DAY 44 July 7,2009

I was up with the birds this morning - before the sun rose for the day. I went into Hawthorn looking for The Yearling Restaurant (breakfast?) -no luck, but I did find it just east of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings homestead on CR 325. It is only open for dinner and only on certain days. The homestead is a state park ($3). I looked around a bit and headed back into Gainesville.

On the way back, I stopped briefly in Micanopy. The historic downtown area is beautiful-nothing was open yet. They also have a museum, but that is only open from 1 to 4.


Fueled the car and myself at the Waffle House. I had a sausage biscuit, side of gravy, and hash browns- oh so yummy!


I arrived at the Florida Museum of Natural History just after the skies opened up and started dumping water on the inhabitants of Gainesville. This is a beautifully done museum (for children and adults) and free, unless you want to enjoy the butterfly exhibit. I especially enjoyed the exhibit about the different geological eras in Florida and the skeletons that have been recovered.

At the Crystal River State Park there is an interesting visitor center, but the boats are out of serve right now. The little turtle seemed very happy to see someone there. He made enough noise to get me to come to his enclosure and swam back and forth for me.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park ($13) was fantastic. I parked at the entrance that is right on US 19 and took the boat over to the entrance. It was a nice 20 minute ride and we saw all manner of wildlife (turtles, fish, birds AND an alligator!). I made it to the park just in time for the last manatee program (and subsequent rain storm). I enjoyed the otter display-I love these guys. Just as I made it to the big cats the skies opened up and the kitties headed inside. The foxes were unaffected by the rain, but noticed their caretaker and headed inside (dinner?). The wolves were all worked up-running all over the place! The birds were the ones enjoying the drenching. After taking the tram back to my car, I drove out to historic Homosassa-okay I've seen it-no need to go again.



I checked into the Riverside Inn in New Port Richey. The room was clean enough, but the linens and furniture are very worn. Breakfast the nest morning was not worth the effort to go get.

ROUTE:FL 20 East>CR 325 West>CR 301 South>CR 318 West>CR 441 North> I 75 North>FL 121 West>US 41 South>CR 488 West>US 19 South>US 19 Alt South>US 19 South

Lodging: Riverside Inn in New Port Richey

Meals: Goceries

Attractions: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park, Historic Micanopy, Florida Museum of Natural History, Crystal River State Park, and Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

$$$: $20 Fuel $16 Entry Fees $33 Motel $6 Food = $75

DAY 43 July 6, 2009

Rain-RAIN-rain-STEAM!
It rained the vast majority of the day today.I had planned on Fanning Springs and Manatee Springs, but the rain prevented swimming and hiking and according to the lady at the Fanning Springs Chamber of Commerce there were no informational centers at either location. So I asked for a suggestion for lunch.








She referred me to Huckleberry's BBQ and it was a winner. I had the pork sandwich with beans and a soda included. The pork was chopped in decent size pieces (just enough for a bite) and came unsauced on a bakery style roll. It had a nice smokey well seasoned flavor. The sauce choices were mild, sweet, and spicy. I chose sweet (which tasted an awful lot like bottled sweet and sour sauce mixed with BBQ sauce) and spicy (which reminded me of the sweet without so much fruit flavor and a decent front of the mouth burn to it). The beans were like Bush's baked beans with BBQ sauce, bits of onion and tiny chunks of meat. Overall a very good meal for cheap!!

Next stop of the day was the Dakotah Winery. I tasted several wines with a couple from Tampa and enjoyed the wine themed products and relics/antiques in the gift shop. Out on the back porch the have a bird sanctuary and several seating areas-absolutely breathtaking.








There was not much else to see today other than trees and cows-more trees than cows.

There was this beauty in Gainesville down near the University.

Here's Your Sign: Bumper Sticker in Gainesville _ "Young Enough to Kick Your Ass & Old Enough to Pay the Legal Bills"

ROUTE: I 10 East>US 19 South>US 27 South>FL 24 East into Gainesville.

Lodging: Zen Center & Hostel

Meals: Huckleberry's BBQ (***Food **Service)

Attractions: Fanning Springs and Manatee Springs (next time), Fanning Springs Chamber of Commerce, Dakotah Winery,

$$$: $20 Hostel $17 Wine $3 Medication $6 Food = $46

DAY 42 July 5, 2009

Just hung out at the motel today. I considered day tripping up to Georgia, but decided the holiday traffic wasn't worth the effort.

I did go back over to Mr Roboto on Tennessee for dinner and ordered an Eel Roll and Rockin Roll. There were okay, but not as great as I was led to believe (the roll I got a Publix last week was about as good). The fish was fresh, but the avocado was warm and the rolls were at room temperature. I prefer my sushi rolls a tad bit cooler.

ROUTE: N/A

Lodging: Cabot Lodge

Meals: Mr Roboto (***Food)

Attractions: N/A

$$$: $11 Food = $11

DAY 41 July 4, 2009

After breakfast at the motel, I headed off to see the Mission San Luis (free). This was a Spanish Catholic mission to the Apalachee tribe and a fort for soldiers. The heat was downright oppressive, but I enjoyed the information from the volunteers.

Afterward I tried to go to the Museum of Florida History, but didn't want to pay $5 for parking. Then there was the historic capitol and museum, but the parking was a bust again. I did make it to the downtown market (Saturdays Monroe & Park) but found it was very small for the size of the community.

I tried to obtain nourishment from Mr Roboto, but it was closed. I ended up going to Publix for salad, shiccacia, and ice cream.

ROUTE: Monroe South>Tennessee West and then East>Brounough South>Duval North....

Lodging: Cabot Lodge

Meals: Publix (**Food)

Attractions: Mission San Luis, Museum of Florida History (next time), downtown market, and the capitol

$$$: $22 Food $20 Fuel = $42

DAY 40 July 3, 2009

This morning I drove the west loop down to US 319 and south to Leon Sinks. I had every intention of hiking out to at least one of the sinks, but the swarm of bugs reminded me within minutes that I had failed to pack my repellent and would be eaten alive if I tried. So I packed it in and headed to Wakulla Springs.

At Wakulla I toured the old lodge (still in operation at reasonable rates) and checked out the visitor center and dock. The boats were not running due to the impending electrical storm that cleared the beach as I was leaving.

The glass bottom boats hadn't been running due to amount of rain received recently. The rain percolates through the vegetation picking up tannins and turning the water coming from the springs into a tea like color. This coloration precludes visibility, so no glass bottom runs.

I watched the kids jumping from the 30' platform into the sink hole (over 120' deep), stuck my feet in the chilly water, and returned to my car before others were told to clear the beach. On the way back to the hotel I took the east loop and found many more commercial establishments and badly timed lights making the process much slower.

I had lunch at Crystal River Seafood, quite frankly because the parking lot was packed. I did not like the watery rubber band "chowder" (upgrade $1.50), nor did I appreciate the hostesses nonchalance when I mentioned it. Don't ask me how I liked something if you are going to ignore my response. The green tomatoes (1/2 order of 5 large slices) were great-in fact the highlight of the meal. They had good tomato flavor, in a nicely seasoned crisp batter, and topped with just enough Parmesan cheese for a salty kick. The baked potato was fresh and fluffy but I don't appreciate margarine on anything. The oysters were very good, but not as good as Boss's up in Apalachicola. The scallops however were fantastic-perfectly cooked buttery sweet-oooh yeah!

I enjoyed my stay so much last night that I booked through the holiday weekend at the Cabot Lodge. The rooms are very nice, the evening reception and breakfast are nicer than expected, and the staff is exceptional!

ROUTE: I 10 East>FL 263 South> US 319 South>FL 267 South>FL 61 North> US 319 North>I 10 West

Lodging: Cabot Lodge

Meals: Crystal River Seafood (**Food *Service)

Attractions: Leon Sinks and Wakulla Springs State Park

$$$: $52 Motel (2 more nights) $4 Park Fee $18 Food =$74

DAY 39 July 2, 2009

Early start this morning. Walked on the beach just after the fog lifted-Henderson Beach? Beautiful emerald and sapphire water! No shells ;0(

Panama City is your typical tourist trap. The next 50 miles were pine trees.









Apalachicola is a cute little town, but don't expect a sandy beach here. It is a port for oyster fishermen-that is the history of the area. I saw the old Gibson Inn and ate at the famous Boss Oyster's. The food was incredible! I had the grouper chowder which was luxuriously creamy, full of potato chunks, and topped with tons of bacon and green onion slices. Then the main event arrived-tons of wonderful crisp, well seasoned, amazingly fresh fried oysters. They were accompanied by 4 corn fritters -yum!- and coleslaw-standard, but still very good- and red beans and rice-okay, but not the best I have had.

Next stop was the smallest police station in the world in Carabelle. It was quirky, but fun.

Panacea has a lovely site for its visitor center. The springs are right across the street. They are trying to revitalize the area-which it obviously needs.







ROUTE: US 98 East>FL 30 East>US 319 North>US 27 North

Lodging: Cabot Lodge Tallahassee

Meals:
Boss Oyster's (*****Food *****Service)

Attractions: South Walton Beaches, Historic Apalachicola, Gibson Inn, smallest police station, Panacea Visitors Center and Springs.

$$$: $49 Motel (2 nights) $23 Fuel $24 Food = $96

DAY 38 July 1, 2009

Stocked up on soda-sale time and grabbed dinner at the Brooks Bridge BBQ & Cafe. I found the food to be just so-so (unlike the rave reviews online). I asked the waitress which was better beef or pork BBQ and ordered her recommendation. The pork was cut into large chunks and sauced with a flavorful concoction. It was accompanied by limp, greasy fries and a run of the mill biscuit. I also ordered a half order of fried green tomatoes. They were deep fried (interesting rather than pan frying) but not well done enough to be crisp and the batter lacked flavor. I sprinkled them with salt and pepper to no avail. These had lots of potential, but someone needs to add some seasoning to the batter or to the finished product just out of the fryer and either heat the oil up a little more or fry them longer (couldn't tell exactly which was the problem).

ROUTE:N/A

Lodging: Dive

Meals:Brooks Bridge BBQ & Cafe (*Food *Service)

Attractions: N/A

$$$: $14 Soda $14 Food = $28