Daytona's Atomic Tunnel

I admit it, I love roadside attractions, in particular those of Florida's golden age of tourism.  The sunshine state has been home to many unique attractions that did not survive the age of the interstate like Six Gun Territory, Tom Gaskin's Cypress Tree Museum, the Great Masterpiece, Floridaland and more. Check out the Florida's Lost Tourist Attractions website for a good list.  One of the wackiest on the list has to be Atomic Tunnel which was located on U.S. 1 just south of Daytona near Port Orange.

The Atomic Tunnel was the brainchild of W.R. Johnson who turned his 1950s bomb shelter to use as a tourist trap according to a history on the Vintage Roadside website. My friends at VR have done a great deal of work researching the short-lived Volusia County attraction, even finding its original location, which is a good trick from the opposite site of the continent (they are based in Portland.) Jeff and Kelly of Vintage Roadside are committed to keeping stories of unique places place like the Atomic Tunnel alive so they don't vanish from our collective memories.

An early rendition of "Happy" the attraction's mascot

Here's some more of what they were able to find out about the Tunnel:
-The Atomic Tunnel was renamed the "Tunnel of Fantasy" and then the "Tropicolor Fantasy"
- In addition to featuring the attraction's mascot, "Happy" the Walking Fish, other attractions included Smokey the monkey, Mac the macaw, a man-eating piranha and dancing mice

Promotion from when the name was changed to the "Tunnel of Fantasy"

I've rocked Vintage Roadside's awesome homage to the Tunnel in the form of a great red T-shirt for a number of years. So when the opportunity came to team with Vintage Roadside on one of their creations,  a limited edition Atomic Tunnel shirt, I jumped at the chance. They create a quality product and are a first class operation. Every person that wears one will be keeping a bit of old Florida alive. And at the rapid rate the quaint and charming disappear from this state, preserving every little bit helps.

End of the season

One of my favorite bits of Old Florida still hanging on is the roadside citrus stand. While not in the great numbers as they used to be in the pre-interstate era, there are still some businesses selling the bounty from Florida groves, and stepping into these shops is like stepping back in time. This season I stumbled across a couple old businesses that sell Indian River Citrus, which is the "brand" known for high quality and great tasting fruit.

The first place I stumbled across earlier in the year was Davidson Brothers Citrus in downtown Daytona. The owner told me that Davidson's was Daytona's oldest business going back to 1922 and the shop, located near the Halifax Historical Museum, is full of great citrus memorabilia. The packing house is in the back and as I talked to the owner I got a quick lesson on Indian River Citrus and how many growers claimed to be from that region but actually weren't. We left with some delicious Honeybells or Tangelos – a blend of tangerine and grapefruit that are as sweet as candy. I must admit that for years I've not taken much interest in the types and varieties of citrus, and the more I learn, the more I appreciate the different tastes available every year.

When I visited Harvey's Groves in Rockledge last year it was not quite citrus season. This time, Harvey's was open, but just barely as this is the end of the season. Much larger than Davidson's, this roadside mecca on US 1, seemed to be full of snowbirds stocking up before they returned to the north. It was Easter weekend and for many of the folks who come down to sunny Florida for the winter, that marks the end of their stay. So I saw folks filling shopping carts full of the last fresh grapefruits and oranges grown in Florida this year.

Next season my goal is to frequent more of these great establishments and better understand the nuances and subtlety of different varieties of citrus. My recommendation for you is if you see one of these roadside institutions on your travels, by all means stop and get some citrus and enjoy the trip back in time!

Poncemania

If Ponce de Leon were alive today, he would be a celebrated celebrity endorser and most of his wealth would have been accumulated for allowing his likeness to be used to sell the mystery and romance of the state of Florida. In the 20th century his image and that of other Spanish Conquistadors were used throughout the state, but no place has more Ponce-age than St. Augustine. I'm a little bit obsessed with documenting the usage of his image, as if I could collect his royalties, and was excited to find some wonderful Ponce statues on US 1 in the nation's oldest city. I normally head straight for the town's lovely historic center, but a search for a restaurant led me out of my comfort zone, straight to the Ponce-apalooza. Someday when I feel like I've adequately documented all the Sunshine State Ponces, I may formally prepare a piece on the subject. So if you know about other Ponce scores, please let me know!

How I missed these wonderful twin Ponces, flanking either side of US1, can only be explained by the fact that I had rarely explored beyond the city's core.

While he founded the city of St. Augustine and was the first governor of Spanish Florida, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was no Ponce de Leon. I'd rank him behind de Soto in terms of celebrity conquistadors.

This statue of Ponce is located between the Bridge of Lions and the town square, which once was site of the slave market, a fact that he city of St. Augustine does not widely promote.

And finally I found this stamped into a sidewalk in downtown Portland Oregon. The adjacent street appeared to have been renamed, but this marker shows that Ponce's star power spread to the opposite corner of the country at one time.

Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center

I stumbled across the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center simply by good fortune. Mother Ephemera, who has lived in Florida over forty years, asked to go to the Keys for her __th birthday (let's say it's a number rhyming with "eventyeth".)

After lunch in Key Largo our plan was to go for a glass bottom boat ride at John Pennekamp State Park, but cloudy weather forced a change in plans. So we decided to drive to Islamorada but were detoured by bumper-to-bumper traffic and turned around without ever reaching our destination. Instead we saw a sign for the Bird Center and stopped to visit. I was initially surprised to see what looked like a house with pelicans and egrets lining the roof. The first couple of cages looked empty and then we saw some hawks and owls munching on their lunches (gross). A boardwalk led to a mangrove swamp that was packed with birds: wood storks, great egrets, snowy egrets, great blue herons and ibis; it was wading bird paradise. Further along however, pelicans blocked the boardwalk and seemed mean and ornery as they waddled back and forth looking for fish handouts. At first I was a little intimidated by these turkey-sized birds with enormous bills, but eventually I got used to pushing my way through the hordes. The boardwalk eventually ended at a swamp where a solitary Roseatte Spoonbill sat in the distance.

Father Ephemera zooms in on an egret

In between the Spoonbill and the boardwalk, was a spot where literally hundreds of pelicans waited to be fed. I was never quite sure why they were feeding these wild birds, but I do know it was quite a spectacle. Mother Ephemera, who spent much of her youth on a farm in Michigan, had no inhibitions about the voracious birds and she took her place on the feeding platform to throw fish parts to the hungry horde. When a bird got too aggressive, she simply kicked it away. It was enthralling for me to see my mom so in her element, laughing when a foot long bill disappeared inside the feeding bucket and ducking as pelicans glided inches from her hair.

If you should get a chance to visit, make sure it's around feeding time, for the fantastic feeding frenzy!

Mother Ephemera scolds a misbehaving Pelican

The serene side of the Wild Bird Center

A sculpture garden and tribute to lost love

"Cut from various megalithic stones, many weighing several tons. He spent over 28 years cutting stone and building Coral Castle after being jilted by his 16-year-old fiancee Agnes Scuffs just one day before the wedding. Originally built in Florida City and called Rock Gate Park [shown in this image below], it was later moved to Homestead around 1936. Coral Castle was added to the National Register of historic places in 1984." -caption from images from the Florida State Archives

State Archives of Florida

Images from Ed's self-published writings

The Coral Castle had been on my "list" of must-see places to visit in Florida for a very long time. So when I realized a trip to the Keys would pass right by it, I brought my whole family to see this amazing site. The marketing material says this about "Florida's Stonehenge":

One tiny man, obsessed with his love for a young girl, labored for 28 years to build a coral rock monument to her. Incredibly, he carved and moved over 1,100 tons of rock without human assistance. Did he know the secrets of the Great Pyramids? Did he have superhuman powers? Visit the Coral Castle and discover one of the world's most incredible wonders.

The story behind the castle begins when Edward Leedskalinin got left at the altar by his 16 year old bride to be. Ed wrote later "a girl is to a fellow the best thing in this world, but to have the best one second hand, is humiliating." He never got over Agnes so he came to South Florida and poured his energy into carving coral and reshaping the landscape into what has become one of Florida's most interesting attractions.

State Archives of Florida

While I don't care to speculate as to how Ed created his masterpiece, I will say it is a very impressive monument to one's mans broken heart. Having seen it on television and read about it in books, I found it smaller than I had imagined but more colorful and beautiful. The current owners have carefully landscaped the old place and put down mulch to keep it looking spiffy. The images I'd seen made the sculptures look dingy and bleak; perhaps it was the brilliant December blue sky that seemed to make the garden-like setting sparkle. Or maybe it was just the good energy of my family having made it through another Christmas and enjoying the moment of being on a road trip with people we love. Sorry Ed never got to know the feeling.

Mother Ephemera poses outside the Coral Castle Gate

Much of the equipment used to build the Coral Castle was made from old auto parts

Ed spent the last half of his life studying magnetism and electricity

Florida shaped rock

A guide told us this sculpture represented Ed's Cosmology

Coral Castle as it looked in the past, from the State Archives of Florida

Current view with added mulch and landscaping

Many of Ed's sculptures resemble arm chairs; in the background the building where Ed lived with no electricity or plumbing

Ed's "telescope"

Mother Ephemera showing Ed's sundial, which was accurate

The famous rock gate is now gated off. The guide told us it still moves a little, but with great effort. After being examined by scientists, they were baffled at how Ed created it and were never quite able to re-construct it as it was in Ed's day. Image from the State Archives of Florida.