Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Cedar Key...in Retrospect

Well, we leave tomorrow morning for a few days in Crystal River and we're definitely excited about moving to new sights and new adventures, but after an entire month here I just felt like giving kudos for what a really pleasant location this has been. (That doesn't mean we wish we were staying longer, however.) Yesterday I took Brandi for one last walk in the Florida Scrubs State Preserve, which has been a nice place to let her off the leash and get in a nice run for her. Then today I took her for one last walk on our nature trail. (First I stopped and bought a quarter of clam chowder from Tony's and a pound of fudget from our camp hosts). Anway - back to the trail - we've been there many, MANY times over the past month. It's about a fifteen minute walk from the park, and the trail is just basically a one-way trail that goes along an old rail embankment and dead-ends on the edge of one of the back bayous. It's been really interesting to walk it so often and note the incredible difference that the tide makes - some days we can't even walk off the path and onto the shoreline - other times there's a very wide strip of clamshells that we can walk quite a ways on. And it's been heavenly for Brandi, our little "feral" beast, because she invariably manages to come up with some disgusting dead thing for us to fight about - most of the time I just let her eat whatever (I figure she's basically a wild dog and that's how her predecessors lived!) but today she came up with some type of weird looking skull - like a pig (no way!) or maybe a small alligator - who knows??? Anyone, this one was way too gross for me so we had to have a bit of an argument over whether or not she could keep it (...I won...eventually!). Anyway, the trail is only 6/10ths of a mile so when we get to it I let her off her leash and we go to the end (I walk -she RUNS!) and then we turn around and come back to the beginning - then we do it again - and usually then we do it again. Then we walk home. So today, on my way out there and back (and, remember, it's probably only 1/2 mile to get there) I just snapped a whole bunch of pictures of different houses and buildings along the way. I'm going to put a BUNCH of them out here - if it will let me - and what I like about them is they are a great composite overview of what it's like here. There are nice houses, there are cute houses, there are incredibly awful houses, there are fishing shacks, and somehow everything just co-exists. If you like remote, quiet locations (and if you hate the "normal" crowds in Florida), this might be just the place for you. The people here are really nice and they pride themselves on being one of the few remaining places that exemplify (did I spell that right?) the "old Florida" of the past. Cedar Key: we will definitely return to you someday!

PS - while I was writing this Dave came in and actually had a FISH! This is his very first (and obviously last) fish on the island. He's just had really bad luck so far - the water's been cold, the tides are confusing, and he struggles with the right kind of bait to use. But he's a happy camper now - and, boy, wait until our NEXT trip here!













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