one of our favorite actives, just plain exploring and drove around some of Jacksonville's neighborhoods, mainly stopping in the trendy (leave it to us somehow) neighborhood of San Marco.  We almost stopped to see Iron Man playing at the theater but decided against it.

We also stopped and walked around Jacksonville University's campus (which was one of our main reasons for visiting Jacksonville, since one of our favorite past times is visiting college/university campuses).  JU is beautiful, complete with plenty of trees and walking paths. I couldn't help but be impressed, the University is home to only about 3,000 students, but has a really big campus.

So all in all, our Jacksonville day trip was fun.  And we actually did a lot, visited a museum, a University, a trendy neighborhood and old movie theater and even had some ice cream.  And since it's only about an hour and half from us, I'm sure we'll visit again soon!

Technology killed the Arcade

Now I like technology as much as the next person.  I own a Nintendo DS, an iPod Touch and have favorite websites to visit to get my gaming fix.  But I also love arcades.  There's nothing like the flashing lights, bad pizza, or trying to win the cheap teddy bear (gotta get more tickets) or beating your personal best high score (personally, I'm the Queen at Galaga and Ms. Pac Man). I can remember growing up visiting these places.  The Madeiria Beach Fun Center , St. Pete Beach Amusement Center and the Treasure Island Fun Center (see a theme here) were often a weekly fixture in my childhood.  And now it's official, all of these (original) places are closed.

The St. Pete Times ran a great "special report" about the closing of St. Pete Beach Amusement Center (which ironically enough, was only a block from my first apartment).  This is the last arcade on the beach and now it's closed.  I vaguely remember reading that the Treasure Island Fun Center relocated, but that happened too.  I also fondly remember every time I visited the Pizza Hut (which is also now gone) playing Ms. Pac Man (this continued until my twenties - I know, I know, I'm a kid).

Well, I remember my dad always saying this,  "everything changes, they get rid of the old and replace it with the new" and that's obviously very true.  I'm very sad about the loss of my childhood haunts, but I guess that's all part of growing up.

Everything will be okay - Savannah, Georgia

Matt and I took this picture on our honeymoon - a year and a half ago now.  I just came across it and thought it was too funny to pass up and wanted to share it.

I've always wondered about this picture and the significance of the message (since it's written in several different places in Savannah) so I pulled out the handy-dandy Google search and came across the  exact same message on the exact same concrete slab on another blog.  Hmm....

Neglect, pollen, and some new medicine

I've been neglecting my poor blog for some time now.  I don't have any excuse except exhaustion and a lack of time.  Also this lovely little yellow powder has invaded Gainesville and most of Florida and has reeked havoc on Matt and me.  Sneezing, itchy eyes, headaches, stuffy head, tiredness (I could continue, but I'd just be complaining) has become the norm for us.  Like most of the country, it's the super fun time for high pollen counts and it has really knocked us both for a loop this year.

The picture to the right packs a lot of humor, because that's not how pollen looks here in Gainesville.  Think of all the yellow stuff covering your car - (the picture is from Atlanta, but it could just as easily be our cars) so bad that you could write your initials on it.

We finally broke down and picked up some Zyrtec after Matt heard from some people in the know that this might help.  I can only hope.  Has anyone else been knocked down for a loop by the horrible allergy season?

High Hopes, ants and Frank Sinatra

This song pops in my head every once in a while, especially when I'm holding out hope for certain things.  I remember making a small fool of myself and singing this at a karaoke bar once, many years ago.  Although I thought, I'd get laughs and boos, instead I got smiles and lots of people joining me.

Enjoy!!

My friends - the cows

I always find it funny that I drive by cows everyday to and from work.  I had to share it here, so I finally remembered to take a camera and catch them in action.  I think the only bad thing about the poor cows, is the sign that says "beef" something or other. 

For some reason, I don't think these are milk cows!

Florida Library Days - Tallahassee, Florida

Every year, the Florida Library Association holds Florida Library Days in Tallahassee.  It's an opportunity for library leaders to talk with their legislators about library issues.  It's especially important this year, with the State budget cuts.  So, I took advantage of this opportunity and spent last Tuesday and Wednesday meeting with two state representatives and one senator.  USF actually was nice enough to pay for my travel costs and registration.  The only caveat, I would volunteer to work at the sign-in desk.  This was actually a lot of fun and gave me a great opportunity to meet a number of interesting people.  I also got the chance to meet my school's new Director and chat with him for a bit. Tuesday afternoon, the Broward County Library group was nice enough to let Melanie (a classmate) and me tag along on their visits to their respective legislators:  Elaine Schwartz and Franklin Sands.  And then the Alachua County Library District welcomed me on their visit to our Senator Oelrich Wednesday.   All in all, this was an excellent opportunity to learn about library advocacy and the need for continued support from elected officials.

And Tallahassee is still as beautiful as I remember when I last visited more than ten years ago.  Way back when, in high school, I even served as a Senate Page.  But this time, I drove alone, which was even more of an adventure, since Tallahassee has real hills, something I forgot until I was nearly at the top of a few waiting for the stoplight to turn green.  Once it did, I had to step off the brake real quick and onto the gas, all without hitting the guy in front of me or rolling back and hitting the guy behind me (yes, I've obviously always lived at sea level and haven't had to worry about these things).  Anyway, I survived to tell about it, at least. 

Hopefully, I can convince Matt to take a trip with me one day, even though it is the land of FSU. Hmm...we'll see.

Steinhatchee, Old Hickory, and lots of signs

Since Matt and I can never go too long without seeing the water, we headed to the Gulf of Mexico again this past weekend.  This time, we headed North to Steinhatchee.  They say Key West is a fishing town with a drinking problem, but I'd say Steinhatchee is a fishing town, with a fishing problem.  Since they are on the Gulf and on the Steinhatchee River - there is no shortage of places to head out on the docks or to fish by boat.  You can even dine at the Hungry Howies without even really leaving your boat.  However, there is no real grocery store, movie theater, shopping, and they just recently got cell phone service.

For lunch we tried Roy's Retaurant - a Steinhatchee landmark right on the Gulf.   The views were fantastic.  We continued our exploration after lunch and drove along Riverside Drive.  We had one interesting experience and made some observations.  Steinhatchee has lots and lots of signs (see picture and this is just one example), lots of beautiful vacation homes, and some very delicious (according to Matt) smoked mullet and smoked shrimp dip at a tiny little business called Old Hickory on the main road in Steinhatachee.

I love that we continue to find real Old Florida places.  While I do enjoy my cell phone, the various Publix Super Markets within a few minutes of the house and the fact that we have a mall within five minutes  (admittedly, I've only been there once, although I have been to Ann Taylor Loft a number of times), I still love the charm these old cities provide.

Update: I've been told by people in the know (thank you, Dean!) - that next time we are Steinhatchee we'll have to check out Steinhatchee Landing Resort, a 35 acre community with vacation guest cottages and recreation aplenty.  They even take dogs, so maybe we can even look at taking Clark with us next time!

Melrose, Florida - Pecan trees, french toast, and crawfish

As I always say, better late than never.  For Valentines Day (albeit a few days early), Matt and I went to Blue Water Bay in Melrose for Sunday Brunch.  Melrose is about an hour from our house and a pretty drive.  Matt and I have been doing really well exploring our surroundings, despite the fact that Matt's kept busy with school and teaching, we've managed to keep up day-trips on the weekends (yes, I'm spoiled). 

Anyway, back to Blue Water Bay, after literally driving right past the building and commenting on their sign advertising Sunday Brunch, we stopped at the gas station.  Thankfully, they directed us back to that same restaurant and we settled down to enjoy a leisurely brunch.  I selected the Bananas Foster French toast (it came with strawberries too) and Matt had the Earlton Hash, with crawfish (a true New Orleans luxury) and a side of Southern fried grits (again with crawfish). 

Melrose only has one traffic light (which is the one, we drove through) and one gas station (the one we asked directions at).  It is truly small, but is on the Lake Sante Fe so it is a popular place for people that work in Gainesville to live.  On our way there and back, we noticed strange leafless trees and wondered what they were.  Matt realized they were pecan trees and they run all the way to Melrose.  After living in Florida my entire life, I continue to learn new and interesting things.  My lovely ignorance led me to believe that Florida only produces lots of strawberries and citrus, but I would have never thought pecans. I guess living in North Florida changes perspecitive on lots of things.  Hmm...I wonder what else I don't know.

Just yesterday, we went to Steinhatchee, Florida - will post soon - another interesting voyage (slightly ironic statement there).  I am also off to Tallahassee this week for Florida Library Days with the Florida Library Association my chance to smooze with politicians and library leaders!