All the rain cancels canoeing outing

For those that know me you probably realize the area I live in has been hit with massive amounts of rain this week. So far the estimates for my area are nearly 20 inches with some areas in the county nearing 30 inches in just under a weeks time.

We have been very lucky in that we haven't experienced any REAL flooding. Our backyard is about 1/2 underwater with some being up to about a foot deep. Our yard slopes off to the back left and so that is the worst area of course. It's not near the house and unless we have days and days of more solid rain I'm not concerned. The front yard is safe as well. The yard slopes down toward the road and forms a little ditch. It's a pain to mow the grass but keeps us dry. Many in the county are nowhere near as lucky and have water standing in their homes. Along I-95 on my way into work there are cow pastures that are solid water as far as you can see. Allegedly parts of Daytona International Speedway are underwater as well though of course they won't let anybody in to officially see and they are denying problems.



Well I'll thank the heavens the worst so far for us is we have had to cancel a canoeing outing this weekend. We were going to go with a couple of friends to Cracker Creek Canoeing on Spruce Creek. Chris and I went a couple weeks ago and walked around and had a good time. The photo to the left is Eganulti (a Native American word for "house by the water") built in 1907 by James Gamble of Proctor and Gamble fame. This house, a citrus packing house, and a "Snow White Cottage" are all on property. There are also walking trails that we didn't take since it was about 90 degrees when we were there. While the canoeing of course costs it was free to walk around the grounds. The buildings were closed and there are paid tours you can take. Despite not going in any buildings it was still a fun hour or so. Now it's just a matter of rescheduling!

Central Florida Zoo

I recently had a chance to go to the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford . I hadn't been there in several years and to be honest I probably won't be returning for several more.

Zoos are usually a lot of fun and you get to see animals you'd never see in real life. While there are some of these type animals there overall the zoo is lacking. I suppose the big draw are the pair of asian elephants. On the day I was there there was a "Behind the scenes encounter with the elephants". Of course this would have cost an extra $9.50. We passed. On display also were a cheetah, a couple of kangaroos, a pair of clouded leopards, and your normal basic assortment of alligators, spider monkeys, various birds, and a herpetarium. There is also the obligatory nature walk and petting zoo for kids.

My biggest problem is the zoo seems very very dated. Zoos have evolved try to give the animals larger more natural spaces. The well being of the animal is a prime concern. This is not to say that the CFZ does not care for it's animals. However the phrase "like a caged animal" seems pretty apppropriate here. The zoo appears to have major space issues with little room to expand. It also seems to be on the flight path for the Sanford airport as we heard several large planes going by.

The zoo is also not overburdened by food and souvenir shops. I suppose this can be considered a blessing in some ways especially if you have just been to Disney or Universal Studios but if the day is hot it's nice to not have to walk half way around the park to get a soda or bottle of water. The lone gift shop we noticed is woefully inadequate in it's offerings. Basic items such as postcards (a staple of any tourist location) and pins (has anyone from the zoo been to other parks and seen the popularity of pins?) are missing. The clothing assortment was poor and much of the merchandise looked like it had been there for quite a while. The zoo is definitely missing out here.

We had a buy one get one coupon for admission. This is certainly the way to go here though the gate fee is reasonable. We spent about 2-3 hours and had thouroughly covered everything despite an on again off again rain. If you can find a coupon of some kind it's not too bad. If you have time however you can find many better zoos in Florida. Zoo information can be found at their website http://www.centralfloridazoo.org/

Disney Hollywood Studios Passholder Muppet Event

On Sunday, March 7 Disney's Hollywood Studios held a special event for a limited number of annual passholders. This event dealt with the Muppets. Since there is a muppet attraction at the park this made perfect sense.

The special guest speaker for the event was Dave Goelz. While not a household name his characters are beloved by millions. He is better known as the voice of Gonzo, Dr. Bunson Honeydew and many more. Goelz is a puppet designer and performer who has been nominated for multiple emmy awards winning in 1978 for Outstanding Comedy, Variety, or Music series. He has worked with The Jim Henson Company since the early 1970's. You may read more about him here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0324397/ or here http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Dave_Goelz

What was interesting about this talk was the brief history of Jim Henson and the muppets that was given. Henson started out with brief appearances on shows such as The Tonight Show, The Today Show and others starting the mid 1950's. He helped produce brief ads with his characters for use during the mandatory station identification breaks. We also got to see how many of the gags used on The Muppet Show in the 1970's were really older skits that had been used many times. Near the end as the q&a session started Goelz brought out his buddy Gonzo to help answer questions. The questions ranged from adults asking about what it was like to work with Jim Henson--Goelz had nothing but positives and seemed to truely still miss him to children asking Gonzo what he is--I guess Gonzo is just well Gonzo. When asked about future projects Goelz was somewhat evasive but did say there are many things in the works including a possible Halloween special.

As a special bonus at the end we were all allowed to have our picture taken with Mr. Goelz and Gonzo. Mr. Goelz was polite to everyone, talked to each group and was sure to thank us for coming. He seemed to be appreciative that we loved his work. I'm hoping Disney offers more events like this in the future.

Turnbull Palace Foundation

Here's a quick, fun stop in downtown New Smyrna Beaach. Located near the river are the foundation remains of the Turnbull Palace. The giant cocquinqa structure was begun in 1770 but was never finished as the New Smyrna colony disintigrated in 1777. The foundation was used for several structures several of which were destroyed by indians and now is a tourist spot. Located in downtown New Smyrna Beach, FL the grounds are free and can take anywhere from maybe 5 minutes to half an hour. Take U.S. 1 south to Canal Street and turn left. Take Canal to Riverside and turn left and you will drive by the park. Not worth a special trip but well worth seeing if you are in the area.

In case you are wondering the cute one in the photo at the top is my dog Finley. He's not even a year yet and weighs 73 pounds.

In Honored Glory-Arlington Cemetery

There are few places on the earth as moving as Arlington National Cemetery. I was lucky enough to visit there last March and hope to return again soon. There's just too much to do in a day. That being said a good place to start learning about the cemetery is Philip Bigler's wonderful little book In Honored Glory Arlington National Cemetery The Final Post.

In a quickly read 151 pages Bigler gives us a brief overview of Arlington. He touches on its history. For instance how many average Americans know Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee? The history of how this wonderful land became a cemetery is covered as are many of the major burial locations. From the space shuttle memorials to the Kennedy brothers, to the failed Iran hostage rescue, to the tomb of the unknowns (from which the book takes its title), to the current war on terror Bigler quickly covers it. The book contains many b/w photos, a listing of famous burials and locations, a trascription of the John F. Kennedy gravesite inscription, eligibility requirements, a listing of headstone symbols, a bibliography, and index.

While I give this book a very high recommendation I must admit it left me wanting more. The book however is only meant as an overview or introduction and in that regard it succeeds on all levels.

New Smyrna Beach Sugar Mill

Located just off Highway 44 in New Smyrna Beach are the remains of the Cruger-dePeyester Sugar Mill. The remains of the mill date to the 1830's. What is left is mostly some coquina walls and a couple small pieces of machinery the rest having been carted off either to the Dunlawton Sugar Mill just north in Port Orange or taken away by those dealing in scrap metal. There are some interpretive signs but no literature for the visitor to take with them. According to one of the signs during the 1890's a story in the Atlantic Monthly hypothesized that these were the remains of a chapel. Some even suggested that Christopher Columbus had been in the area. Of course these were just romantic dreams.

According to the signs sugar cane was made in the following fashion: 1) A steam powered cane crusher extracted juice 2) The juice was then heated until it thickened and then ladeled into cooling troughs 3) The crystalized sugar was then packed in barrels to dry in a storage room called the purgery. 4) Once dry it was ready for sale.

Also on property is a short and rather disapointing nature trail. Plan on the walk taking about 5 minutes at most and don't get your hopes up for seeing anything too interesting. The property also has some picnic tables and facilities. It would be a nice area to have a picnic lunch. Overall if you stop to see the ruins plan on spending no more than half an hour. The park is free and closes at dusk.

Henry A. Deland House

My dad collects postcards of Deland, Florida. So I figured there had to be some kind of book out there on the subject. Being in the book industry I checked books in print and came up with the title Around Deland A Postcard History. The problem was the book is a local publisher and was not distributed by any major wholesalers. I tried the phone number given--disconnected. Tried Google for the publisher and came up blank. Ebay, Amazon, Powells, Advanced Book Exchange, half.com, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Borders--NOTHING.

My last effort was Googling the book title. It came up on the website for the West Volusia Historical Society. Why didn't I think of that? Deland is in West Volusia--just too easy I guess. The book was listed on their website for sale. $20 plus shipping OR I could take a quick trip to the societys gift shop and pick it up. That's what we decided to do.

The gift shop is located inside the Henry A. Deland House located just off highway 92 in downtown Deland. We managed to get the last copy they had. Hopefully dad will like it.

The Deland House was originally built in 1886 by George Hamlin the first attorney in Deland. In 1893 the house was purchased by John B. Stetson to be used for faculty housing at Stetson University. In 1903 the house was sold to Charles Farriss an instructor at Stetson. Farriss made considerable changes including adding a second floor, moving the stairs, adding a porch, and adding stained and leaded glass throughout. In 1988 the house was purchased by Robert and Hawtense Conrad and donated to the city. Over the next two years renovations were made to bring the house back to the style of when Charles Farriss lived there.

The house is available for tours Tuesday-Saturday from noon until 4:00pm with the last tour starting around 3:00-3:15. The charge is $5. Also located on site is the Robert M. Conrad Research and Educational Center which houses the Society's library, exhibit space, meeting room, and preservation areas for photos and newspapers.

Outside is the Lue Gim Gong Memorial. Gong was born in 1860 in Canton, China and moved to the U.S. in 1872. In 1886 he moved to Deland, FL. Gong was known as "The Citrus Wizard". Gong earned fame for a cross pollination of "Hart's Late" and "Mediterranean Sweet" producing a new orange called the "Lue Gim Gong". The orange ripens in early fall and is more cold resistant than others. It won a Silver Wilder Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Gong also worked with grapefruit, roses, and other plant life. He passed away in 1925 and was buried in Oakdale Cemetery.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=gong&GSfn=lue&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=8461255&

http://www.delandhouse.com/

Sardis Church Cemetery

Tonight I was working my listings at http://www.findagrave.com/ . The cemetery I was working on was Sardis Cemetery in Jefferson County, Florida http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=30672293&CRid=2264890& This is a cemetery that I came across with my wife when we went to Tallahassee to see a Florida State football game--GO NOLES. We were staying at a KOA outside of town and on the way we passed a small church and the cemetery was behind it.

Saturday morning before going in to town for the game we stopped to have a look around. Turns out the cemetery wasn't too big so my wife and I each took a camera and photographed the whole thing. It was already getting hot but I had a good time. There were large numbers of certain surnames including Armistead, Cooksey, Hatchett, McClellan and others. The cemetery included everything from veterans to infants to those almost 100 years old. Truely a local church cemetery.

I was so wrapped up in the cemetery portion I never did get a photo of the church. We're going to another game later this year and staying at the KOA again so I'll stop by and get a few photos of the church.

So far I haven't quite listed half of the photos I took so please check back as I will be adding more names and photos.