#3 Arriving in Florida

Leaving Atlanta in our rearview mirrors, we headed south again and drove for a day with on-again, off-again rain. We planned the trip to Florida so that we did not have to drive many miles each day. In fact, the first day was 330 miles, and the others have been about 200 miles each.

Thinking about the weather, we realized that Chicago, Nashville, and Atlanta all had some bad weather arrive just as we left. Chicago had some frigid weather and a snowstorm arrive, Nashville had heavy rains, and possible tornadoes (we heard sirens while in town), and Atlanta had severe storms and tornadoes nearby in Alabama. We considered ourselves lucky that the most we had to contend with on the road was some moderate rain.

After spending a night in Ashburn, Ga., we headed south again and pretty soon crossed the border and stopped at the Florida Welcome Center to get some a free cup of OJ and travel guides.

It continued cloudy most of the day, but warm enough. When we arrived at our campground, Wandering Oaks, in Ocala, the late afternoon sky was only partly cloudy, but the best part was the next several days’ forecast - highs of 80 and lows around 55. We stayed here an extra day and visited with our friend, Sharie, and her dad, Joe. It's always great to meet a friend from home while on the road. Too bad Sharie's hub wasn't there too!

What a difference from what we left behind in Chi Town! After a relatively short 160 mile drive we arrived at Lake Manatee State Park outside of Bradenton, Fl. We never realized how many familiar cities are nearby until we started looking closely at the map. These included Sarasota, Bradenton, Tampa, St. Petersburg and others.

We started out sightseeing with a 15 mile drive along the oceanfront. There are many beaches, but also a continuous string of upscale resorts. 

Probably everyone has seen the iconic WW II photo depicted by this 25 foot statue we saw along our route:

The lady who claims to be the kissee, Edith Shayne, died in 2010. A married woman at the time, of the photo, she later said: 

"You can imagine how people felt. They were just elated," Shain said in a 2005 interview with The Times. "Someone grabbed me and kissed me, and I let him because he fought for his country. I closed my eyes when I kissed him. I never saw him." (NY Times)

In Sarasota, we spent a few hours at the Marie Shelby Botannical Garden. The Gardens are on the former 10 acre ocean front estate of the Shelby’s, who lived in Sarasota during the first half of the last century and left their property to the State of Florida. Claiming the largest variety of orchids in any collection in the world, the garden had not only an impressive collection of flowering plants and but also many interesting trees.

Shingle plant's leaves tightly adhere to the post.

Have you ever heard of Yoder’s? They are an Amish restaurant in Lancanster, Pennsylvania. We were pleasantly surprised to find one in Sarasota, but were not surprised to find that the food they served was every bit the equal to their sister restaurant. We enjoyed dinner quite a bit and bought some veggies at their market.

Hmmmm........wonder what other goodies are waiting for us down the road.......