Travels With Sunshine: Findiing Old Florida

One of the things that I have been nostalgic for is the Florida I remember from years past – "Old" Florida.  Old Florida had character, personality and charisma.  Old Florida was not pasturized, homogonized and filled with clone restaurants, carbon copy malls with twinned stores, or plain vanilla people.  Sis and I have been talking about this and have decided that we want to go in search of Old Florida to see if any vestiges of it still exist in this oh so modern and advanced place we live in now.

As a first step in that process, Saturday we set off for Homosassa Springs.  We both fondly remember trips to this park from our childhood as calm, wonderfilled journeys into the native ‘wildlife’.  For a wonder – it is still open and has not been converted to an amusement park, complete with overpriced admissions, wild rides, and overcrowded parking lots.  We didn’t know what we’d find, but hope springs eternal…

My expectations soared as we came up next to this fellow en route to the Springs:

Yes!  Take one glance at this "motorcycle" and you KNOW = there are still people of character alive in Central Florida!  Not only PEOPLE of character….but in Spring Hill look what we found sitting conspicuously in a barber shop parking lot:

Just a very short bit up the road…we found his Daddy, cleverly disguised as a Mechanic’s garage…

And so our spirits soared even higiher – how could Homosassa Springs NOT be everything we remembered…everything we hoped for when there were still such wonderful splashes of originality alive in the world?  (Of course, we had to drive nearly 2 hours away from the "big City" to find it….but find it we did!)

Still grinning and celebrating our ‘luck’, we pulled into the parking lot at Homosassa Springs:

The marquee said come see the Managees…and there was a wonderful Manatee mural on the outside wall.  Sis went up to ‘pet’ the Manatees!  The parking lot and building still looked delightfully old and a little run down.  No fancy flashing signage.  No scrolling neon signs….

In we went to find a dusty gift shop, and a delightfully inefficient system for buying tickets.  Not only that, but tickets were only $9.00 (but Sis had a AAA card that got them down to $7.50!).  We secured tickets and walked out the back door of the gift shop….and filed onto the waiting pontoon boat.  This boat would take us to the main park.  Oh yes!  This was exactly as we had remembered!  Patiently we sat on the boat and awaited departure.  While sitting there we learned that the park, which had once had private owners, was now owned by the State of Florida – an official state park.  As such, the animals housed there are only "native" to Florida.  All the monkeys, panthers and white tigers that had been previously housed there had been relocated.  Well – there is one exception, but more on that later.  Additionally, part of the springs is now used as a dispensary to rehabilitate inujured Manatees.  A safe place for their recovery from injuries unwittingly visited on these beautiful gentle giants by speeding and careless boaters.  Sis and I looked at each other with big goofy grins – how much more perfect could this day get?

And so we rode the boat to the ‘other side’ enjoying the view every single moment…

We reveled in the sight of rarely seen native birds, turtles, fish and even gators.  A heavenly oasis right there … just for us!  All too soon the ride was over and we were at the other side…. facing a delightfully hokey sign which was EXACTLY as I remembered it from some35 years ago (well, maybe they’ve painted it since then…but it’s the same – I swear!!!)….

After pausing to argue about who had to get in the picture this time…. I lost and Sis took the picture.  Then we went off to explore the wildlife walk and the rest of the park and springs.  It was wonderful!  Everything we had hoped for!  We saw the beautiful clear springs, Manatees and birds and animals native to Florida.  We walked the boardwalk.  Our pace was our own – we stopped when we wanted.  We enjoyed what we wanted.  There was no pressure to do it all and see it all.  This was another time, another place.  We saw native bobcats, river otters, bears and native birds – including an endangered crane who is waiting for a mate.  The flamingos (which are not technically NATIVE to Florida….although any species that has lived and bred in the state successfully for 10 years in then considered to be native…) are the most tempting to photograph…

But this fellow was also charming in his own way….and has quite a story as well.

 His name is Lucifer and he is a hippo.  Yes – a hippo.  Don’t go running to check your wildlife books.  Hippos are not native to Florida, by anybody’s imagination.  But Lucifer has special dispensation.  You see, when the state wa

s busy farming out the non-native animals everyone was happy…UNTIL they got to finding a home for Lucifer.  Lucifer was THE PARK HIPPO!  Everybody loved Lucifer and the hue and cry was raised when it came to send him packing.  The state was begged to make this one (not so) little exception.  The state refused.  People were frantic.  The governor was beseiged and beseeched….and a solution was found.  Lucifer was made a citizen of the state of Florida by the governor.  As a CITIZEN, lucifer was now a NATIVE – and the park could keep him.  Happy people, happy Hippo. 

After spending a couple of hours wandering through the park, Sis and I were happy and ready to depart.  And it was lunch time.  We remembered a little building we had seen just back down the road a bit with an overflowing parking lot.  Emily’s 50’s diner.  And that’s where we headed.  It was WONDERFUL.  It looked every bit the part of an old time family restaurant.

We had the BEST hamburgers, fries and cole slaw that we’ve had in forever!  And the whole bill….$15.00 including the tip.  We headed home full of good food and good feelings.

And so begins the summer Travelogue I think.  I will be working this summer (forgot to mention that to you , didn’t I?  heh.  Yep.  Summer school…but only 3 hours per day – 9-12.)  But when Sis and I can make our schedules mesh…we’ll continue looking to recapture pieces of the Old Florida that we miss so much.  I’ll be happy to take you along, if you’d like!