Journey from the Mountains to the Ocean.: Florida: To escape the brutal winter temps in SC!

The Thanksgiving weekend

has all meanings to all people. To us, well, we din't really have the bigfam meal in mind, so we decided to be non-traditional. Let's have turkey on Monday, and go somewhere new, see new things, taste new food, and get tired!
Starting out lazily on Thursday was great! no traffic, so we packed a lunch, lots of junk food, arranged Minky to have a sitter, and left at the crack of 10. When traveling,

, the landscape really changes as we approach the hangy-down that is the Florida peninsula. Of course the Terrain changes little, kinda flat, no mountains, but the Flora and Fauna of palms and pines really looks like it was hit repeatedly

with an ugly-stick. They just got thru a severe drought, and the Hurkarainns really have hammered that little boot of land. What remains after a hurricaine really has to be cut down , and the growth just comes back naturally, or manmadedlly, I guess. Anyway, the Northeast coast to Daytona beach and over to Ocala really are post-apocalypse looking. Short pines with scrub and then large areas of old tall pines and palm trees. Kinda cool/ scary as llandscapes go. There were many Horse ranches in the Ocala area, just beautiful with the white fences and wide open spaces, horses in Florida?
The biggest thrill for me was that the biggest

rod run and carshow of the year was on this very weekend! Gawd! I was in Hotrod Heaven! Thousands of cars of all shapes and price ranges, even with flamethrowers!

decended on Daytona for the whole weekend, and I din't even know it! (really, I din't even). What ashow

for the carnut, and the girls, they were really good sports, (just as I would be for a quilt show) we spent the first evening on Daytona beach with thousands of these loud and crazy cars with grey haired mid-age drivers at their helm.
The next morning we got up and headed for the racetrack for the track tour, and found that the whole acreage was filled with the rod run! We browsed the fields until about two, and headed for Ocala to the West.
Neat country, and the dragracing museum was a thrill for me as it was all about the famous dragracer Don Garlits.

I've followed his career since 1964, and really was thrilled to see his old cars and race memoooorabelliia. Snooze for the girls....Sooo we took off for the coast-WEST COAST that is!

In Tarpon Springs, on the coast, we found the streets *sparkly clean* and the beautiful sunshine in the 70's. We spent the day at the beach and watched the kite (flat Stanley) try to get a breeze. we found the breeze and the local

waterfowl there, Not shy at all!

and even got to see the pirate ships invade in broad daylight. What a beautiful, white sand, seashell-rich beach! it really made the Charleston brown water look yucky. Listen to this, comparing beaches in late November!