Candid Florida

Sour cream and onion flavored crickets. Soda that comes with a warning that you’ll poop blue after drinking it. Stacks and stacks of exotic beers and ciders floor to ceiling. And all of it jam-packed into a historic wrapper, a general store in downtown Fort Pierce. It’s weird, wild, wonderful and whimsically unexpected. Don’t miss it! They serve deli and bakery items, but you’ll have a hard time finding it behind all the beer and candy. Good luck! Open Mon-Sat 8:30-6:00 @ 100 Avenue A, Fort Pierce.

At Bethedsa-by-the-Sea, worship is not held just in hallowed halls but in the grace of the garden. Surrounding this historic Palm Beach church are colorful plantings of unusual tropical plants like the big leafed sea grape. Behind, the lively Cluett Memorial Garden invites a stroll, where the fishes – colorful koi – will follow you until you break bread with them. Find a moment of serenity here.

Tallahassee’s newest portal to the past is also its oldest. It was a delight to return to Mission San Luis and see the ancient village from a whole new perspective, thanks to a new prominent entrance on US 90 (Tennessee Ave) and a grand two story visitors’ and education center in the style of a historic Spanish mission. The approach to the plaza is now perfectly level, affording the insight that this was once the entrance to the Messer House, a historic site in it’s own right and the former visitor center. There is now a modest entrance fee, but it’s well worth the price, especially with a new museum of artifacts in place and detailed, colorful interpretive signage throughout. Do pay a visit!

A visit to the Maitland Art Center recently reaffirmed my appreciation of architecture as art. While I was smitten with some of the works displayed in the gallery, it is this historic site itself that is a wondrous work of art inside and out. Conceived in the art deco era and shaded by a canopy of ancient oaks, it is, in part, a fantasy of a Mayan temple, with hidden niches and colorful murals. But what intrigued me most was the chapel, where positive space meets negative in a very real way. These are not black and white tiles as they appear. One misstep, and your foot gets wet!

The Ghost Bride of Tolomato Cemetery?

It was a dark and stormy night…well, perhaps not so stormy, but certainly threatening for the rains that befell us earlier in the day to shower down again as my sister Sal and I swept through the streets of old St. Augustine with Maria, our personal pirate from Ghost Tours of St. Augustine.

Now I’ve meandered scary streets alone at night and in the company of storytellers before, so I always enjoy a good ghost tour, and these folks offer one of the finest. On my last visit, it was a meander along the Mantanzas, the bloody history of Spaniards, Frenchman, and pirates laid out along a line of B&Bs on the waterfront. This trek was a different story. Maria had a thing for cemeteries. Passing through the city gates, we circled our way around the Huguenot Cemetery (and being of Huguenot descent, I was disappointed that none are actually buried there), all the while hearing tales of old St. Augustine and restless spirits of all ages, including Chief Tolomato.

Arriving at the Tolomato Cemetery, Maria was in the midst of telling us about the Ghost Bride when I captured this image on my iPhone. I’ve studied it over and over. The college students with us are all accounted for in the frames before and after, as well in the shadows of this one. But that face in the middle? Perhaps a ghost. Perhaps a trick of the light (click on the image to enlarge). Certainly a souvenir to remember, as memories – and photos – provide the best reminders of our journeys.