Linear view vs. Masonry View

Hillsborough River

After exploring the trails at Hillsborough River State Park last week I decided to follow the river on my way home. I stopped off at four river access points, all sections of the Hillsborough River Wilderness Park.

With the exception of the rapids at the state park, the rest of the river is a wide, slow-moving expanse. It’s considered a blackwater river since it wanders through swamps and wetlands.

I think the thing that surprised me the most was that I didn’t see a single alligator (but I’m sure they were there). Thank goodness these areas were set aside early on, since the Tampa urban area has claimed every square inch.

Slow Moving Swirl
Sped Up Swirl
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Classy Place

Last weekend, I took advantage of an overcast morning and drove over to Hillsborough River State Park. The place had been on my must-visit list for quite some time so I was delighted to finally get there.

The park was established in 1938 to protect a rare, natural feature in Florida, Class II rapids. As you can imagine, in a state with the lowest “high point” in the country (354′ at Britton Hill), Florida rivers do not have a lot of opportunity to drop.

In an effort to preserve the siliceous limestone outcropping that underlies the riffles, wading and swimming are not allowed on the property. This interesting local geology also inspired the name of the nearby town of Thontosassa, which derives from Seminole-Creek language meaning “flint” “some”.

As with its other early parks (like Hammock Highlands State Park that I visited last summer), the state took advantage of the Civilian Conservation Corps to develop the land. There are numerous CCC-constructed features still visible throughout the park, most notably the suspension bridge.

Suspension Bridge
CCC Built Picnic Table
CCC Era Number Sign
CCC Building
CCC Bench
Suspension Bridge View
Hillsborough River, Class II Rapids
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SPT Airboat Line

In light of how packed the southern tip of the Pinellas peninsula is now, it’s amazing how hard it was for the early settlers to convince others to join them.

The main difficulty was accessibility; depending on the route there are at least 5 miles of gulf that separate this area from the mainland while the overland journey is over 25 miles. In the 1860s, whether by steamboat or horse drawn wagon, travel would take most of a day.

It wasn’t until May 1, 1888 when the Orange Belt Railway was completed that the journey was shortened to a mere 3 hours. (Though, according to the St. Petersburg Museum of History, it took over a month for the first train to reach the town, loaded with freight and just one passenger.)

So, it’s easy to understand why St. Petersburg was eager to embrace air travel. In late 1913 the town was approached P.E. Falser and Tom Benoist, the inventor of the eponymous airboat. The duo landed on St. Pete/Tampa as the perfect location to test their novel idea, a regularly scheduled air service.

Just 10 years after the Wright brothers took flight, the deal was signed creating the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line – the world’s first airline!

The first plane left St. Pete on the first day of 1914, cutting travel time down to a mere 23 minutes! Benoist commented, “Some day people will be crossing oceans on airliners like they do on steamships today.” Sadly, the SPT Airboat Line only flew into May of that year but the airline industry was born.
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St. Pete’s Oldest Resident

What should one do on a hot summer afternoon? Explore somewhere cool, like the St. Petersburg Museum of History. I had the exhibits pretty much to myself as I wandered through the city’s past.

One odd-shaped curio cabinet caught my eye and, of course, I couldn’t resist the “Press Here to View” button. I didn’t know what to expect but I was not prepared for a mummy; the actual 3,000-year-old mummified remains of an Egyptian woman.

How in the world did she end up here? Well, after the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, Egyptmania swept around the globe. Thousands of mummies (and related artifacts) were exported for display. In 1924, one of them ended up in a traveling carnival on a ship bound for Tampa.

When the ship docked it was in need of expensive repairs that the captain could not afford. So, in lieu of cash, the Port Authority accepted the mummy and her sarcophagus as payment. In 1925 “Our Lady of the Nile” was donated to the nascent St. Pete museum, where she’s been resting for almost 100 years.

This city never ceases to surprise me!
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Found It!

Pepper Shaker, My Yard

Even though I’m still not feeling great I took advantage of the cooler weather this morning to get some yard work done. Hey, when it’s cloudy and under 90 degrees in the summer in Florida one would be foolish not to (I’m sick, not stupid).

As I was mowing I came across this pepper shaker (talk about a random thing to find). This is how my mind works: salt shakers are typically accompanied by pepper shakers. Since Jimmy Buffett wrote Margaritaville down in Key West, it stands to reason that the salt he sings about must be somewhere in this state.

So, Jimmy, if you ever find your ‘lost shaker of salt’ and need its dark and spicy companion, give me a call.

(P.S. If none of that makes any sense to you, I blame my fever.)
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Sweltering

By Brian Bilston

Not sure where Brian was when he wrote this poem but it certainly seems to fit my weather. I’m really not complaining, I knew what I was getting into when I moved to Florida.

Truthfully, summers here aren’t much different from the ones I grew up with in Tucson. The monsoon season out there (where tropical storms blow up from Mexico) correlates with hurricane season here. Though we share the high humidity at least we don’t get into the triple digits. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

~ Oh the irony. I scheduled this post a few days ago when it was in the mid-90s, incredibly humid, and the sun was on full blast but today we won’t even break 90, it’s cloudy, and relatively mild. Still a cute poem though. 🤷‍♀️😂
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