Category: Photography

My Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 25, 2021

5 weeks ago (5 Thursdays ago) I returned home from my Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip. It was a fun 5-day adventure traversing 624 miles through the 10 South and Central Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Okeechobee, Highlands, Hardee, Glades, Hendry, and Collier. I also barely touched Monroe County, and I saw its many islands.

Last Thursday I wrote on Day 5 – my final 202 miles from Lake Placid southward to Immokalee to Everglades City to Chokoloskee, and then back home to Homestead after 100½ hours on-the-road.

Here’s an interesting fact about this road-trip: It’s the first road-trip ever that I used Google Maps (on my iPhone) to guide me. I used it from start to finish – even when I knew exactly where I was going. It’s got a handy feature on there that tells you the exact time that you’ll be arriving at your destination based on your current driving. It also gives the number of miles remaining to get there. (I used to write everything down in advance on previous road-trips.)

Needless to say I’ll be using Google Maps on all future road-trips. I didn’t realize it did so much.

It was fun to plan this road-trip, and it was fun to actually experience what I planned (along with a few places that I did not plan). It was also fun to blog about it and share it with you over this past month of Thursdays.

How about an encore ? I’m ready to do it all over again !

And so now I’m proud to announce the 3 destinations of my next road-trip:

It’ll be a 4-day road-trip to Stuart, Fort Pierce, and Vero Beach along the Treasure Coast of Florida.

I’ve driven through Stuart, but I haven’t really visited the area before. The last time I spent any quality time in Fort Pierce was about 11 years ago. And Vero Beach I’ve only driven thru (really fast on the Interstate – a few decades ago).

So I’ll be visiting lots of new and exciting places in these 3 areas from northern Martin County through St. Lucie County to southern Indian River County (right along the immediate Atlantic coastline). I’ll be spending 3 nights at a hotel in Vero Beach. This is actually a road-trip that I had previously planned in 2018, but I canceled it because I ended-up going on another (work-related) road-trip to Middle Georgia.

Once I return from this upcoming road-trip I should have lots of fun memories to blog about for a month of Thursdays after.

Blogging Driving History Nature Photography Travel

My Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 18, 2021

4 weeks ago (4 Thursdays ago) I returned home from my Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip. It was a fun 5-day adventure traversing 624 miles through the 10 South and Central Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Okeechobee, Highlands, Hardee, Glades, Hendry, and Collier. I also barely touched Monroe County, and I saw its many islands.

Last Thursday I wrote on Day 4 – my final day in Highlands County (where I plan to retire) in South Central Florida. The story continues now:

On Day 5 I departed Highlands County shortly after sunrise. My first stop (at 9 AM) was in the small historic community of Immokalee in far-northern Collier County – a first-time-ever visit. I visited the Immokalee Pioneer Museum At Roberts Ranch – a branch of the Collier County museum system. I visited the Visitor’s Center (off the parking lot) thinking that was all there was to see there. Nearly a month later (as I’m writing this), and I find out that it was merely one of a whole bunch of historic buildings and exhibits on a sprawling 13-acre site. I wish I had known that while I was there. I wish I had a tour guide to tell me about the place – inside and outside. I would’ve gone “out back” to check it out. I guess I have a good reason to return there on a future road-trip.

After my short (and obviously incomplete) visit there I ventured due south to Everglades City – the first and former county seat of Collier County on the south coast of the mainland of Florida. It was supposed to be a major port city on the coast, but that never materialized. Nowadays a little over 400 residents call it home. I visited the Museum Of The Everglades there – another Collier County museum. I received excellent customer service there, and the museum was thriving for a Thursday morning in mid-February.

I’m intrigued about the history of Everglades City. I think on my next visit to Collier County I need to check-out that museum again – and then venture northward for a “do-over” at their museum in Immokalee.

My final stop was the end of the road – as far south as you can go in this area – Chokoloskee. I had never been beyond Everglades City before, so this was quite a discovery. I visited the historic Smallwood Store (which is actually a museum with a $5 admission). It’s actually worth it. There’s a lot of history to see inside that old building !

After my visit to the end of the road I headed back – all the way back home again. My 624-mile road-trip ended about 100½ hours after it began. It was full of fun and adventure from start to finish. I can’t wait to get back on the road again !

And I will get back on the road again soon for another road-trip. In fact next Thursday here on my blog I’ll reveal where my next road-trip will take me. (I’ve already got it all planned-out.)

Animals Blogging Driving Nature Photography Travel

My Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 11, 2021

3 weeks ago (3 Thursdays ago) I returned home from my Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip. It was a fun 5-day adventure traversing 624 miles through the 10 South and Central Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Okeechobee, Highlands, Hardee, Glades, Hendry, and Collier. I also barely touched Monroe County, and I saw its many islands.

Last Thursday I wrote on Day 3 – my next 116 miles through the countryside of Highlands and Hardee Counties. The story continues now:

On Day 4 I started the morning in downtown Lake Placid with a hearty breakfast. I then checked-out the Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife & Environmental Area: Lake Placid Scrub Unit a few miles to the south. It’s a large sandy wooded area abutting the southwestern shore of the actual 3,400-acre Lake Placid. Hundreds of thousands of years ago when sea levels were about 150 feet higher than they are today it was beachfront property, and the abundant sand is left over from that era. I didn’t stay very long there, as it is “Bear Country”, and I’m scared of bears.

I headed northward to Avon Park at the far-northwest corner of Highlands County. I excitedly arrived at the Avon Park Depot Museum – only to be instantly dismayed when I found it CLOSED. Nevertheless I took this picture of a 1948 passenger car that was used by Western Pacific during the 1950s and 1960s, and then later by Auto Train (from Virginia to Florida) in the 1970s. It was actually a buffet dining car as part of Auto Train, and 50 years later it sits here – as a buffet dining car that the museum hosts.

So my trip to Avon Park was a total bust, as that was my only scheduled stop there. But not so fast. I just spent more time writing about it above than the amount of time that I was physically there, so all was not lost. I’ll make it back there in the future.

I headed back southward to the downtown district of Sebring (my likely retirement town in a few years). I headed for Lake Jackson – the 3,212-acre lake that Sebring surrounds. After spending a few minutes on the pier that extends onto the lake I decided on a spontaneous spur-of-the-moment visit to the Sebring Historical Society (facing the pier and lake). Unfortunately it was CLOSED when it was supposed to be open. Well this morning is going just wonderful thus far !

I wasn’t about to give up so quickly. I actually drove around the building, parked my car again, and noticed an entrance on the 2ND floor of that same building (from the parking lot on the hill). I walked-in, and within about 10 seconds I realized that I had walked-in to the Sebring Public Library. #LOL

I looked around the library for a little while – pretending I was interested in what I was looking at. (I wasn’t.) After a few minutes of that I walked up to the front counter, and I inquired about the museum downstairs. They actually called downstairs for me to find out if (or when) they were open. I didn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but after the librarian got off the phone she told me that YES – they were open – but head for the “yellow house” (across the parking lot) instead, and walk-in. I thanked the librarian for going out of her way in doing that, and I headed for the “yellow house”.

A nice older woman greeted me at the front door as I walked-in, and she gave me an extensive guided tour of the historic house that less than 2 months earlier became a public museum after restoration. I loved every minute of her tour. The tour took perhaps 45 minutes (if that). For the next 45 minutes we just chatted back-and-forth as if we knew each other for years. She lived much of her life in Miami-Dade County, and then she retired to Sebring where she is now a docent for the Sebring Historical Society. Sounds like an interesting plan. Sounds like a potential vision for my future. She urged me to return to that first place that I tried to enter earlier but encountered a locked door. She said that I should talk to the guy that’s in there right now. He’s a Director at the Sebring Historical Society. I did just that, and we talked for almost 90 minutes. (I also got to tour the premises which serves as a library of historical archives for the city and region.)

The rest of my day in Sebring was fairly uneventful. I felt rejuvenated after that unexpected 3-hour experience with the Sebring Historical Society. It was the highlight of my entire road-trip vacation.

Looks like I went over 3 minutes with this blog post. (My goal is to write blog posts that take less than 3 minutes to read.)

I’ll share Day 5 of my 5-day road-trip next Thursday here on my blog. It was not my normal “last day of a road-trip”. I took a detour, and I visited a few places that I had never been to before.

Miles Driven on Days 1, 2, 3, & 4 = 422

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A Cold Day In The Everglades

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 31, 2020

Back in November when I found out that The United States Secretary Of The Interior David Bernhardt made it free for life for U.S. Veterans to enter America’s National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other public federal lands – first of all I was extremely grateful. It’s probably the best gift that has ever been given to me as a Veteran. After all this is a gift that keeps on giving every single day – not just on Veterans’ Day.

I live between two U.S. National Parks – Biscayne National Park to the east – and Everglades National Park to the west. Both are about 10 miles away from my home. Biscayne does not charge an entry fee. It’s free for everyone. Everglades charges $30 per vehicle for a 7 consecutive day pass, or $55 for an annual pass. I no longer have to pay either fee. I’m free !

I actually got in to Everglades National Park for free during 2 consecutive winter seasons (2015-2016 and 2016-2017) when I worked out there as a volunteer (in uniform) giving tours at the NIKE Missile Site (HM-69). I worked 31 Saturdays out there showing hundreds of visitors from around the world a sampling of authentic military history from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s (when it was an active duty base out in the middle of the Park).

Back in November I said to myself that I would visit the Park on a cold day this winter season, and so last Saturday was that cold day. With temperatures in the upper-40s and lower-50s at dawn I entered the Park for the first time since my last Saturday working out there in March of 2017. It was like a homecoming for me. I actually drove the entire 38-mile main park road down to Flamingo on Florida Bay. It was my first visit there in nearly 7 years. I took a fun 90-minute organized boat tour up-and-down the waters north of Flamingo. I took the same tour almost 8 years ago.

After the boat tour I did a lot of walking all around Flamingo and then at a couple of stops along the way back up the main park road. I took a lot of pictures. I walked over 13,000 steps / 6 miles.

The Park was packed on that Saturday / day after Christmas. Everyone else had the same idea as me to visit during a rare cold South Florida day.

Now I need to figure out what my next fun cold day out will be here in my local area. Maybe Vizcaya ? (also free for life for U.S. Veterans)

Tags Everglades, Florida