Tag: Florida

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Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my misadventures on Albany Georgia‘s Liberty Expressway (U.S. 82). I also wrote about Tifton and Waycross in South Georgia.

Back on the morning of Day 2 of my April retirement road-trip – I drove out of Florida and into Alabama via I-10 on one of the two portions of Interstate highway that was part of my road-trip. 15 days later – I’ve returned home to Florida. I missed Florida. I love it so much. I’ve lived here for over 36 years, and I’ll be here until the end.

I visited a friend / former coworker of mine from Homestead who now lives happily ever after – retired – in the Yulee area. Yulee is actually not an incorporated village, town, or city. It’s a broad census area northeast of Jacksonville, and it serves as a suburb of the big city. It’s the population center of Nassau County – located in the northeast corner of Florida. It’s a mostly young military region – with U.S. Navy bases to the north and south. It’s a rapidly growing area, and there are an abundance of new homes, stores, and restaurants under construction. Traffic was very busy in both directions (east and west) along the main thoroughfare – Florida State Road 200. They even have a “diverging diamond interchange” over I-95.

Fernandina Beach and the adjacent beachside communities were originally on my itinerary for Day 17 of my road-trip, but I opted to stay and hang out and reminisce with my friend at his house instead. I’ve actually been to Fernandina Beach before on a daytrip with my Mom and Dad when they actually lived in Jacksonville in the late-1990s and most of the 2000s. I want to visit again on a future road-trip. On an early rendition of my road-trip itinerary – Day 18 would’ve taken me from Yulee – over to Fernandina Beach – down A1A / U.S. 1 for 250+ miles to Vero Beach or Fort Pierce – and then finally inland from there to return home. (There was even a Day 19 considered as well.)

But I really love my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida, and by this time I was homesick and exhausted. I wanted to get back home and relax and recuperate and return to my daily life.

So – I did just that on Day 18. I drove away from the Yulee area – westward and southward along Florida State Road 200, and onto U.S. 301, U.S. 441, Florida State Road 33, a series of old narrow backroads in northern Polk County (following Google Maps), and back to U.S. 27. I stopped for Lunch at a very busy Sizzling Grill in Lake Wales, and then 29 miles down the road – I was back home again.

Next #TravelThursday on the Fourth Of July – I’ll summarize and wrap-up my April retirement road-trip with lots of fun numbers on America’s 248TH Birthday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Geography Travel

Georgia

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my scenic drive southeastward across my birth state – Alabama – from the college town of Tuscaloosa – to the State Capitol of Montgomery – to the historic Chattahoochee River city of Eufaula.

Before I reached my pitstop for the night – I came across a good friend – U.S. 27 – as it crossed U.S. 82. I live on U.S. 27 some 400+ miles southeast.

Day 16 of my April retirement road-trip ended in Albany Georgia – the population center of Southwest Georgia – with a metro area population approaching 150,000.

Funny Story: The next morning – Day 17 of my road-trip – I decided to ignore Google Maps, do my own thing, and immediately get back on U.S. 82 to continue my trek southeastward. Sounds innocent enough. Well – (as I’ve written before) – weird things happen when I deviate from Google Maps. I suddenly found myself on a busy freeway during the morning rush hour, and I was a bit terrified during much of the experience. If that wasn’t bad enough – I missed my exit to actually stay on U.S. 82 (the non-freeway version of it), and I ended-up exiting onto Business U.S. 82 (which ironically is the way Google Maps was telling me to go the entire way from my hotel). After a few miles on Business U.S. 82 I took a side-road to get back onto U.S. 82. Of course – I didn’t realize that I could’ve just stayed on Business U.S. 82 for a few more miles until it ended at U.S. 82. So that was a comedy of errors on that particular Wednesday morning, but I survived the Liberty Expressway Experience in Albany Georgia.

The rest of my trek through South Georgia was fairly uneventful (thankfully). U.S. 82 goes under I-75 in Tifton. I’ve been on that portion of I-75 quite a few times (back when I used to drive the Interstates without fear and anxiety). I was originally planning to spend the night in Tifton (right by I-75), but hotel rates in the area were much higher than hotel rates in the Albany area, so I opted for Albany over Tifton.

As a U.S. Highway nerd – Waycross Georgia greatly intrigues me. It’s where 6 railroad lines meet, and it’s also where 4 major U.S. highways meet. On one street I was on U.S. 1, U.S. 23, U.S. 82, and U.S. 84 – all at the same time. It was good to see U.S. 84 again. I took her westward from Mississippi into Louisiana back on Days 3 and 4. On this day – I lost U.S. 84 quickly, as she continues on in a northeasterly direction through and away from Waycross. A moment later – I lost U.S. 82, as she continues on in a mostly easterly direction. Both U.S. 82 and U.S. 84 end at I-95 about 47 miles apart. Both of those U.S. highways made this road-trip truly special.

I continued southeast along the concurrency of U.S. 1 and U.S. 23, and just north of the Florida border – U.S. 301 joined us.

Fun Facts: I’ve lived within the vicinity of U.S. 1 for nearly all of my life – from 1969 to 1985 (Washington D.C. area), and then again from 1987 to 2023 (South Florida). I also lived just off U.S. 301 in Bowie Maryland from 1972 to 1975.

The St. Marys River serves as the border between Georgia and Florida in this area. Once upon a time for many years in an era long gone – a Florida Welcome Center greeted out-of-state tourists alongside U.S. 1 / U.S. 23 / U.S. 301. You know you could count on two things there – a cup of complimentary cold orange juice – and bathrooms. Only remnants and memories remain today.

Next #TravelThursday – I return home to the Heartland of Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Geography History Military Travel

Mobile Alabama

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I began Day 2 of my ongoing retirement road-trip to and from North Texas unlike any other day – via an Interstate highway. My hotel for the first night was right along I-10 just south of Quincy Florida (about 20 miles west of Tallahassee). I got on I-10 westbound for exactly 150 miles (from Exit 181 to 31). I then transferred over to U.S. 90, and I took that (and Alternate U.S. 90) to the other side of the Pensacola area. This was a planned-in-advance transfer from Interstate to U.S. highway. It’s a good thing that I did so, for on this particular morning I-10 was at a near stoppage starting just before that Exit 31 due to an accident ahead. Unfortunately – others got off at that same exit before me, and I encountered a long and slow back-up for several miles along U.S. 90. I suppose that it was just a typical Tuesday morning rush hour headed into Pensacola.

Fun Facts: Over a half-million residents live in the Pensacola metro area (which includes Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties – the two western-most counties in Florida). A very short portion of I-10 is located within the city limits of Pensacola. I get very nervous driving on the wide and suburban portion of I-10 approaching, thru, and leaving the city (including the 2.6-mile bridge over Escambia Bay). The U.S. 90 / Alternate U.S. 90 bypass to the north works out better for me.

Northwest of Pensacola I got back on I-10 for the final 5½ miles of far-western Florida and across the Alabama state line. I stayed on I-10 for 35 miles into Alabama (my birth state).

My first stop on Day 2 was the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. The USS Alabama (BB-60) was beautiful and fun to tour with multiple levels / decks (12). Much of the ship is accessible for viewing; although, you need to be in good physical shape to navigate and climb through many of the tight spaces. (Only the main deck is ADA-accessible.) The stairways / ladders are very steep and narrow. You can easily spend a good 2 to 4 hours navigating the ship (and seeing everything there is to see). I saw much of the ship, but I skipped many of the upper decks.

Upon entry into the Alabama State Park is a large hangar (Medal Of Honor Aircraft Pavilion) that serves as a traditional indoor museum with lots of military aircraft, vehicles, equipment, and memorabilia on display. In addition to the historic 84-year-old battleship you can also enter and tour the (same age) USS Drum (SS-228) submarine. (Both the battleship and the submarine are only accessible via the aircraft pavilion.)

It was a fun couple of hours at this military historical Park. I’m glad that I finally got the opportunity to visit instead of just driving by with a quick glance over at it.

Next #TravelThursday – I’m still in Mobile Alabama to explore more history – not just as a tourist, but also as a fellow docent of a historic house that serves as a museum. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Geography History Nature Photography Travel

Florida’s Nature Coast

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. On Day 1 of my ongoing retirement road-trip to and from North Texas I departed my home in the Heartland of Florida at dawn. I proceeded northward on U.S. 27 / U.S. 98, and I continued up U.S. 27 to Lake Wales, and then westward along State Road 60. I picked-up U.S. 98 again through Bartow, Lakeland, and points north and west.

My first stop on this road-trip was Weeki Wachee Springs State Park – the legendary roadside attraction that has brought millions of people through its front gates off U.S. 19 for the past 77 years. During its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s it was one of the most popular tourist attractions in Florida (along with Silver Springs and Cypress Gardens). Everyone wanted to not just catch a glimpse of the mermaids, but also see them in action, and meet them in person, and have their picture taken with them before and after the shows. I saw the mermaids perform Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” for their regularly-scheduled 11 AM show in the Underwater Theater.

Weeki Wachi Springs became a Florida State Park on November 01ST 2008. (The state now owns and operates it.) It was added to the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places in January 2020. It appears to be doing great business, and on some days – they reach capacity and can no longer let additional people into the park. On this particular day (a Monday) the park was thriving with hundreds of kids and their parents. Buccaneer Bay – the on-site water park – is also a main attraction. Personally – I thought that the park was underwhelming. I don’t do water parks, and aside from the 30-minute mermaid show (which was fun for all ages) – there was not much else to see or do at the park. Remnants of the park (from when it was independently owned – including by ABC-TV) still exist, and it’s a sad reminder of what the park once was all of those years ago.

I visited two other Florida State Parks on that Monday – Crystal River Archeological State Park and Forest Capital Museum State Park (near Perry). Both were pleasant surprises and much nicer than I anticipated. The former – with its traditional museum inside and its collection of Native American mounds outside – was nothing short of spectacular – especially the scenery from atop one of the mounds.

Crystal River (flowing from left to right towards the Gulf Of Mexico)

Fun Facts: All 3 of these Florida State Parks are located along the Nature Coast – a region of 8 mostly rural counties located directly on the Gulf Coast from the Big Bend region southward to north of the Tampa Bay region.

I love Florida’s Nature Coast. I love driving along scenic U.S. 19 / U.S. 98 and seeing historic motor inns and restaurants along the way – some of which are still in business with modern amenities. (Others are long dormant and rotting in place.) There’s so much to see and do in this area, and I’m just getting started.

Next #TravelThursday – It’s on to Mobile Alabama to explore more history by land and by sea. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp