Florida Everglades

I love the Florida Everglades!  Today was our last day in the park, but we had a great visit and saw a lot of awesome stuff.  I expected to see a swamp, with mossy trees here and there, but it was more like a giant grassy field that was in a foot of water.  I was struck by the expanse of it.

On our first afternoon we did a short walk called Anhinga Trail, named after the indigenous Anhinga bird.  Anyway, we saw this guy - not a bird - about 20 yards into the walk.

That was our first introduction to wild alligators (we've since over a hundred of em)... we also saw a bunch of Anhingas, a couple of green herons, some Florida gar before it started to get dark.  On the way out we saw a big black snake on the path.  Here's a green heron we saw.

The next morning we heading deeper into the park and drove down a washed out unmarked road and ended up at Sisal Pond.  Right away we saw this wood stork (endangered) in a tree... he didn't seem to mind the jeep driving by.

After a short walk we saw a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills fly in - they're pinkish and have spoon shaped beaks.  Anna's been yappin about seeing Spoonbills for a couple of years now so we were pretty excited when they flew in.

Next came the coolest thing we saw all day... we showed up at Mahogany Hammock and there was a sign showing a Barred Owl, describing how they live in the Mahogany trees and if you're really lucky you'll see one.  Well, Anna spotted this one... we watched it for 20 minutes or more, I lost track.  It was very sleepy... yawned a couple of times, looked all around, stretched, and made 4 calls that were promptly answered by it's buddy.  It was very cool.

We stopped at Shark Alley and did a 15 mile loop on some rented bikes... it was fantastic.  Here's Anna on the ride.  Look at her go.

The ride started off cloudy, but once the sun came out these guys came out too.  He was pretty darn big.  Dozens of em came out to catch some rays.

They didn't seem to mind us walking around and riding by them.

I don't know what this guy is but I liked his yellow feet and his intense focus.

Check out this yellow bellied water snake... I've seen plenty of snakes laid out on something warm catching some sun, but never have I seen one suspended about 8 inches up in the grass.  We saw two of them and they both took off before we got too close.

On the drive out of the everglades we saw dozens and dozens of gators, blue herons, white herons, and anhingas just hanging out alongside the road.  If you get the opportunity to check out the everglades, definitely do it!

Miami or Bust (quite literally)

On Tuesday morning we left Georgia and headed down toward Miami.  Stopped in St. Augustine for a few hours that afternoon... it's apparently the oldest continuously occupied European-settled city in the US.  There was this beautiful fort, Castillo de San Marcos, which was built around 1672 after the Brits plundered the previous and pathetic Spanish fort.  It is now the oldest fort in the country.  Here's Anna standing inside the walls right before sunset... notice the stylish new look, courtesy Salon de Tom.

After St. Augustine, we forged onward but ran out of steam in Titusville, right near Cape Canaveral.  I was hoping they'd shoot off a rocket or something really cool, but it didn't happen.  I'd noticed the Jeep wasn't running so well.

Arrived in Miami around 1pm the following day... and let me say that driving in Miami is terrible.  I'd rank Miami drivers right up there with Jersey.  And it didn't help that the Jeep was running very hot - the oil pressure was low, and it varied widely with rpm.  Then we hit the traffic.  So I was a little stressed out from the traffic and from the day-long uneasy feeling that we might explode at any moment.

But we got there, and after a great lunch at a Cuban cafe, we hit South Beach to check out the Art-Deco architecture.  I didn't think Anna would like Miami, but she was in heaven exploring all the buildings.  And seeing the passed out drunk guy with a pet rabbit wearing a Christmas collar.

We spent most of the day in Miami so we figured we'd gotten the feel for the place... and since we didn't feel like getting wasted or doing any E, we took off for Everglades National Park.  Spent the night in Florida City, and the next morning I brought the poor Jeep to Vicar Auto to have it looked at.  Turns out the radiator was clogged, thus causing the extra-hot, low-pressure oil condition.  They were great... they unplugged it, flushed the system, and gave me some fresh 10w-40.

After lunch at a Mexican cafe we headed to the park, stopping along the way at a fruit stand called "Robert is here" (we never found Robert).  For some reason, they had a petting-zoo-ish-like facility out back.  I bought some delicious fresh squeezed orange juice (they're in season!), and Anna of course bought some seeds to feed the macaws, parrots and cockatiels.  She was this guy's new best friend.

I was off feeding some scraps to a couple of unruly goats when I heard some very strange guttural grunting coming from behind a shed to my right.  I figured it was a snoring goat or a lost pug.  It wasn't.  When I turned the corner, this is what I found... even the goat was shocked...

Sorry kids.  As you get older you'll learn that there are some things you just can't un-see.  And that lesson brings us to a good breaking point.  Stay tuned for the Everglades!

North Carolina to Georgia

Ashville is one of those towns that people visit on vacation, and after 2 months they move there and figure out how to support themselves later. A community of cool kids that are super friendly. We dug it. We spent a few nights here, mostly because we loved the town, but also because we were travelling hard for the previous week.


A brief discussion of the joys of food in Ashville... Ashville has a arts district in some industrial buildings by the river, which were ridiculously difficult to find. But it was worth it: some of the best BBQ of the trip at 12 Bones BBQ! Also amazing: White Duck Taco, which had Thai tacos, Fish Tacos, Duck Tacos, and all other sorts of weird tacos by a talented San Francisco chef. 

Also worth mentioning: Ashville is the beer capital of the east coast. Despite our best efforts, we probably only sampled 2% of the beer varieties they make there. And guess who's now setting up shop there?... that's right, Chico's own Sierra Nevada Brewery!

So this is kind of embarrassing, because this is the SECOND picture on the blog of me stuffing my face, but it is an accurate portrayal of our trip thus far so I will allow it. The three baskets of tacos in front of me were from White Duck Taco. All good, and made better because we could eat outside. 

We took a day trip BACK to Tennessee (this museum wasn't open a few days before) to go look for fossils since I (Anna) am a bit of a dinosaur geek. The town of Gray Tennessee was building a highway about 10 years ago, and came across the jawbone of a tapir, which hasn't lived in the United States for some 4 million years. They had come upon a sinkhole which contained millions of years of fossils. Some weird animals that lived back then in Tennessee: rhinos, camels, tapirs, giant short-faced bears, pandas, sabre-toothed tigers (that's right), and giant sloths. 

All of the animals were terrifyingly gigantic. How'd you like to see one of these buggers in the woods?  It's a short-faced bear, of the genus: bearisholyshittacus. Image stolen from wikipedia.

Here is a picture of the dig site that looked more like a hole in just about anybody's backyard:

After more than a couple of days of not knowing what day it was, we realized that Thanksgiving was rapidly approaching... AND we wanted to visit Tom's longtime friend Dan Brady in Georgia. So after some polite posturing, we crashed the Brady/Finnegan Thanksgiving! We had a great time and ate way too much. It was so much fun for me to get to know Dan and Micaela better, and to meet the Finnegan family.

This is a picture of Dan. He let us stay in the Brady mountain cabin, and whipped us up a homemade dinner. Then he pulled out some mix tapes from the 90's and we had some great memories from a few years back. Can't touch this.

There may have also been some moonshine sampling. We bought it off some guy we met on the side of the road (wink wink). It was the tastiest turpentine I've ever had!

The following night was spent at Dan and Mic's full-time house, in their newly built guest suite which felt more like a hip flat than part of a family house.  

After an amazing breakfast and some soccer with the Brady kids, we headed over to Charleston, South Carolina. SO worth a visit: amazing gardens, amazing homes. We sampled local bourbons at The Belmont and popped into Jestine's for some incredible soul food. We are always happy with great architecture and food! A highlight: we ran into Nat, a mansion owner, smoking a big fat cigar outside of his castle... Tom chatted him up and he took us in for a tour of his house! The Southerners are incredibly hospitable.

We had more of the same in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah was one of the first planned cities in the United States... They interspersed the most amazing little gardens with the neighborhoods, so all the old homes were a short walk of the most charming public spaces. I really can't say enough about these towns: they are a couple of the prettiest places I have ever visited.

We popped into a lower level antiques shop in Savannah, browsing (not really) $18,000 bureaus from the early 1800s. The owner mentioned the upper floors of the "shop", which (since we went in the basement's side entrance) we didn't realize was actually a crumbling historic mansion. We got to spend an hour poking around this lovely 1830s home. A previous owner - some poor (but not really I guess) old lady - had an active roof leak, abundant mold, peeling lead paint, and crumbling plaster crown moldings. I thought it was romantic.

The inside:

The outside:

Today we left Savannah are are on our way down to Southern Florida. Next stop: Miami and the Everglades National Park!

Pennsylvania to North Carolina, via Kentucky

Last post we were in Southwestern PA... we had a big driving day (for us anyway) and ended up travelling through West Virginia to Lexington Kentucky.  We took secondary roads because we tend to see more that way - but it took a lot more time since we were driving through the mountains, and there was a lot of storm damage.  The roads were clear but there were trees down every 10-20 feet, many hanging on power lines that looked like they'd snap at any moment.

Once we got into the mountains of West Virginia, I was shocked at how impoverished it seemed.  People were living in shacks, and by shacks I mean something most folks wouldn't store a lawnmower in.  But I was impressed at how resilient these people must be.  Anna used the word "scrappy".  They were living out in the middle of nowhere, in the cold, seemingly dirt poor, but they still managed to get along.

Once we got to Kentucky we hit a Wal-Mart to get some needed supplies.  I joked on Facebook that I was going to a Kentucky Wal-Mart - playing on a little back-woods stereotype I guess.  For reasons I won't bore you with I don't like to shop at Walmart stores, but you know what?  This was by far THE nicest Walmart I've ever been too.  I felt kindof bad making a joke about it.

Anna grew up with horses so we took a drive up to the 1200 acre Kentucky Horse Park and saw champion horses from many of the famous races.  Many of the horses were 20+ years old but they looked young and spry.  Some were friendly, and others - like the one below - not so much.  I don't know much about horses, but "ears back" isn't good right?

Oh I see, he just wanted some hay...  Anna was braver than me.  Those guys have big teeth.

Once we got sick of all the horses we headed off to visit the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill.  The Shakers had a pretty good thing going, except for the whole seperation of males and females thing.  But imagine your options back in the 1800's if you didn't have any kind of wealth... you could work yourself to the bone and not get very far, or you could go live at one of these beautiful Shaker villages and have a reasonably nice life.  And the site was gorgeous - looked like a rich Massachusetts town.

They had dorms, like the one behind me, where the men lived on one side and the women on the other.  Separate entry doors, staircases, and hallways for each sex so as to limit possibility of "temptation".  Everybody shared in the labor, so nobody got stuck doing everything.

We decided to spend the night in Bardstown, a quaint little village that also happens to be a hot spot for Kentucky bourbon - so we were sure to sample the local offerings.  Everybody we spoke to was warm and friendly and Kentucky turned out to be a pretty great place.

(Anna taking over here) The next morning we headed off to Mammoth Caves National Park. It is famous for its sheer size mostly: the largest tunnels were like subway tunnels, but 10 times as large, that went for miles. Underneath this layer are 4 other layers of caves, each getting smaller and narrower. The entire system is about 400 miles, but they are still exploring and are about to announce that they are up to 500 miles. It has a pretty haunting beauty. No fancy stalagtite displays in much of it, just the raw feeling of entering deep into the earth.

I stole a picture off the internet, because our pictures showed darkness and dust.

After the caves and a quick drive down the interstate, we checked into a dumpy hotel in Nashville, TN! First order of business: find BBQ. We located a place called Jack's across the street that was a no frills kind of place, that served large meat-dominated dinners for about $12. Absolutely amazing... lord the food is good down here! Please note that the meal below was NOT devoured in one sitting... it served as a substantial lunch the following day as well. I did drink all that sweet tea though. It was delicious!

BBQ was followed by (a nap, then) a grand time in Nashville! I had heard that it had a huge music scene, but I was unprepared. Choice of maybe 30-40 bars, each with live music and no cover charges? SO much fun! 

Finally yesterday we drove from Nashville to Ashville (North Carolina). Happily, a friend from Massachusetts, Leigh, was visiting her folks just a short way from our route. We had a very delightful visit, made even extra special as Mrs. Maroney had just made a pumpkin pie.  From scratch.  As in she started out with an actual gourd. It was amazing. But food aside (I am easily distracted) we were very happy to stop and see some friendly faces. 

Western PA

Yuengling, it's what's for dinner...

We were in PA so we needed some local fare.  Plus my nerves were shot after being boxed in at night on the interstate by 20 or so cherry picker trucks.  They drive like lunatics.

In the morning we set off for our tour of Kentuck Knob.  We were the only two people on the tour so it was much more in depth than it normally could have been.  Kentuck Knob was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Hagan family (they made ice cream) but it is now owned by Lord Palumbo who purchased the property in the mid-eighties.  Mister Palumbo is apparently quite rich.

Kentuck Knob (or 'Kentucky Knoll' if you aren't from Kentucky) is the highest point around, and the house was built into the knob.  The Hagans wanted the house built on top of the knob but Wright refused, saying that it would deter from his plan.  The Hagans lost that argument, and I honestly think the house is better for it.  In the following photo I'm standing on the knob.  The flat stone covered area in front is the car port.  And Jay, that is a copper roof.

Looking at the carport you can see that the knob is higher than the house.  Because of this, you get a very safe and protected feeling when you approach the home.

Also notice that the pillars and chimney are triangles.  There are only 2 right angles in this house - they are in the guest shower.

To the left is a shot of the back of the house that faces the woods.

I love this deck and the wall of glass.

If you don't know anything about Frank Lloyd Wright, just remember these two things:  1. he was brilliant, and 2. he had an inflated sense of self importance.  

If you were extra special, didn't move any of his custom designed furniture, didn't do anything to mess up the ridiculously overbudget house you were lucky to have had him design for you in the first place, AND you submitted to an inspection by one of his minions that confirmed the previous conditions... you could have this extra super special plaque put on your house.  I still like it.

A bonus of the tour was that the property houses Lord Palumbo's art collection.  He's got a sculpture garden outside and lots of interesting things inside... so in addition to touring an amazing house we got to see - among other things - a real dinosaur egg, a sabre toothed tiger's femur, and a triceratops vertebrae.  Who the hell has this stuff?!?  

Anna is standing by the 'Red Army' sculpture...

I almost don't want to tell my dad this, but we got to see Frank's original set of plans for this house.  Unfortunately, I couldn't photograph them.

We spent the night at Mt. Canaan Resort in Davis WV.  I couldn't believe the amount of tree damage there was on the drive in, and when got there we found 50 or so cherry picker trucks.  The workers were hold up at the resort for the night.  I spoke to one of the crewmen and he said they were called in from out of state and had been working 16 hour days since the storm hit.  $$$.

Beer for the evening was Morgantown Brewing Co., Coal City Stout.  Delicious!

Wharton Esherick's Handmade House

Next stop on our list was the Wharton Esherick house in Paoli Pennsylvania.  In many ways Esherick impressed me even more than Philip Johnson... Esherick had almost no money so he hand-built his house and everything in it, whereas Johnson had tens of millions of dollars at his disposal (from inherited Alcoa stock) to get his designs built.

There wasn't a tour going the day we were driving through but Laura at the museum told us to stop by and she'd take us around.  It was a very cool private tour.  There's not a straight line in the place... and if you've ever built anything you'll know that's actually pretty hard to do.

I love the above shot... the curved stone gable and the bent wood walls with the colored windows are fantastic.  Almost looks like a toy house.  Those two big doors go into his studio.

That's his woodshed... lots of amazing material in there that he didn't quite have enough time to use.

The posts on the above deck aren't even straight, and the deck itself is off the kitchen which sports amazing handmade cabinets, wood counter tops and a handmade copper sink.  I wish I could have taken a shot of the kitchen floor - a sculpted mosaic made from scrap walnut and apple wood.

I love the crazy little details... like the blue window.  Why have it any old dull color when it could be blue??  And I don't know what this little statue is supposed to be but for some reason I like it...

We couldn't take pictures inside but we could touch and handle anything made of wood.  His work is incredible... it's all signed and dated, and just about everything is simply finished with linseed oil.  Everything is hand sculpted, from tables to chairs to cutting boards to built-in furniture and railings.  He  even built a mortise and tenoned spiral staircase where the treads fit into an oak trunk.  Crazy stuff.

Check out the museum website here:
http://www.whartonesherickmuseum.org/studio.html

We're in Donegal PA for the night and it's damned cold here.  In the morning we're heading off to see Kentuck Knob, another Frank Lloyd Wright design also known as the Hagan House.  Can't wait!

People that Live in Glass Houses...

After the afternoon taco truck, we continued west to Stamford and stayed at a great hotel called Hotel Zero Degrees.  It was right around the corner from a string of great bars and restaurants.  We hit a tappas place called Barcelona Wine Bar and had a fabulous meal along with a great bottle of Rioja... they have 1/2 price bottles every Sunday!

The next morning we headed into New Canaan for a tour of the Philip Johnson Glass House.  This guy was more than a little eccentric, but brilliant - the house was striking.  If you like architecture it's definitely worth a trip.

In the above shot the Glass House is obviously on the right, but the brick structure is it's companion building that originally served as a guest house and contains all of the mechanicals.

The house felt suprisingly comfortable on the inside.  I actually forgot I was in a fishbowl.  The outside is really brought inside this house.

Just beyond the house is a low granite rail, hopefully keeping you from falling off a 30 foot ledge to your death.  And that awesome pool is shaped like a martini glass.

Loved this bathroom.  My photo skills stink but the tile and the curved door really made it incredible.  It's the only floor to ceiling structure in the house.

This is table is a giant stone slab set on a welded metal frame.  

The seating was designed for Philip by his buddy and fellow architect Mies van der Rohe.  Behind that lady with the blue pants is a fireplace built into the cylinder that contains the bathroom.