A year in Ephemera: 2010 in review

On January 2, 2010, I laid out goals of places I'd like to visit and blog about. Today on this last day of 2010, I look back at how my year played out and compare it to my intentions.

In my own backyard I did stop and photograph the world's largest alligator in Christmas at Jungleland Adventures. I had a great trip to Gatorland and will be back in 2011 to visit the bird rookery during breeding season. I also participated in a local history tour of the Lake Eola Heights district conducted by local historian Steve Rajtar, but I did not get enough compelling images to warrant a blog post. And finally while I did not visit Blue Springs, I did have an up-close and personal experience with a few manatees at De Leon Springs on Christmas Eve.

Although I stopped to take pictures, I have yet to visit Jungleland Adventures

For a bird lover, it's hard to imagine anything more inspiring than the rookery at Gatorland

From Orlando's Lake Eola Heights neighborhood

De Leon Springs manatee

Overall I attempted to look at Central Florida with fresh eyes, as if I didn't live here and was seeing it for the first time. I explored downtown by bike and took inventory of some of the architecture. I visited historic homes in Howey in the Hills and at the Nehrling Estate (future post.) Overall I learned that sometimes a long drive isn't necessary to see interesting, historic stuff and there are still many sites I haven't been to in my own backyard.

I got to see the Howey Mansion because of an auction

The Nehrling House

Expanding my reach outside of my immediate area, first and foremost I wanted to re-visit Silver Springs, and although I haven't blogged about it yet, I did finally make it back to this venerable old attraction. Bad weather over the holidays prevented me from exploring more of the Gainesville area, so that will have to wait until 2011. I also made a fantastic visit to St. Pete and had a great evening shuffling at the St. Pete Shuffle (Treasure Island will have to wait until 2011 too.)

Look for a future post about my Christmas Eve visit to Silver Springs

My trip to the St. Pete Shuffle was one of the year's highlights

While I didn't get to Soloman's Castle or Chalet Suzanne, I finally got to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Florida Southern College and explored a little bit of Lakeland. And while I never made it up to Jacksonville, I did get back to St. Augustine and re-visited the Fountain of Youth and made my first visit to Potter's Wax Museum (future posts.)

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pfeiffer Chapel at Florida Southern

Year end visits to St. Augustine's Potter's Wax Museum and the Fountain of Youth will be covered in 2011 posts

My final goals were to learn about the states fascinating folks who make Florida so interesting and on that note I can proudly say, mission accomplished. From artists like Martin Cushman in Mt. Dora to the late Joy Postle, I tried to document those who use(d) their creativity to document their home state. I met some of my favorite roadside buddies like Jeff and Kelly of Vintage Roadside and prolific author Tim Hollis. I also learned more about historical figures from Coral Gable's George Merrick to the influential Henry Plant.

Kelly and Jeff of Vintage Roadside

Christmas display inside the amazing museum of Tim Hollis

Much of the year's post, however, were not the results of goals at the beginning of the year. A late December trip to South Florida yielded posts well into February (this was actually accomplishing a goal I set in 2009.). That was the same month that a birthday dinner in Ocala produced several posts and I learned of the plans to tear down Kissimmee's KAST club.

Coral Gables' Biltmore was one of the many highlights of last years South Florida excursion

A mid-century roadside survivor in Ocala

Kissimmee All States Tourist Club, 1941-2010

In March I visited Brooksville, Cassadaga and New Smyrna. April posts reported on my explorations of Lakeland and May's highlight was Gatorland. In June my attention was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As summer progressed my focus left the Sunshine State as I prepared a paper on hillbilly iconography to be delivered at the SCA Conference in October.

Ruins of the Turnbull Colony in New Smyrna

A Weeki Wachee beauty superimposed against the ugliness of the oil spewing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico

The idea for the Hillbilly paper was spawned from a spring break visit to the Mountaineer Inn of Asheville, NC

I am blessed to be able to explore and write about this wonderful state and I am continually struck with a sense of wonder and amazement at its whimsical, historical and natural places. I still believe that we are at a critical time in the future of our state, and so much of Old Florida is in danger of sliding away. My goal continues to be to write about and photograph these great Florida places, with the hope that as more people become aware of them, they are more likely to be preserved. My intention is to try to prevent the spread of "generica" and blandness across the state and preserve its uniqueness. I have big plans for 2011. Please stay tuned!

The Urban Rookery

The whole concept of a bird rookery is relatively new to me, so I could have been around these bird-nesting magnets my whole life and not realized it. A bird rookery is an area where more than one pair of birds nest in a group. One of the most unique that I know of is on a small island just south of downtown Orlando in Lake Lucerne. It is within feet of the off ramp from SR 408 (or what old time Orlandoans know as the East-West Expressway.)

At this time of year the young birds are much older than the ones I saw at Gatorland, most of them appeared to be able to fly. They don't, however, seem to want to stray far from their nests and my guess is they may still be receiving meals from their parents.

The small island is full of tri-colored herons, great egrets, snowy egrets and ibis. In a nearby Cypress tree are some young Anhinga and it seems like the island can't hold all of the quickly maturing birds anymore, so they populate the trees along the lake's shoreline too. I was unable to see any nests, I'm guessing they must be wall-to-wall on the island's interior where I can't see. There is much commotion constantly as birds jockey for position and birds are flying in and out constantly. The worst thing about the place is the smell of guano; it will knock you over. After I left I swore I could still smell it.

But overall I'm once again amazed by this little patch of wilderness in the middle of an urban environment. And after the media barrage of birds covered in oil in the gulf, it is nice to see these cute fledglings with the last bit of down on their heads, trying to muster up the courage to go out in the world on their own.

The bird rookery at Gatorland

I have been to Gatorland, the dinosaur of Central Florida attractions, several times as it is a mere thirty minutes from my house. My wife had free tickets so we spent a warm overcast Sunday afternoon playing tourist and it was amazing trip. Despite what my brother would call "flat" light, I was incredibly inspired by the details, colors and textures of this family-owned park and I had a ball taking pictures. I skipped the Gator Jumparoo and Gator Wrestling so I could spend the majority of my time in the rookery observing hundreds, perhaps thousands of wading birds nesting. For a bird lover like myself, I can honestly say it was the thrill of a lifetime. A boardwalk along the lagoon allows for easy access to see amazing avian behavior just feet away from your camera lens. The sounds of the birds are deafening as chicks squawk to be fed, protective parents loudly chase away intruders and others sporting their full breeding plumage just seem to want to be noticed.

A Tricolor Heron arranges her beautiful blue eggs.


These baby egrets were loud and fuzzy, so ugly that they're cute.

Just below, a vigilant eye watches for any chicks that might fall from the nest.

Some thing riled up this great egret, who is letting his displeasure be known quite loudly!

Even the cattle egret, looked spiffy sporting their breeding plumage.

This wet pile of feathers appeared to have very recently just left the safety of their shells.



Apparently it's alligator breeding season too!

After looking at the amazing images on the Gatorland website, I realize that there was a great deal I didn't see on this visit, and I will return, perhaps next season to observe this fantastic show again. To me this trumps any trip to Disney or Universal!