Our First Adventure of Leisure: Florida!

For our first trip of leisure, we decided to come back to Florida to visit Marina. That last visit was too short. We thought this would be an easy, weather free trip but the weather gods of Florida had other ideas. Hurricane? Nope, that was last year...twice. Thunder storms? Wrong again. That was also last year. This year it was tornado watch. Tornados? In Florida? I guess so...

Luckily, that didn't slow us down. We landed in Orlando before the weather. We got all the way to the VRBO without any problems. It wasn't until we ventured out for dinner that we got soaked. At least dinner was good. We got supplies and slogged back home through the rain. The next day we picked up Marina and started our adventure. The thing I like most about Marina is that she's always up for anything. We went to six different cities in Florida and here's what we saw.

Winter Park: Our first trek was a train ride to Winter Park. It's a small town about 3 miles north of Orlando built on a chain of six lakes connected together by several canals. It was settled in the 1850's by a guy named John Mizell.  He had a lake named after him for his trouble.

John and Marina waiting for the train. The train ride was cool. When we got to Winter Park, we got off the train and walked around. It's a very walkable little town.

The first place we went was St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. The original church was built in 1924 to accommodate the growing number of Catholics in Winter Park. In 1969, this new church was built and the old one was demolished to build a parish hall. That makes me sad. I prefer the older churches.  This one was very modern inside.

The church was named for Margaret Mary of Alacoque. She was a French nun in the 1600's who had visions of the Jesus. Nobody believed Margaret Mary had the visions at first but they eventually came around. She was canonized in 1920.

This is Casa Feliz (Happy House), It was built by James Gamble Rogers II for Robert Bruce Barbour at a cost of $28K (and this was during the depression!) Barbour gave Rogers complete freedom in the design of the house. It was originally built on Lake Osceola and after 70 years was facing demolition.  The people of Winter Park rallied and collected $1.2M for the renovations. The house was moved to this spot and it's now a museum that is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 - 12!  Sadly, we weren't there during that time so we didn't get to go in.  You really have to plan a visit here.

Next was a scenic boat ride on three of the six lakes. The weather was beautiful and the tour was fantastic. Here's a fun factoid: The boat tour is the longest running attraction in Florida, running continuously since 1938.

There were tons of amazing houses along the water. This one caught my attention because of the story. A wealthy New Yorker wanted to build a house on the lake so they could spend winters here. The wife felt like she'd miss their lovely home in NY so the husband built an exact replica of their New York home here in Winter Park! That's some serious money. I asked John to do this and before I could even finish the question, he was shaking his head no.

Next was the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum. It's basically a museum of art with exhibits created by Louis Comfort Tiffany (of Tiffany and Co). It has the largest collection of stained glass by Tiffany. This is a chapel that was built for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The photo doesn't do it justice. It's beautiful. After moving around, the chapel was reassembled on Tiffany's estate. Sometime after Tiffany's death, the house, Laurelton Hall, caught fire. The owners of this museum had a relationship with Tiffany and rescued as many of the objects d'art as possible, this chapel being one of them.

Another example of the stained glass done by Tiffany.  It's called "The Entombment". This was displayed outside the chapel. I like the way the light comes through.

Several Tiffany lamps were on display as well. Overall, a very cool museum and admission was inexpensive. Because we were there the last hour of the day, they only charged us a dollar each! Even at full price of $6 each, it was well worth a visit.

This is the main park next to the railroad station. Winter Park is a cute little town with quaint shops and some really good restaurants. It was a great day.

Bushnell: Our next trip took us to Bushnell, Fl. Where? you say.  Exactly! It was in the middle of nowhere. We went because that's where the Florida National Cemetery is and that's where my dad's ashes are interred. 

I'd never been to see his plaque or anything so I wanted to make the effort. I'm glad that I did. The cemetery is beautiful but it's way out there. I think we drove about 4 hours for a 30 minute visit.

At least we had a good lunch at a local hole in the wall diner called The Odd "Cup"le. It's coffee themed. It was good!

Daytona Beach: Our third day there was supposed to be a washout with rain so we wanted to do something indoors. I'm sure you're wondering why we headed to the beach.  Well, John had never been to Daytona Beach and there was a cool museum there.

We drove by the world famous Daytona International Speedway.

Welcome to Daytona Beach!

The first museum was the Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art. It was dedicated to paintings done in Florida or of Florida. It was pretty cool.  The paintings on the wall going up those stairs were ones I liked the best but couldn't really get close enough to get a good photo.

This is one of two paintings called "Alligator Patrol" done by Walter Channing Addison. The sign said it was believed that this was done while the artist was living in Lakeland Fl. A lot of the paintings were similar in nature.  I really liked this one and would have loved to get a print.

Also part of the same ticket was entrance to the Museum of Arts & Science, which I incorrectly thought would be boring. I wish we'd come to this one first. It was amazing. The first gallery was The Root Family Museum. Chapman Root was the inventor of the famous Coca Cola glass bottle!

The whole gallery was Coca Cola stuff! It was awesome. They had all these old Coke machines and told how they worked and how they improved over the years to sell you refreshing ice-cold Coca Cola.

They also had a planetarium. We ducked in to see the show.

There were two exhibits about WWII.  This one is called Wings of History: World War II Aviation Art of John D. Shaw. The paintings were amazing.

This one is called "Avengers of the Philippines". It's a painting depicting one of George H. W. Bush's final missions. The sign said that Bush autographed one of the lithographs of this painting back in 2007.

Then off to the beach for a late lunch/early dinner.  We found a place called the Ocean Deck. It was "early" for dinner so we thought it would be empty. It was packed! The food was good and they had live music.

John and Marina enjoying an adult beverage.

After dinner, a quick walk along the beach. That's the Atlantic Ocean!

DeLand: Our next visit was to DeLand which is a small town not far from Orange City.  It was founded in 1876 and named for it's founder, Henry Addison DeLand. It is the home of Stetson University which is one of the state's oldest private universities. And, yes. Stetson as in the hat. 

We drove out there to see the DeLand Museum of Art. There were two buildings. This first one had an exhibit of paintings by Gabriella Gonzalez Dellosso. I liked her paintings. She painted her face on images of other famous artists in various self-portraits. She was actually there at the museum, which was cool.

The other building was on the Stetson University campus and it had an eclectic assortment of exhibits. This one is called "Drawer full of Bullets" and it's by John Mellencamp. I think it's the John Mellencamp of "Jack and Diane" fame.

The Athens Theater opened in 1922 and had both movies and live Vaudeville acts. During the depression, they partnered with R.C. Cola and you could gain entrance with 6 RC Cola bottle caps. By the 1990's, the theater fell into disrepair and, eventually closed. It was restored using public donations and re-opened in 2009. Now it has live shows performed by the Athens Theater Company. I would love to see a show there.

This is the Stetson Mansion, home of John B. Stetson. It was built in 1886 as a winter retreat and was one of the largest homes in the Gilded Age. It's 10K square feet and sits on two acres of land but is in a neighborhood of "regular" homes. You can tour this house for $30 a person. We settled for a photo.

Downtown DeLand.

John and Marina walking to lunch. It turned out to be a great day.

St. Augustine: Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the United States. This time Gema and Lisa were able to join us. I was super excited because I've always wanted to go to St. Augustine.

It was a chilly day! We took the Hop On/Hop Off train tour, which is a great way to see any city. They point out all the highlights and give you some history while you make notes about what you want to go back and see.  Marina, Gema and Lisa waiting for the tour to start. There were so many things to see. Here are just a few of them.

These are the Old City Gates. Built in 1808, they were used to protect the city of St. Augustine.

John, Lisa, Marina and Gema shivering by Castillo de San Marcos.

Castillo de San Marcos is a fort that was started in 1672 after the earlier wooden fort built in 1668 was destroyed by an English Privateer. This fort is made of coquina stones and was completed in 1695. This fort was a lot sturdier than the previous versions and was never breached or taken when under attack.

This building was originally Hotel Ponce de Leon. It was built by Henry Flagler (of Standard Oil fame) as a winter resort in 1888. It was the first hotel to be wired for electricity. The dining room had stained glass window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany (of Tiffany & Co). It was very posh and very expensive! It is now part of Flagler College. There’s a whole bit of history with this city and Henry Flagler.

This is the Oldest House also known as the Gonzalez-Alvarez House. It was built in the 1700's. It opened as a museum in 1893! It’s been a museum for over 100 years! You can tour the house and next time I visit, I will.

Our last stop of the day was Mission of Nombre de Dios. We kind of snuck in just before they closed. It's a Catholic mission founded in 1565. On the mission site is this beautiful little shrine called Our Lady de la leche. The original shrine was built in 1609. It was rebuilt in 1875 after the original was destroyed by the British. This latest building was rebuilt in 1914. The statue inside is of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding Jesus. The tour guide said that couples that were trying to conceive would come here and say a novena or if the woman was pregnant, she would come here and say a novena for a healthy baby.

This is the great cross. It's 208 feet tall and made of stainless steel. It marks the first place that the Spanish settlers said mass when they landed here in the 1500's. It's really cool and the photo doesn't do it justice.

There was so much to see here that this barely scratches the surface. The trolley tour was great because it gave a general overview of the city and it's amazing history. Thanks to Lisa and Gema for going with us, and thanks to Marina for treating us.

Ponce Inlet: This was our last day here and we wanted to do something fun.  Lisa mentioned this lighthouse when we were in St. Augustine, so I looked it up and it was actually open.  I looked at several other museums but it was a Monday and apparently museums are closed on Mondays. Except this one.  

This is the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. This lighthouse was first lit in 1897. It required three lighthouse keepers (and their families) to run the lighthouse fulltime. The museum is effectively all the buildings with varying exhibits in each one.

There were three lighthouse keepers onsite. The Principal lighthouse keeper and then the first and second assistant. All three men lived here (in separate houses) with their families. The above house is the second assistant's house.

This is the Principal lighthouse keeper's house. Since he was the boss, he had the bigger house. In the corner where that lady is sitting, part of the porch was converted into a small office and a bathroom in 1921. Until then, there was a privy away from the houses. And, of course, the classic chamber pot.

The houses were arranged in kind of a square with the lighthouse being on the fourth side. The lighthouse is 175 feet tall, 17 stories high and 217 steps. It's the tallest lighthouse in Florida and the second tallest in the US. Ponce Inlet was originally called Mosquito Inlet. But when they started building the town, the real estate developers were having a hard time selling houses so it was renamed.

So you can go in and climb the steps all the way to the top. Marina went to the first platform and then went back down. Once we saw her safely down all the stairs, we decided to go all the way up. As you climb the stairs, they have plaques that give you an idea of a day in the life. The men had to carry kerosine up all 217 steps. Sometimes, if the men were sick, the wives would fill in for them! 

There was one story about half way up that told of the lighthouse keeper having a heart attack on the way up and dying on the platform. When the light didn't go on in time, one of the assistants got suspicious and went to check. When he found his boss, the assistant had to carry him all the way down. We made it to the top and what a view!

From the top, you can see all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1939, the lighthouse and the keepers became part of the Coast Guard. In 1970, the lighthouse was abandoned by the Coast Guard when they built another lighthouse on the other side of the island. In 1982, it was reactivated because some of the high rise condos were blocking the other lighthouse. This lighthouse is one of eleven in the US that are designated as National Landmarks.

Well, that was our trip. We had so much fun hanging out with Marina. It was great to see everyone. It was a great first adventure and we look forward to many more!