Tag: Arcadia

Sebring Florida’s Cold Winter Of 2025-2026

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date June 18, 2026
No Comments on Sebring Florida’s Cold Winter Of 2025-2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. We are just a few days away from the Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs at precisely 4:24 AM EDT this Sunday June 21ST 2026 when the sun reaches its northernmost extent above the Tropic Of Cancer (currently 23.43586° north latitude).

It’s a perfect time to look-back at this past winter season here in Sebring Florida.

Our coldest months here in the Highlands of South-Central Florida are December, January, and February. Our average afternoon high temperatures are in the low-70s, and our average morning low temperatures are in the mid-50s. A “cold” day is when we don’t reach 70°F / 21°C. A “cold” night is a night in the 40s / below 10°C. We are generally warmer during the day and colder during the night than our neighbors at both coasts some 80 miles away.

This past winter season we had 20 cold days when we did not reach 70°F. 2 occurred in November, 2 in December, 7 in January, 7 in February, and 2 in March. From January 31ST to February 02ND we never got to 60°F, and on February 01ST we never got out of the 40s !

We also had 44 cold nights when we were into the 40s, 30s, and even the mid-20s. 6 occurred in November, 7 in December, 16 in January, 14 in February, and 1 in March. From January 26TH to February 10TH we had 16 nights in a row below 50°F. 3 of those mornings from February 01ST to February 03RD were subfreezing, and they were perhaps the coldest mornings I’ve ever experienced in my 38 years of living here in Florida. Wind chills were actually in the mid-teens on February 01ST, and it destroyed a lot of citrus and vegetation.

It was my 3RD full winter season here in Sebring Florida. (I moved here at the end of the 2022-2023 season.) I previously lived in Homestead Florida for 36 winter seasons. Down there we averaged less than 20 cold days and nights combined per season (compared with 60 to 70 combined days and nights here). This past winter season there were a total of 31 cold days and nights combined in Homestead – the most I’ve ever recorded.

Statistically – I believe that it was our coldest winter season since 2010-2011.

We’re in our 4-month rainy season now. That’s when about 70% of our annual rainfall occurs. We’re also in our 6-month hurricane season. That started on June 01ST and continues until November 30TH with peak season being September and October. Hopefully the rain will fall, as we’re recovering from an extreme drought – our worst in at least 25 years. Hopefully the hurricanes will stay out at sea.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Bluegrass State” – Kentucky. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Arcadia, DeSoto, Florida, Lovebugs

Blogging Travel Home Animals History Nature Geography

The End Of The Innocence

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. For this edition I’m not traveling anywhere. I’m standing in my own kitchen and living room. I’m looking out both of my windows here that face the northwest. Over to the right is the northern fenceline of my dream forever neighborhood of the past 3 years and 3 months. On the other side of that fence is what is now recently-annexed land for the City of Avon Park.

That land – as it looks right now – is raw undeveloped Florida scrub. It sits here on the eastern slope of the Lake Wales Ridge at about 140 feet above sea level (same as my adjacent neighborhood), and it’s probably looked like that for thousands of years. It sits on ancient land here on the Ridge. When sea levels were over 100 feet higher than they are now – this land existed as a series of islands – surrounded by sea – much like today’s Florida Keys.

The remnants of these ancient islands are present here with lots of sand – 80 miles away from the sea on each side of it. Low trees and bushes grow in the scrub due mostly to the poor and arid ground conditions. (Rainwater drains quickly into the sand.)

Here in fast-growing Central Florida these undeveloped scrublands are critically endangered. And the one right next to my neighborhood will also soon be gone – changed forever after thousands of years.

The City Of Avon Park has approved developers to begin bulldozing it all very soon to prepare the land for a big multi-phase / multi-year residential neighborhood with 300+ new homes (single-family houses and duplex villas). The densest portion of the new neighborhood would be closest to my neighborhood – with backyards right up against our fenceline. (Earlier reports had suggested up to 800 new homes, but I think the development has been scaled down since.)

Nevertheless – it’s “The End Of The Innocence”. Once destruction and construction begins – manmade noise will be endless. It will never be as peaceful and serene as it has been since my neighborhood was built 40 years ago. All of the birds, rabbits, squirrels, and other wildlife that live over there will have to find a new home. My view will be changed forever.

My neighborhood replaced scrubland 40 years ago, and maybe that angered the residents in the already-established neighborhoods behind the destruction and construction. I’m grateful for my neighborhood, and I’m also hopeful that we can protect surrounding area scrublands to keep – at least this part of Florida along the Lake Wales Ridge – as natural as can be.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll stay home and look back at our weather from this past Winter season. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Arcadia, DeSoto, Florida, Lovebugs

Blogging Bugs Driving Geography History Nature Travel

Arcadia Or Bugs

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Yeah you read that title above right. It’s a play on words from my last 3 editions – “Highlands Hammock State Park Or Bust”. Let me explain:

5 weeks ago on May Day I drove north on U.S. 27, west on Florida State Road 64, south on U.S. 17, and west into the historic city of Arcadia Florida for my 3RD visit in a little over a year.

The occasion – the grand reopening and ribbon cutting ceremony of the John Morgan Ingraham House Museum of the DeSoto County Historical Society at the corner of North Monroe Avenue and Whidden Street.

I had previously visited the museum for the first time 14 months earlier on March 06TH 2025. I wrote about it here.

But let me get to the “… Or Bugs” portion of my post here. So here in Florida we have what is known as “Lovebug Season”. I suppose that parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and maybe even South Carolina also experience it. There are actually two distinct seasons a year – each averaging about 2 to 4 weeks in length based on local weather conditions. They are in late-April / early-May, and late-August / early-September. I may be wrong about this, but I don’t recall lovebugs being a problem at all here in South Central Florida for the past 2 or 3 or more years. I don’t know where they went, but I don’t think that they were here. In fact I actually remember news reports over the past few years suggesting that lovebugs were declining, disappearing, and maybe even going extinct.

Well they’re back with a vengeance this year. As I drove those 43 miles / 55 minutes over to Arcadia – my car was swarmed and inundated by thousands of lovebugs – two at a time of course. (Every so often I saw a lonely lovebug all by itself – not getting loved. And then I also saw the rare three together, so that was weird.) It was essentially “raining” lovebugs virtually the entire way to and from Arcadia. And of course they went splat and died together on the grill, bumper, and windshield of my car. (The average lovebug only lives for about 2 to 4 days.)

So me and my scattered, smothered, and covered with lovebugs car arrived at the historic house museum in Arcadia, and there were surprisingly a lot of people there (maybe 50 or so). Everyone seemed like they knew each other (except for me), so it was overwhelmingly locals. I may have been the only one from outside of DeSoto County. I represented the Sebring Historical Society there, as I felt that it was a good idea to be there to support our neighboring county’s Historical Society museum which is just like ours – a restored historic house.

Their house is much older than our house. It was built about 140 years ago. (Ours dates back almost 105 years.) Their house was donated to them (the DeSoto County Historical Society) in 2002 after over 110 years of private family ownership. It is a very nice museum inside – all about the history of Arcadia and DeSoto County.

The program itself for the grand reopening of the museum was very nice for the attendees. It included hot and cold refreshments, LIVE musical entertainment, an Invocation, a Pledge Of Allegiance to the U.S. flag, a welcome message from the President of the Historical Society, a special message from the Mayor of Arcadia, a brief history of the house, the formal ribbon-cutting on the front porch, and a Benediction to conclude. The house was then open for self-tours.

Incidentally the lovebugs were swarming all around us during the program. I guess it could’ve been much worse – like mosquitoes. (They were not yet out.)

After lunch downtown – I headed back home for Round 2 of the 43-mile / 55-minute lovebug splat-a-thon. Later that same day – I got my car washed at my favorite place to do so. On the other side of that – perhaps 90% of the dead lovebugs were wiped clean.

Next #TravelThursday – it’s the “End Of The Innocence” – and I’m not talking about Don Henley’s classic album from 37 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Arcadia, DeSoto, Florida, Lovebugs

Blogging Driving Food Geography Military Television Travel Weather

Venice + Nokomis Florida

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 17, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my morning drive from Sebring to downtown Arcadia, and then from there down to the end of U.S. 17 in Punta Gorda to visit the Military Heritage Museum. And the trek continues on that Tuesday in June.

I headed north via Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41) out of Punta Gorda, across Charlotte Harbor, through Port Charlotte, out of Charlotte County, and into Sarasota County.

My next stop was the Venice Museum, and it was a second-time visit. My first visit was 6 years earlier in May 2019. This time I actually talked museum business with the friendly docent at the front desk. I revealed myself as a fellow museum volunteer, Social Media Director, and on the Board Of Directors. We had a good discussion about things that are working, and things that are not working. They have a modern museum there with lots of fun bells and whistles. Like my museum – they are open 3 days a week – Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays – from 10 AM to 4 PM. During the busier Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons they are also open on the 1ST and 3RD Saturdays of the month from 11 AM to 3 PM. They are owned and operated by the city of Venice Florida.

My next stop was my hotel for the next 2 nights in Laurel Florida – an unincorporated census-designated place (UCDP) adjacent to Nokomis – another such UCDP. My hotel and the hotel across the street both had Nokomis street addresses and Nokomis in their name, so for the purposes of this blog – I spent 2 nights near Nokomis. (Both Laurel and Nokomis have rich histories that date back to settlers in the late-19TH Century.)

For dinner I headed a couple of miles south back into Venice to Darrell’s Restaurant – which I also ate at 6 years earlier in May 2019. The place was busy and getting busier. The service was good. The food was great. I ordered a sweet tea with the “Pulled Piggy” – a half-pound of hand-pulled pork with two sides of my choice. I chose mashed potatoes and gravy and collard greens. Cornbread completed the meal. And it was a hearty meal, but not too big that I couldn’t handle; although, it took some time to enjoy it all. Any future trip to Venice will include another visit to Darrell’s.

After dinner I headed west to the beach – where I spent a lot of time when I vacationed across the street from the beach 6 years earlier. I thought to myself while walking on the beach that it was perhaps my favorite beach in the world. (It used to Fort Myers Beach.)

Sunset was at 8:28 PM that night (the latest of the year), but there was little to no chance that a visible sunset would actually appear on the horizon due to leftover thunderstorm clouds in the sky. I spent 35 minutes on the beach, and then I headed back to my hotel near Nokomis. After all – “America’s Got Talent” would start at 8 PM.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll write about Casey Key, Siesta Key, and Sarasota – including my fascinating ride on the trolley. Let’s keep traveling together.