Tuesday, March 25, 2008

By Popular Request (Kinda)


Since a few of you asked for photos from my recent trip, I thought I would try to post a few. Remember, I'm not a photographer, nor do I have much success trying to creatively turn this into a photo-blog.

Anyhoo, see the bird in the picture at top left? I had discovered a seafood restaurant near Daytona Beach where I thought we could get a classy seafood dinner. Wendy ordered shrimp. Not long afterwards we were joined by this bird here. I thought the waitstaff would shoo him away, but apparently birds have special privileges under Florida health department guidelines. The manager called him Joey. I got another photo of him eyeing up Wendy's dinner. Apparently, Joey loves shrimp and later the manager threw Joey a couple raw shrimp from the kitchen.




Anyway, my family knows that these vacations I plan can turn into adventures. I mentioned in a previous blog how my wife and I hiked a nature trail on a rattlesnake-infested island near Clearwater. Towards the end, the trail got a bit muddy, as the picture here shows.




In case any were wondering, I did ask Wendy if she wanted help getting across. She said she could do it on her own. So I did the next best thing and took a picture.

Here is a picture of the Whistlestop Cafe in Juliette, Georgia, from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. The bigger picture is the cafe used in the movie set. The inset picture is the Irondale Cafe near Birmingham, Alabama. That cafe reportedly inspired the Whistlestop Cafe in the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe.






There seems to be a kind of a competition between the Irondale Cafe and the Whistlestop Cafe in Juliette as to which one is the REAL Whistlestop. Irondale' website is called http://www.whistlestopcafe.com/ and Juliette's website is http://www.thewhistlestopcafe.com/. Not much difference, is there.



Finally, below are a few more traditional pictures from our trip: the view from our hotel at Daytona Beach, the lighthouse I climbed, and the Detroit Tiger exhibition game we attended where our Tigers topped the Houston Astros.







17 Comments:

Blogger B.S. said...

I'm a little bit afraid of birds, so I'm having trouble digesting the concept of the bird standing on the restaurant table. It's kind of touching, though, that the staff calls them by name and feeds them. I'm ambivalent.

The mud and the snakes, however, are definite turnoffs to me. But the VIEW from your hotel- well, that makes up for any issues with birds, snakes and quicksand!

Hugs,
Betty

9:59 PM  
Blogger Kacey said...

I recently read a book about some girl detective on that island where your snakes were, but can't remember a thing about it. I did like the book though --- some memory, huh? Loved the picture of the Atlantic waves hitting the shore. The waves never seem to get as big on the Gulf side --- must be the running start they get coming over from Africa!
I'm happy you had a good vacation.

11:27 AM  
Blogger Lynilu said...

I love the birds in FL. When I visit my daughter, my camera gets a major workout! And the trees, and the various bodies of water, and.... well, just about everything! What a great place for a shutterbug!

Now those snakes you can keep. :D

8:32 PM  
Blogger Carine-what's cooking? said...

for a non-photographer you've done a beautiful job Dave. Although I too do not like birds, so I leave the "table" view for others to enjoy.

9:09 PM  
Blogger Lucy Stern said...

You went to an Astro's game and we lost!!! It must have been Woody Williams pitching, they released him just today....He's an "over the hill" pitcher now and I'm glad they released him....Actually he would make a good batting practice pitcher...lol

I LOVE that light house. I don't know why I like light houses but I do. I saw one on the travel channel that someone converted into a family home. It was very interesting looking.

I'm glad you and Wendy had such a good time in Florida.

6:20 PM  
Blogger OldHorsetailSnake said...

How many mother-friggin' steps are in that lighthouse? You must be in as good shape as Superboy.

5:20 PM  
Blogger Big Dave T said...

LUCY--I took a picture of a sign that had the line-up for the game and, indeed, the starting Astros pitcher name was "Williams."

HOSS--Regarding the number of steps in that lighthouse, I count steps like I count beers. There were just a few that I recall.

5:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I loved the Fried Green Tomatoes movie, as well as the book. Those are wonderful pictures!

12:28 PM  
Blogger Babette said...

I suddenly developed an aversion to fried GREEN tomatoes while simultaneously obtaining a longing to collect matchbooks. Methinks I need a shrink!

Nice pics, Dave. Not to be competitive, but my hubby just sent this one to our newspaper: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2004307486_nwwweekendpix27.html

Go SEAHAWKS!

8:56 AM  
Blogger Babette said...

The last letter above is an n followed by wwweekendpix27.html. You know you wanna look...

9:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed your pictures. Since we haven't vacationed in a while, it's so nice to share other's vacations.

Thanks,

Cas

9:50 AM  
Blogger Big Dave T said...

BABETTE--Pretty picture: the gloomy, brooding greens of the islands contrasting with the radiant, triumphant hues of blue on the horizon above.

Giving up on the Mariners already?

CASSIE--My father says he likes to hit the "Next Blog" button after reading my blog, often so he can see pictures from other parts othe world. Some day I must get a better camera.

5:48 PM  
Blogger Spicy said...

Wonderful pics Dave..I love to travel through my blogfriends. It must be difficult to come back to snow and ice.

10:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OH LORDIE.. that is a big big bird!! I would hate to see that lingering around my plate! My you do get around. the place you stayed at in DAYTONA had a great view... and the restuarant that has the bricks looks like someones house..sad the little one has a DRIVE THRU how weird is that?? Looks like you had a great time of it.. : )

9:22 PM  
Blogger Babette said...

My MSU mind's muddled; meant MARINERS!

7:07 PM  
Blogger LZ Blogger said...

Big Dave ~ I love lighthouses. This one is very cool! THX! ~ jb///

3:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your photos, Dave. And that egret.....We have one identical to him, called Spike. He's been living at Cook's Cafe downtown for over 15 years. And he's also very welcome on the outside tables there. Never tries to steal food though....he's a gentleman. He disappeared once after a bad storm here and was gone for 3 weeks....that even earned him a write-up in our paper. But eventually Spike found his way back home to the island.
Terri
http://www.islandwriter.net

7:22 AM  

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