south.htm

A variety of scenes of the "Old South"

Well I suppose it would be proper for me to start with pictures of us starting to Florida from Toronto but hell, you've seen lots of pictures of snow so who needs it? I shall, of course "drop the odd picture" of snowy scenes in from time to time just to "break up" the monotony. On the left is what Florida is all about as far as most people think anyway .... oranges! Here is an arial view of a few of the thousands of acres of orange groves throughout the State. Man you should be there when the orange blossoms are in bloom .... talk about a nice fragrance! This view was taken near Lakeland. As usual I'm out of sequence again with the picture on the right. I believe it was taken at an overnight park at Key Largo on the way to the Florida Keys. Just thought I'd drop it in here.

The scene on the left is very typical of the "old south" whether it be South Carolina, Georgia or Florida. Everywhere you go you see "Spanish Moss" hanging from the trees and the tourists love to gather it up and bring it home to show. **** NOTE **** I just received an e-mail (18th February, 2003) from a gal who was born and raised in Florida that had "wandered" onto my web site. She kindly pointed out some "corrections" that were needed on my "facts" about Spanish Moss. [She also claimed that in another section of my site that there were few Eastern Diamondback Rattlers there any more but I am afraid I have to disagree with her on that one. I have been a snake fancier most of my life and can assure her that there are still many left there and throughout the eastern USA. Fewer perhaps due to urbanization and idiots hunting them just for "fun!"]

Getting back to the Spanish Moss I had been advised by a "Floridian" that it had been inadvertantly imported in the sailing ships from Spain many years ago and that it was a scourge and killed the trees there. Apparently it is native to the southern USA and does NOT harm trees at all. As a matter of fact, after receiving her e-mail, I looked it up (which I hand't done before of course .... typical tourist type you know) and found that it was even commercialized a great deal years ago. It was used for such things as upholstering, mattresses, etc. so I thank you, "Katie R." for writing me and giving that information. The tree on the right has also flourished throughout the south and Florida. It is called the "Royal Poinciana Tree" and you will have to go a long way to find another tree as beautiful.

I mentioned earlier that Fort Desoto Park used to be our favourite place to park our trailer when in Florida. That was in the seventies and it wasn't as crowded in those days. The last few times there we parked inland near Disney World at a friend's campground at Davenport. However I had a picture of another shot of Fort Desoto (on the left) back in the seventies. I mentioned above that my aunt and uncle lived in Clearwater ... well on the right is an arial picture of Clearwater beach and their fishing pier. I did a lot of fishing at the Fort Desoto Pier but only once at Clearwater. All I got that day was a "pesky pelican" that insisted on taking my bait and getting all wound up in my line. After considerable effort to "reel him in", a couple of gentlemen assisted me in trying to dis-entangle that sucker from all that bloody fishing line. Well guess what? ... After working like hell on it so as not to harm the beggar ... the last thing he did to show his appreciation as we let him free was bite me!! The ungrateful ingrate! Fortunately they have a hell of a big bill but there's not too much power in their bite.

I simply couldn't pass the picture on the left up. It is a typical sunset at Clearwater Beach. Have you ever seen anything so grandiose? The arial picture on the right was taken at a much greater height than the Clearwater Pier above it. However if you look closely, you will not only see the extremely large parking area and the old fort but that great long pier sticking out into the Gulf Of Mexico. That was my favourite fishing spot. I got everything from Sheepshead Bass to ten foot sharks there! You never knew what was going to hit your line as there was a hefty tide back and forth from the Gulf into Tampa Bay. This kept the different species of fish on the move and the predators right behind them! To me there is nothing like landing a big old shark. Why they fight long after you haul them in. They are a valiant fish but one to be very cautious with. The Americans used to think I was a "crazy Canuck" because I rarely cut my line from a shark. I generally straddled it and forced the bloody hook from it's mouth just to say I could do it. Nutty, eh?? Stubborn too.

The picture on the left is one of a very old church in South Carolina that has been constantly kept in good repair over the years. I thought it was sort of striking so I took a shot of it. I did not stop long enough to get the history of it but it apparently dated back to the Civil War and beyond.

That's it for this session. I hope you liked my pictures and I also hope I'm not boring you. Hell ... what am I talking about? If I was ... you wouldn't have read this far would you? Until later ....

Back to main page