Darden Travels

Glancing back through some photos, I realized I totally forgot to post this page.  Bok Towers is a pretty cool place to visit and gives a glimpse into old Florida.  It is located in Lake Wales, Florida, built upon one of the highest points of peninsular Florida, called Iron Mountain.

I’ve visited numerous times through the years but it is really catering to the needs of the community and building upon its initial foundation more so than ever.

The garden entrance sets the stage for your visit.  Fountains and a wall of air plants is one of the first things seen. This visit was about meeting friends at a midway point, my aunt joined us and got some exercise along with fresh air.

While this display wasn’t anything special, it did add a special touch for those visiting the gardens that day, knowing the names of flowers that were blooming.

The entrance also houses information about the tower, its construction and the carillon inside.

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There probably could be an entire post just on the construction of the Tower and Gardens, but for those really interested, just google it.  However,  I felt a few facts were warranted, so here you go.

It was built in the 1920s by Edward Bok and dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge.  It was designed as a ‘contemplative garden and bird sanctuary’ on the original 250 acres.  Marble from Georgia and Coquina from north Florida are the two primary materials that decorate the actual singing tower that house the carillon. There’s so much more to say, but unless you’re really into the history, writing about this gets kind of dry.

Walking towards the tower surprises abound and are spread through the uphill walk.

Occasionally the tower peeks out between the foliage and it can generally be seen throughout the garden as you walk to the highest point.

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The 205-foot neo-Gothic and art deco tower houses one of the world’s finest carillons with daily concerts.  While guests can no longer go inside the tower – unless by special arrangements – inside are 7 levels, which houses a library, a research center, maintenance & equipment storage with the ground level being called ‘The Founder’s Room’.  There are 4 carillions in Florida, approximately 200 in North America and 600 throughout the world.  Of course, now I’m curious where the other 3 are.

Part of Bok Towers Gardens also includes the nearby Pinewood Estate.  While built in the 1930s, it was acquired by the Gardens in 1970 and allows visitors to enjoy the 12,900 square foot Mediterranean-style home.  Inside is lovely and while mostly a self-guided tour, docents are in several rooms to answer questions.

Before ending our visit, we walked the 3/4 mile Pine Ridge Nature Trail. It was quiet, peaceful and nature-centric,  of course.

Our last stop in the gardens was the Hammock Hollow Children’s Garden.  This probably impressed me the most.  They have numerous activities to engage kids and parents alike or just use the time to sit and enjoy being outdoors.

 

This quote from Edward Bok was a  nice way to end the tour and this post.  Spending time at Florida’s other attractions allows you to see another side of this state before Walt arrived.

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, we’re on the trail for ale.  The goal is #9, #14 and #2 on a sunday afternoon.  Man!  My husband is so glad that Adrienne got me drinking craft beers.  Amber, IPA, Imperial, growler, bomber, hoppy, malty – I can almost ‘talk’ the craft beer lingo.  🙂

Seems like hitting 3 breweries in an afternoon is a good plan.  Any more than that and it all tastes the same, at least to me.   The Hourglass Brewery had options for food, so that was the driving goal for our first stop, heading towards Longwood.

Actually, it’s not the brewery that has food, but the adjoining taco bar – Wako Taco. They’re in the same strip mall and the wall between the two establishments is open, making for easy ordering – smart from both sides.

We got several types of tacos, some ‘naked’ and others fully loaded.  The pork was my favorite, but we also tried the carne asada.  The inside lighting turned the food and blue corn chips a funky color, but regardless, we still ate them.

Well, there’s just a little problem for me………I don’t like the taste of cilantro.  So while the photo doesn’t show a lot of this herb, I taste it in everything, and I do mean everything, including the guacamole.  😦  Internet research says that “Most people perceive the herb as a tart, lemon/lime taste”.  Not me.  Approximately 10% of the population has a genetic olfactory-receptor that is sensitive to the chemical and I guess I got that receptor.  One bright spot, Eric picked up a few different types of salsa for our chips and there was a very tasty fruity (guava) salsa that I loved.  As you can see below, they have quite a few things going on, but no where do I see the 8 letter word – cilantro.

Beer!  Okay, back to the reason for the journey. I got a brown ale that I really enjoyed.  Something minor that I really, really enjoyed……………the 5 oz pour.  This is perfect for me since I turned into the designated driver later in the afternoon – a baby beer.

While the taps aren’t readable, I included the shot because of the droid.  Around the 240 seat taproom, nostalgic remembrances and geek culture abound.  I would guess that every time you stop by, you could find something you missed before.

Their history………founded in 2012 in a small building behind a massage parlor, it was the dream of two friends.  Their aim was to make ‘world class’ beer, utilizing the best of local and exotic ingredients from across the globe.  they create a lot of unusual and ‘ancient’ beers.  Eric had a german beer that was common 300+ years ago.

 

Second stop was the Red Cypress Brewery in Winter Springs.

Again, love a brewery that has a small pour – just saying.

At this brewery, every decision is guided by ‘Is it going to make our beer better?’.  They are proud that the founding members and management comprise natives from Central Florida and UCF alumni – way cool.  They opened their doors in October of 2015 and pay homage to Florida oddities when branding their beer.  We had to explain to Adrienne what ‘Spook Hill’ was (besides one of their beers).  If you don’t know, google it.

They can their beers and continue to distribute across Florida and recently expanded to the Southeast states.

Eric tried an intriguing beer that all 3 of us agreed would be great as dessert.  Then we thought, why not!

After our ale trail adventure, we headed to the Darden house for dinner, more on that at the bottom.  Our thought was to substitute the liquid in the brownie mix with the beer and create a syrup by concentrating the beer on a back burner.  What an incredible idea and………………absolutely delicious!  But I digress.  Back to the beer.

Our third and last stop was Bowigens Beer Company in Casselberry, FL.  It’s a small brewery with a limited number of good beers.

Bowigens began when two long time friends met while playing in bands around Orlando and eventually decided to stop traveling, break away from the music scene and dive into a new adventure – crafting beer!  Now I understand the graphics and items on the wall, kind of.

They had a huge wall labeled ‘What’s on Tap’.  It showcased what they currently had available and the other side (not shown) what will be released soon.

Throughout the afternoon, Adrienne was able to add 3 growlers to her growing collection.  I’m being selective in my purchases, staying to the tasting glasses when I find a beer I really love.

So that dessert pictured up at the top of the posting, it was accompanied by jalapeno-cheese grits, smothered green beans and Adrienne’s fried fish (trout) – caught a few weeks ago.

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While normally I’m all about the scavenger hunt, pacing ourselves to enjoy the breweries and having a (relaxed) plan is a lot of fun – who knew.  We’ll intersperse the ale trail visits between our other adventures.

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eric got a call over the weekend that his aunt was not doing well and to prepare himself for the worst. As things turned out, we needed to be in Taylor, AR within a week.

Flights were hard to come by both coming and going.  We needed to fly into Shreveport,  LA  then drive almost an hour to where his family lives.

 

We both worked before  heading to Orlando International Airport early afternoon.  There was an article in the local paper that parking at the airport was getting tight.  OMG!  At terminal A, signs said they were full, but we didn’t believe them.  You see for years we have parked in an area, known mostly by locals – and hard to find – ‘terminal top parking’.  Once we entered the garage, the ramp to go up to our secret spot was blocked off.   Guess we should have believed the signage.  😦  There were cars everywhere going up and down the aisles.  Quite frankly, it was a zoo.

Plan B (which I should call Plan C) had us driving to the new terminal (which is not open yet) and park in that garage structure (which is called Parking C). Yikes!  Timing wise we were ok with catching our flights, unlike other conversations we overheard.  On the upside, we will probably never see this terminal this empty.

Of course the airport had to have another spur for their shuttle and man, this shuttle was brand, spanking new.  Definitely had that ‘new car’ smell.

We were able to get a different view of the air-traffic control  tower.

Even though Terminal C is not opening until 2020………..thank goodness for the parking garage being complete.

Our flight got to Atlanta on time and although we could not get into the Priority Club due to capacity, we made good use of our time by grabbing food from The Varsity.

The Gordy family started this place in 1928 while the interstate nearby  was a grass field. This location is now downtown Atlanta. They’ve got multiple locations in Atlanta in addition to their location in the airport. It’s basically a hot dog and burger joint and they’ve developed their own language for ordering.  Here’s how you order:

After a short time we were finally able to enter the club and partake of their refreshments.

Okay, so it’s ‘cool’ to be able to enter this restricted area, but with this being  my 3rd club to visit, I’m not really impressed about Atlanta’s Priority Club.  Food is nothing special, only a few options and anyone with a sweet tooth gets to choose from a few options of  packaged cookies normally available at a grocery store.

Made it to Shreveport that night, found our hotel and after picking up his sister the next day, we headed to north to meet up with the family.  I had forgotten how a small close-knit community welcomes and takes care of their own.  Friends, neighbors and church members brought over food to feed the entire family our first evening in town.  Eating at his aunt’s house was bittersweet for me.    This is where we stayed when we came as a couple.  I believe his aunt would have enjoyed our gathering at her house as she offered up her home for countless family events in the past.

While sadness prevails at a time like this, there’s also life.  So many little ones were running around or being held or being fed or………you get the picture.  Life continues and blossoms. Eric’s cousins have grown up, gotten married and have families of their own.  With Eric’s yearly visits deer hunting, he’s been able to keep up with most of those details – me, not so much.

Eric made it his mission to reintroduce me to the area.  We drove around, visited family when we could and enjoyed life in a small town.

During part of our travels, we went through a town called Plain Dealing LA.  How do you cool off when there’s no community pool…..………….your local fire department!  These firemen were much appreciated by the kids playing in the water spray.

Another day we visited Ruston, LA for their annual peach festival.  Who knew that LA could grow peaches? I had a fabulous peach-lemonade that was mighty tasty.  It was perfect for the super hot day we visited.

Trip Advisor talked about several restaurants, but one stood out – Ponchatolous.

Upon arrival to Ruston, we discovered it was right downtown in the middle of the Festival.  We figured the 30 minute wait would be well-spent perusing the festival.   Fairly quickly we were seated and we started with fried green tomatoes, followed by seafood gumbo (Eric) and fried mini meat (beef & pork) pies for me.  My mini pies were perfect!  Lots of crust, a good dipping sauce and just enough filling.

On the way out-of-town we found a farm stand that had peaches we could purchase.  Let’s just say that were sweet and juicy and WAY better than any I’ve bought at our grocery stores.

One morning, we had breakfast at another aunt’s house and while the breakfast goodies (and company) were excellent……………..

…………..I really enjoyed the walk and personal tour in her backyard fenced garden.

She mentioned a rose called Seven Sisters.  It intrigued me and I later discovered it’s an heirloom rose that flourishes in the South. Named due to the flower clusters, typically with 7 blooms.  I believe she mentioned that she got a shoot from a friend, stuck it in the ground and it flourished.

We spent some time with Eric’s uncle and while I grew up in a rural area, my parents didn’t farm.  I couldn’t resist a photo of his white cows (semmital crossed with Brahma cows).  Eric explained that his uncle kept the gentlest cows from each birthing.  Any cow showing too much ‘crazy spirit’ was sold off.

Then there was a story about this pipe fence.  The pipe was used for drilling, but it broke loose, falling hundreds of feet, curling upon impact.  When the pipes were eventually retrieved, they could no longer be used for that purpose.  His uncle had a use for those pipes, and this is the result.  Interesting how ‘up-cycling’ (the latest trendy phrase) can bring beauty to a thing of necessity.  I couldn’t figure out how to get the best photo, but from a distance, the charm was apparent.

One of Eric’s cousins has taken a family outpost and created a retreat for their kids and their families.  I’m simply calling it The Farm.  These two buildings  was to be our home for the next several days while we visited family.

The cabin housed a king-sized bed with a full bathroom.

The brick building was the main hub for family gatherings.  Leather seating and antique furniture mixed in with the modern-day appliances and a long farm table was picture perfect and almost a shame we had it all to ourselves.

Eric cooked a few breakfasts and both were excellent:  eggs Benedict w/ fruit on the left and fried eggs & bacon with English muffins, topped with peach jam on the right.

Yes, these are cows, just regular mixed breed cows, but they were part of our peaceful week in LA, surrounding us while we stayed at  The Farm.

Family gatherings for this purpose are not truly wanted but do have a healing infuence.  Coming together from across the land allows those in attendance to share fond memories and stories while forgeing  friendships we carry with us, long after leaving the area.

One morning I got up and walked the lane while the sun was trying to peek through the clouds.  It’s a memory that I want to keep, especially when I”m back home and everything is getting hectic.  Peaceful and quietly magical.

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have driven  and flown into Shreveport in the past, but never spent any time in this city – this time we did.

Getting in late, our hotel reservation was at the downtown Hilton.

We made the most out of our first full day in the city, having donuts at a top-rated donut shop first thing  at Southern Maid Donuts.

There are numerous independent donut shops in this area but this was highly rated. The warm glazed donuts did not disappoint.  Eric has made me a big fan of Community Coffee and I was happy to see it being served that morning.

Apparently Elvis stopped here in his youth.

Before picking up Eric’s sister we had time enough to visit the American Rose Center on the outskirts of Shreveport.

Although summer is here, there were enough clouds and breezes to make this an enjoyable walk, even at 12 noon.

Next up was lunch and Eric found a highly rated Cajun-creole restaurant called Marilynn’s Place.  It’s a former gas station and while the outside lacks ‘charm’, you come here for the food being served inside, not the charm outside.

Eric ordered their seafood combo special and got a bowl of crawfish etouffe’ and a bowl of seafood gumbo.  He was surprised at the quantity of food, but he managed.  I ordered the catfish fingers and they were great, actually, more than great.  I would stop back at this place just for the catfish fingers on any future visit to Shreveport.  Fries came with my meal and while I’m not the biggest fan of steak fries, the seasoning they used on them made me keep coming back to eat them until the basket was empty.

With his sister’s plane being delayed, we had time to squeeze in one more stop – Strawn’s Eat Shop.  It was billed as ‘best pie in town’.

We split a piece of their ‘seasonal’ pie, which was peach – OMG.  The photo below doesn’t look like much, but this was hands down one of (if not the) best pies I have ever eaten.  I’ve always eaten peach cobbler, of which the fruit is cooked.  This peach pie has fresh peaches and all of their delightful sweetness comes through.  They grow some mighty fine peaches around here – just saying.  Yes, they actually grow peaches in LA.  More about that in the next posting.

Before leaving Shreveport, we were able to squeeze in one more ‘pie’ visit, just before they closed and both ended up with their strawberry pie, which they are truly known for.  It was very good, but it wasn’t peach.  🙂

Did a little research about this place and found out that Mr. Strawn opened this location in 1944, across from the Centenary College campus.  It was purchased by another family in 1988, seating was expanded and their family still runs the three Strawn’s locations.  They have been featured in Southern Living Magazine and on The Food Network.  Everyone definitely needs to check this place out when visiting Shreveport.

As with a lot of American cities, several micro-breweries have popped up in the city.  Our last day in Shreveport before flying out, we visited two of their three locations.  We couldn’t hit the third one since it wasn’t open on sunday – bummer – as it looked the best of the three.  Oh well, next time.

First stop was Flying Heart Brewing.

It was an interesting place, a nice gathering spot for locals.  The neighborhood was being rejuvenated and although we didn’t order pizza, I saw a few customers come in just to pick up a pizza and not drink a single beer.  The beer was fine, not memorable, but drinkable.

We got some snack food (pretzel and wings) and while it was satisfying, it wasn’t anything that we would go back for.  They do have some cool graphics around their establishment, so I threw them in.  So I guess I’m making a statement, without typing the words……..

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Second brewery was Red River Brewing.

It was a huge warehouse-type building and they had enough room for a musician’s stage.  We heard later that evening was open mike night – which would have been interesting.  This would be a great place to have a party or large gathering.

Below is a snapshot of their offerings.  Eric tasted the seasonal Captain’s Porter while I drank the Penalty Block.  He also had a 5-oz pour of their anniversary beer.  They were brewing before being open to the public and they saved some of their first attempts for their yearly anniversary.  We both felt their beer was much better than our first stop………….and we brought home a 32 oz growler and tulip tasting glass (for me).

Out last meal was at Ralph & Kacoo’s – an well-established seafood restaurant, rated #1 in the Shreveport/Bossier City area.

This is a great place for large groups and families as they have lots of tables for group seating.  We had an excellent waitress, but the place felt kind of ‘tired’.  Nothing was wrong, but there was also nothing that would draw us back.  Eric’s meal was all about shrimp, coming out three different ways on his platter.  I was finally tired of fried food and ended up ordering an avocado & crab salad.

My salad was amazing – hands down, my meal ‘won’ between the two of us.  This is something that Eric will be making at home.  The crab was just enough seafood to make it different and the meat was very fresh. I asked about the ‘secret’ Ralph & Kacoo’s dressing (and requested it on the side), as I was skeptical and ready to ask for ranch dressing.  Eric needed to taste the dressing so that he can make it at home – it was that good.  Kind of a cross between thousand island dressing and a roumalade combined.

All in all, we enjoyed our time in Shreveport.  No, this isn’t a city full of night-life and Yes, it’s in the South (really, really hot in the summer) but it has a nice history, minimal traffic and we found it easy to navigate.  Visiting a local museum about the history of Shreveport, we came across the origin of their name.

We will be coming back through this city, most likely on the way to Eric’s family events, and now we have a few favorite places we will visit again.

Until the next posting………………..

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the fishing.…………………

I saw this carved fish artwork at one of the restaurants we visited, and was looking for a place to add it into the blog – I found it!

I mentioned in the previous posting that we had to move to a hotel, early into the vacation.  So here’s the scoop.

Eric had found a place on VRBO, which we have used a bit on previous vacations.  We knew some of our friends were going to join us during our time at Crystal River, so we needed a few extra bedrooms.  AND, we didn’t want to eat every single meal at a restaurant.

While this is a shot from the back yard, you get the picture.  It was an older (3 bedroom) house, which had been remodeled inside, very nicely.  A screened in porch (as seen in the photo above) had pretty much been my perch as soon as we arrived.  Kind of hard to see, but there is an outside jacuzzi in the right corner, surrounded by the fence on 2 sides.  Here’s a shot of the kitchen (nice, says Eric) and the master bedroom.

After dropping off our groceries and clothes, we needed to launch the boat.  It was a (very) short drive to the Fort Island Trail Park.  Literally after turning out of this subdivision, 2 streets later we were at the park.

We’ve used this launch multiple times – I love the wide ramps for the boat & trailer.  This day, we had no problem launching the boat, no line at all.

Of course there was no line because (1) late morning on a Wednesday and (2) it was pouring down rain!  Not a single vehicle or trailer was in the parking lot.

Finding our canal was not as easy as Eric expected.  He had to open Google Earth to find the exact location.   While this photo shows blue skies and white fluffy clouds, it was still raining on his first trip to the house and much more difficult to find.

Of course he found the house – eventually – and was tying up the boat when I spied another set of eyes watching our movements.

This little gator was about 3 feet in length.  It seemed like others had been feeding him – which is against Florida law and carries fines of $500.  Don’t do it!

The canal was next to a RV park and it was always entertaining as we motored by.  The lot owners had creatively used their outdoor space to enhance their RV living: decorative iron fences, bird feeders, planters and lawn furniture to name a few things.  They also had a dock along the canal and this guy was having a BAD day.

His airboat was half-submerged – bummer.  The good news was………………..the next day this is what the dock looked like.   Some way, some how, the boat was able to be moved.

This canal kept giving us surprises.  A little further along the canal and we saw this home-grown ‘art’.  The picnic table had been decorated with some random items and secured so everything stayed in place, even the lamp, no matter how much wind and/or rain came down.  There were a couple of tables, but this was the best.  Unfortunately, my shot washes out some of the color – it was a cute display.

The weather was looking dicey when we left home to begin our fishing vacation, but eventually we ended up with the photo on the far right within 4 hours.

Finding the house – check. Launching the boat – check.  Eating lunch – check.  Next on the agenda was to get on the water!  The first task was to set the pin traps after being stuffed with chum (frozen sardines).

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OMG – these little devils (buoys) were hard to find in the coming days.  Eric purposely wanted the buoys to be unobtrusive so others won’t raid the traps, but even with a GPS marked point, it was challenging no matter how many eyes were looking.  They were the size of my closed fist.  You might notice the 3 straight bars of rebar on the traps.  These were a recent (Eric) modification so that the traps wouldn’t roll in bad weather.  Yeah, that happened in Apalachicola Bay and OMG x 3.

The fishing was good on our first foray.  We caught numerous shorts (redfish & trout) and brought home a sheepshead (Eric) and a black drum (me).   The  sheepshead turned into our ceviche that night for dinner.

Coming back up Crystal River, we passed several shrimp boats heading out for a night of shrimping.

Day 2 of fishing and the skies were bright blue with a few clouds.  This one cloud we kept an eye on and it eventually turned into a storm – heading our way – which chased us back to safer harbors.

We were fishing with live shrimp…………………

………………………and Eric’s pinfish from his traps.

Early on I caught this Jack Crevalle.  Man, it was a good fighter.  Not typically used for food (Eric tried it once – yuck) but really fun to catch on the light tackle that we use.

We both caught some keeper trout this day but they weren’t filleted until the next day with others we caught.  Yes, that’s important.  We caught fish.  🙂

So we get back to the rental from a morning on the water and the inside temp is 79 degrees.  The A/C is not really working.  😦  With the clouds the previous day and the house being closed up, it was not noticeable – much.  Eric had his suspicions but after being gone for less than 3 hours, the temps inside the house were rising.  After talking with the owner, who talked to an A/C repairman, who (luckily) stopped by that afternoon………the A/C was broke and not easily fixable.

Plan B:  Find a hotel.

In this we were fairly lucky as having stayed in the area before, our first choice was the Plantation Inn of Crystal River.  Eric made a call, talked to Darlene, and we had a patio (boat/canal view room) for the next 4 nights. Wheww!

Back to fishing……..……………..

A friend (Adrienne) was driving over and when we shared the latest update about accommodations, she asked for our hotel and while talking on the phone to me, booked a room on-line for the night.

For being a novice angler, she did quite well.  She caught  1 blue runner to add to our catch of sea trout.

The next day she caught a mackerel and sea trout, adding to Eric’s catch of 3 sea trout.

Notice anything…………………no keeper fish from me.  😦  I caught several short trout and catfish (not the kind you normally eat) and other assorted species.  Regardless, being on the water is always a fun time.

Crystal River is known for the manatees that hang around the springs, especially in the winter time.  Some of the animals stay year around in the springs.  The hotel has lots of souvies and clothing that features the sea cows.  Couldn’t resist this one photo spot.

The storm clouds chased us off the water, but we easily got in several hours of fishing.  There were some mighty impressive clouds.

No, we did not catch any of the fish in the photo below – but isn’t it amazing.  A Guide Service is available at the hotel and one option is to go off-shore fishing – which they did.  Wow, wonder what it takes $$$ to fill their tank and run out in the gulf 100+ miles.  Glad we’re not paying that gas bill – just saying.  But again……………..WOW!

Other friends stopped by (as expected) and made the same plans as Adrienne did – booked a night at the same hotel.  We all went out on the boat early sunday morning for a day of fishing while still dodging storms.

With having others on the boat, it gave us another photographer (thank you 🙂 )  I caught several short trout and one of the things Eric hooked was remora.  They are typically found attached to a shark, as they are scavengers and snack on the extra bits of food the sharks misses.  News flash – when reseraching remoras on-line, I found the previous statement has been shown as a falsehood.  It is now assumed it is a ‘mutulalistic arrangement as the remora can remove ectoparasites and loose flakes of skin while benefiting from the protection of the host’ (which could be a whale, turtle, ray or shark.  There you have it!

Our friends wanted some photos to share with their family back home, so the extra photographer was nice.  🙂

 

As we began to head in after our day of fishing, there was a boat, seeming to head straight for us and would intersect our route.  Really? Really!  Oh, it’s two officers with the FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) and they mean business.  After they left, then I thought about taking a photo.  But when an officer is on the boat (with a gun), checking for the required equipment and our catch (unfortunately none) it didn’t really seem like the best time to pull out the camera and get a photo.   They did leave us with this sticker.

The officer that searched our boat was (seemingly) impressed that everything was in order, easily found to his satisfaction and everyone was wearing their lifevests as they approached.  He said to place the sticker within 6″ of our boat identification number and it will make a difference in the future.  Wow, way cool.

So my last photo is dinner at home.  The sea trout turned into  ‘trout almondine arugula salad’ and was most delicious.

While our best-laid plans went awry this week, we’ve discovered that we can bounce back, modify plans and still have a great time together and with friends.

Until our next adventure……………….

Ginny

 

Wow! We’ve had a fun 5 days in and around Crystal River.  Looking back through the photos, dividing  up the activities seemed the best way to go.

Food is an important aspect of any trip and especially so with us. First posting will talk about our adventures with food.

After dropping our things at the rental house, lunch was on our agenda.  First idea was Dan’s Clam Stand.

We had visited before but later visits always found the restaurant closed. It had been several years since our last visit.  I ordered the fried popcorn shrimp while Eric got fried whole belly clams with fries and hush puppies.
While nothing was wrong with our meal, it probably won’t warrant a return visit.  We’ve had such excellent seafood in the years between our visits, I’m going to guess this meal just couldn’t stand up to the comparison.

We had caught fish our first afternoon on the water and it turned into our first dinner at the rental.    It became  seafood ceviche topped with avocado.  Yummmm-very tasty.  Margaritas added to the enjoyment of our meal.

Another meal cooked was breakfast:  bacon, egg and cheese on an everything bagel.  It’s one of my all time favorite breakfast requests.

Celebrating my birthday, we had dinner reservations at Vintage on 5th.  It is a fabulous local, high-end place with a creative menu and lengthy wine list.

We started with she-crab soup and fish dip.  This was followed by Eric’s fried grouper and my ahi  tuna plate.  The meal was finished with dessert – of course – Eric ordering a chocolate & caramel sundae and I got coffee with my carrot cake.  It was cute-they added a birthday candle to my cake  🙂

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One fun dining activity when vacationing near the water is motoring up to a restaurant in the boat and securing your boat at their dock.  When Adrienne joined us, we had lunch at Crackers Bar & Grill and yes, we motored up to the restaurant.  🙂

We had been dodging storms that morning but at the headwaters of Crystal River (King’s Bay), the weather was good enough for eating outside.  It had cute, covered outside seating.

The fish dip was some of the best we’ve had and when dividing it up between 3 people, it went fast!

Meals  were fried grouper fingers, fried grouper sandwich (sans bun) and a fried, mixed seafood platter.

At a point in our vacation, we moved to a hotel-more about that in the next post. 😦  that meant all of our meals had to be eaten out.  Hence, why I’m dividing the week into several posts since we ate out WAY more than we expected.

Previously, Eric had stopped at Olive Tree Restaurant for breakfast food and brought back a menu to see other eating options.  A Greek restaurant in Crystal River – who knew?

They could pack food ‘to-go’ but it would never be as good as eating there.  One early morning we visited for breakfast……….

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……..and later came back for lunch that same day.  My meal choice had a Greek focus while Eric’s meal was American comfort food (meatloaf & mashed potatoes).

We visited another local favorite Pecks Old Port Cove Restaurant  in Ozello, about 15 miles away.

Spicey fried shrimp was my selection while Eric ordered 1 dozen sautéed garlic crabs.  Man – look at the garlic in the bowl!  There must have been almost 2 cups of chopped garlic.

Our absolute favorite (new) local restaurant is Seafood Seller & Cafe. In fact, over a period of a few days, we ate there 3 times.  Their website says “Our food is cooked to order and prepared from the heart.” and truly, that says it all.

They feature Cajun food, which of course Eric loved.  Our first meal consisted of crawfish etouffee’ (Eric) and a catfish po-boy for myself, with a side of gumbo.  I should have stuck with only eating Eric’s gumbo.  His was the first I had ever tasted and he tailors the recipe to my taste – thanks hon!

We returned with Adrienne, sitting at their bar to avoid a 30+ minute wait – this place is popular!  I had finally had my fill of seafood for the moment and ordered a hamburger (when the waitress said it was the only thing her boyfriend ordered, I was sold).

Eric ordered 4 lbs of crawfish.  At one point in the evening, he was showing others around the bar how to eat them properly.

We topped off our meal by sharing their bread pudding.  It was big enough for the 3 of us to eat and still have some leftover.

Eric was curious about their crawfish and ended up talking to one of the owners-Jimmy- who actually took him in the kitchen area to see how they process their crawfish.  After my meal was finished, I got the tour myself.  Every 3 days, 800 lbs of live crawfish arrive in these mesh bags.  The crawfish are dumped out and the live ones walk down the chute, falling over the edge, into the sink below.

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Our last visit was Sunday afternoon and even at 2pm, there was a 15 minute wait – but well worth it.  We took other friends on Sunday to enjoy the Cajun cooking.  We had good waitresses on all of our visits, but on Sunday, Angel beat them all.  She shared her personal favorites and definitely should be someone working at Disney. She gets it!

Appetizers were fried pickles and fried green tomato chips.  The tomato chips won – hands down.  We love fried pickles and after all of the tomato chips were gone, we finished off the pickles, but all future visits we will be getting only the tomato chips – just saying!  The tomato chips are on the left.

Eric ordered ‘yankee’ chowder’ before getting his fried grouper entre’ while I ordered the fish tacos.

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So the (Mahi) fish tacos looked kind of ‘weird’ to me, having a square piece of fish sitting on a flour tortilla.  Got to say………………….they were fantastic!  I will definitely be ordering those on any future visits.  I know, they don’t look like much but they have the right texture, the right flavor and the spicey mustard sauce that was accompanying them, was perfect.

I so wanted to order dessert, but I didn’t have any room.  They had beignets on their dessert menu (with a raspberry and chocolate dipping sauce!) but that would have taken me over the edge, in a bad way – too much food.

The next post will talk about our fish adventures and why our accommodations changed in the middle of our vacation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This began years ago, not working on my birthday, which morphed into taking the entire week off.  🙂

This year I’m splitting up the time:  3 days in Jacksonville visiting Karen and the boys, then 5 days at Crystal River with friends –  fishing, of course.

Dinner in Jacksonville Saturday was at the Wicked Barley Brewing Company.  BTW love their marketing slogan!

Being a new craft beer drinker, Rich gave me advice……..

……… and I went with the brown ale.

We chose a variety of appetizers and shared amongst the three of us (yes,  Karen joined us).  Left to right, we had fried cheese curds, chicken empanadas and pretzels with honey-mustard or melted cheese.

My favorite ended up being the fried cheese curds.  I wasn’t expecting much, but who doesn’t like fried cheese!

Afterwards, we walked through their outside seating area towards the St. John’s River and got a last photo before leaving the brewery.

I brought the beer home for Eric.  Started that trick during a recent cross-country trip.  🙂

Lunch on Sunday was at Newk’s, a favorite of mine.

I ordered a sandwich and my side was macaroni & cheese – yum.

It’s mostly sandwiches, but also has salads and pizzas.  They have some pre-packed breadsticks and although very crunchy, they take the edge off before your food arrives.
Since I haven’t seen these in Central Florida, I did a little internet research and found out more about them.  It was founded in 2004 in Oxford, MS by father and son chefs and described as an American eatery of fast, casual cafes.  Today over 100 Newks locations operate in 13 states, primarily in the Southeast.  They maintain a strong culinary focus with all products made from scratch, open kitchens and large round tables with complementary gourmet condiments, toppings and breadsticks!

The afternoon was spent creating jewelry, which was the ultimate goal for the weekend.  More on that later.

Dinner was pizza from ‘Jenks’, primarily since they have bacon as an option for a topping.  Really, who can resist bacon.

Eric packed me a few craft beers for my weekend and it added to my enjoyment of the pizza.

Every night we ended our evening by watching a movie, mostly a ‘chick flick’ – thank you Karen.  🙂

Monday was a visit to another favorite of mine – Maple Street Biscuit Company. Connor joined us.

My biscuit of choice was the chicken ranch biscuit, with smoked bacon – yum again – followed by (shared) iced cinnamon pecan biscuits.

This restaurant was created in Jacksonville, opening their doors in 2012 with 4 guiding principles: comfort food with a modern twist, gracious service, immaculately clean stores and sustainable business.

They refer to their places as ‘a group of community stores’ and are named after the community its built in.  You will notice a lot of communal seating inside the stores.  This is to ‘meet your neighbors’ or if visiting, ‘meet locals’.  Everyone should check out their website – it’s very interesting.

 

So, jewelry…………..a good many of the pieces were created from stones I got in Shanghai. Karen helps me finish bending the wire or tying off the thread when I’m done.  These are definitely ‘collaborative’ pieces.  I ended up taking home 3 pairs of earrings, 2 necklaces and 1 bracelet.

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Stay tuned for Birthday Week 2.0.

 

The weather forecaster  said Sunday was supposed to be raining all day.   It was not going to be a day spent on the boat – bummer.  We proposed a day checking out some of the central Florida breweries and a good friend, Adrienne was game.

Before drinking we wanted to fuel up and Eric found The Elixir.  He googled best brew pub in downtown Orlando and this was our destination since (1) was open (2) close to the downtown area and (3) shouldn’t be full since it was Mother’s Day .

Soda (mine) and brews started our day while burgers & fries, fish tacos and pretzel bread fueled our day.

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First brewery on tap was Orlando Brewing.  We were their first patrons arriving 15 minutes after opening.

Their ‘hook’ is that all of their ingredients are organic and their beers became the first to be declared “Fresh from Florida”.  In 2006 they were certified as an organic brewery, making them the only U.S.D.A. certified organic brewery east of Colorado.

Their story interested me since Orlando Brewing first opened their doors on Gore street shortly after 2000, changed ownership in 2004 and less than 3 months in their new location…….FL Dept of Trans. was going to use their land for the new I-4 interchange, meaning they had to move again.

They used this opportunity to re-think the direction of their brewery and this meant they decided to (1)brew in accordance with the Germany Purity Law of 1516 and (2) only use organic ingredients.

Okay, so maybe most beer drinkers know about this law, but I did not.  Apparently this law decreed that only 4 ingredients should be used: water, hops, yeast and malted barley.

Part of that  day’s quest was to obtain growlers from said brew stops, as seen in the photo.

 

Alas, they were out of (all) brown bottles.  I guess  this means we will have to stop back by the brewery –  darn .  🙂

Next on the quest was Orange County Brewers in downtown Orlando.  Love  their slogan ‘Orange County Brewers, where everyone can drink like a local’.  By the way, it is number 11 on the map and 12 was our first stop.

The idea for this brewery came from some rogue entrepreneurs looking to find a craft beer in downtown, that also quenched their thirst for unique beers.  Their brewmaster (Amanda) has already garnered quite a following after only 2 years of brewing.

We had a flight which comes in a very interesting holder:

The cutouts were places in the vicinity of 5 Florida cities, starting top to bottom:  Tallahassee, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Kissimmee and Miami.  I can see it – kind of.

While not really hungry, the smell from the nearby pizza ovens beckoned.  Orlando Pizza & Wing Co. shares the space and  the pizza counter is run as a separate operation and we couldn’t resist the cheesy bacon bread – now really, who could.

Before leaving Adrienne was able to add to her growler collection.

The beer was good (I liked the amber beers best) and our next visit to this brewery needs to include a meal with our brews (pizza!).

Last planned brewery was the Ten 10 Brewing Co. on Virginia drive.

Eric and I shared a flight and I probably need to visit again  I was starting to reach my upper limits of beer.  Not from consumption mind you, just the number of brews I had tasted in 1 day.

Including the 4 beers above I’ve tasted more than 13 today – yikes!  The key word being ‘tasted’.  I was able to get a decent shot of their tap list.

However, their pretzel alone would make me come back!

Warm, crusty, salty, doughy and just downright delicious.  It’s accompanied with beer mustard and their homemade beer cheese, yum.   The next time I have a craving for a pretzel, this is where I’m headed – just saying.

They have a good menu selection with several sandwiches but they also offer house-made hot dogs.  Like I said, we need to come back again when (really) hungry to fully appreciate this place.

This brewery opened summer 2015 after 19 months of planning. It’s part of the Mills50  –  an area that has a fairly new (named) identity even though  it’s been around for years.

With all of the rain covering the state we were in no hurry to head home. One last (unplanned) brewery was on tap…….Crooked Can Brewing Company in downtown Winter Garden.

It’s located in the Plant Street Market – a local community, artisan market that has become a social gathering place for family and friends (yes, found most of that sentence on their website).  There are a variety of food vendors in this building as Crooked Can focuses on brewing beers, not cooking food.  I respect that focus.  🙂

I am so glad this BBQ restaurant has joined their line-up of options in Plant Street Market.  Our ribs and pulled pork from This little Piggy was an instant hit and I can see this as a stop on our way home when no one wants to cook……….

………and Morthan Cheese (Raclette cheese from France & Switzerland melted then scraped onto your chosen base).  A salad made Adrienne’s meal seem healthy.

It was a fun day all around and while this won’t be a weekly occurance, it’s a nice way to spend a rainy day.

 

 

 

 

Wow!  Clermont has a new grocery that has landed and is taking the town by storm.

I don’t remember hearing much about it beforehand, only that another grocery store was going into an area formerly held by Sweet Bay markets.

Eric heard about the “Store that sold beer while you’re shopping”.  Man!  What a concept.  There may be other stores that have that option, but none close to here – just saying.

He stopped by the first week they were open and gave up because the lack of nearby parking.  We eventually was able to stop by within the first 2 weeks, and I still wasn’t won over because of the crowded aisles and what I thought was too much hype.  Since that time, I’ve changed my mind, found several very interesting things and yes, I’ve enjoyed the beer while shopping.  🙂

As mentioned above, the beer for some are a major attraction.  On one of our weekend visits here, the line waiting for their drink of choice kept growing and growing and growing.  Count them – 7 men in line (and a few women).  Four more gentleman got in the line before any left.

Their shopping carts have drink holders – how ingenious.

The first thing seen  upon entering are local touches they incorporated inside their stores.  There are local references in several places.  This makes it feel less like a corporate store and more like Clermont’s grocery store – with really cool things to buy, eat and drink.

We’ve tried several things thus far one. One Sunday we needed something small to tide us over until dinner and we thought ……….pizza slices and beer at Lucky’s.  Two pizza slices gives you a free beer.  While we only tried the cheese pizza slices, it was good (especially for a grocery store), we would go back and order it again.

On different trips, we perused their cheese selection and who can resist a display like this.

With micro-breweries being the ‘Uber’ popular thing now, Lucky’s did not disappoint.

Another day Eric felt like ‘ramen’ and who doesn’t (me for example).   Discovering that Lucky’s had a ramen bar was a hit for Eric. I loved the red carrier for the ramen containers – just saying.

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Eric super enjoyed his ramen meal.  Me?  Wandering around in the store, I came across these cookies.  They have both ‘crispy’ cookies and ‘homemade – soft’ cookies, but these were our first purchase.

OMG x 3!!!  We’ve only tasted the ‘almond crispy’ variety, but we’ve gotten our second bag of cookies already.  Eric – who doesn’t like sweets – was found snacking on them late at night.  He’s not very good at hiding the evidence of snacking.

Okay, we actually had a ‘purpose’ one day when it was my turn for our Sunday meal.  My decision for dinner was skillet lasagna.  With our list in hand we got these groceries in the photo below.  Now I’ve made his recipe before – definitely ‘Loosey goosey’  (The story is under the Eats! Page – no specific measured ingredients) but this was the best ever yet!

These were all purchased at Lucky’s.  I don’t use any exact recipe just assembled the ingredients and started layering.  In past renditions I didn’t add  any spices – silly me.  It makes a difference.

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As I mentioned above…….best ever.  🙂  A little bread, a little butter, a little garlic salt and the meal was finished.

We’ve checked out their fresh produce and made several purchases.  Their veggies are interesting and finding blood oranges are pretty unique, even though citrus is grown in the state.

One recent trip we found this display of herbs and yes, we put one in our shopping cart, along with our other purchases.  They looked super healthy and I could tell they were a  recent delivery to the store.  I’m starting a mint garden at home and my herb purchase is already in the ground.  With Eric making mint julips, mint is a prime commidity.

I’m sure there will be additional posts about Lucky’s.  As I said earlier, I was not going to become a fan, went grudgingly several times but once the crowds thinned out and I could really shop and look around, I’m converted.  I’m ending with a bit of their history.  If this doesn’t interest you, thanks for reading so far.

Lucky’s Market was started in 2003 by two chefs from Boulder, CO.  They wanted really good food.  Being chefs they knew where to get it and shopped farmer’s markets and gourmet food stores in addition to conventional grocery stores for their purchases.  They made a decision to do something about all that running around for good food and they wanted to do it right.  They created an entirely different kind of grocery store, Lucky’s Market.

 

Whew!!! Four states within a few hours.  Good thing for us that we’re at the bottom of the states and heading east.  After our breakfast in New Orleans, we were ready to hit the road and get some miles behind us, only stopping when needed for fuel.  Mississippi and Alabama were easy to drive through.

There’s one place along the route that I detest – the tunnel (George C. Wallace tunnel-Alabama governor at the time) near Mobile, AL.  The Mobile River is above and all I can think of is the river of water that I’m driving beneath.  Built in the early 1970s at the nearby Mobile shipyard, it was built in sections, floated to its final spot then sunk.  It was connected underwater, pumped dry then finished out.  I thought researching about the tunnel would make me more comfortable – nope.  Hope the next time I go through there I forget everything I just wrote.

Soon enough we were in the last state – Florida.

There’s no easy route to Apalachicola, just keep going south and east, south then east, then south and east again. Do that enough times and you finally get to where you want.

We were going to need something for lunch and a google search found Nicks Seafood in Freeport, FL.

It’s near the Eglin Air Force Base and several fly boys were leaving when we arrived. There were numerous photos and dollar bills tacked to he walls, with everyone writing down their home town on the bill.  Yep, I’m back in the south.  Also, we are on the gulf!  Water everywhere.  🙂  After we ordered our lunch we wandered outside to soak up the  sea breezes, sun and humidity – love the humidity, just saying.

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Our meal was great. I got fried mullet with fries and cole slaw. I’m just about done drinking beer and opted for a coke for lunch.

Late afternoon we reached our night’s destination.  I got a little worried the previous night because all the places I normally stay had no availability.  I kept pulling up places on the internet.  Yikes!  l finally found one room (their last) at Coombs Inn with two beds.

Wow-Eric and I may need to stay here on a future visit .  When we arrived they were serving cookies in the afternoon and then wine & cheese after 6pm. We definitely indulged.

As the welcome sign states………

……….this is the Florida oyster capital and we walked to find oysters at Hole in the Wall, a local restaurant that literally is a hole in the wall, inside the space is long and skinny.

We snagged a seat at the bar and got that night’s dinner, an oyster combo platter (cheese & bacon, parmasan cheese & butter, and the last were oyster Rockefeller).

While it wasn’t the beer being brewed in town, at least it was Florida local, being brewed at Fort Walton Beach, FL.

Next door was the Oyster City Brewing Company and we tasted a few of their beers that evening.

The previous night we discovered one of the reasons the town had more travelers than normal.  LOVED the guitar in their communication notices.

Saturday night there was a brew-fest happening on St. George Island (10 miles away), which unfortunately we missed.  Maybe next year we can plan to be there for the entire weekend.

I got a kick out of all the golf carts that had been driven to the event.  There was a band set up in the street and tents servicing OCBC beer, along with inside the brewery.

Since we were so close to the Apalachicola River (1 block away) we got a few shots as the sun was setting.

Alas, we could only spend one night as both of us needed to get home.  We drove by our city lot in town (since we are one of the town’s most recent landowners), then began our last leg of the journey.  The lot doesn’t look like much now, but it is ours.  🙂

Our last stop was for a late lunch in Ocala.   Googled top restaurants in town and Hardwood Smokehouse was listed first.

It did not disappoint.  In fact, my pulled pork sandwich was more than half gone when I realized I forgot the photo – oops.  😦  As a consolation shot, I’m adding this shot seen when exiting the restaurant.

Final thoughts:

•drive/ride with a friend

•both parties need to be ‘fluid’ and open to last-minute changes

•have some general goals for daily destinations

•google dining options as you go along

•travel light

Maybe most importantly, talk/text your loved ones that are home and bring them along the journey virtually (and bring them gifts)  🙂  These are lined up according to the order of states we drove through.

I totally loved the drive through the desert states and my friend totally loved the drive through areas that had plentiful water and green plants.   It comes down to one thing……It all depends upon your personal perspective.