Florida Before our Keys Adventure, Day 1...

Thursday, February 13th, was our 55th anniversary. We would spend it in the car headed from Atlanta to Wesley Chapel, Florida outside of Tampa. 

I posted this on Facebook to celebrate our 55th Anniversary: 

You're my bread when I'm hungry

You're my shelter from troubled winds

You're my anchor in life's ocean

But most of all, you're my best friend

(A Favorite Don Williams Song)

Happy 55th Anniversary to my Best Friend! Love Ya Bunches!! Let's have a great day together today to start 56!

I sent this to our family on our family Facebook page. "And this is why we fled south!! Note the 'feels like' temps!"

A few observations as we drove this day. We passed an oversized load on I-75 as we entered Florida which literally took up two lanes of traffic. That, my friends, is a true oversized load!

At 2:06 we entered Florida.

At 4:13pm we were in a backup of traffic caused by a wreck. The thing that rattled my nerves was the truck carrying cars we were behind! Ugh!

We made it to Wesley Chapel and our hotel. I made note of the fact that many people smile and speak when you are traveling like this. I really like that. 

We opted to go to Outback Steakhouse for our anniversary dinner. We went to Outback Steakhouse last October in Santa Fe for Claude's 75th birthday. It seemed like a good idea. I ordered salmon, broccoli and rice. Claude ordered a steak. All was going great until I took my second bite of my rice. I found a hair, a long hair, in the rice and pulled it out. I could not eat that rice. That meal was delicious other than the human hair. My server came over and noticed I ate everything but the rice. I was not going to say anything, but he asked so I told him it had a hair in it. He wanted to get me another dish of rice. I assured him I was really quite full with my salmon and broccoli. He said he would get his manager. I had not asked for the manager. But, here he came. I explained what happened. He wanted to get me another meal. I did not need another meal. It was all very pleasant as I assured him I would eat at Outback again. I just couldn't eat that rice. He offered desserts for us but we neither had room for a dessert. When the bill came, my meal had been taken off the bill. Bless their hearts. People sue at the drop of a hat. A mistake was made. I just hope they counsel that employee to wear a hair net next time. For the rest of the trip, Claude would comment that my meal didn't have a hair in it that time!

Friday, February 14th, was Valentine's Day. Claude and I typically don't do a lot for this day as our anniversary is the day before it. We would drive from Wesley Chapel to Florida City with a tourist stop in between. 

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation was our stop. It was absolutely delightful. This is a small museum. It is owned and run by the Seminole Nation that lives on this reservation. These pictures are from the parking lot across the street to the front of the museum. 

In the Seminole language, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki means a place to learn, a place to remember. To start our learning, we watched a 17-minute video entitled "We Seminoles". It gives an excellent history of these people. Their struggles with the British and Spanish. Their struggles to stay on their land when the U.S. Government sent all others west. The fact they are a sovereign nation. Their casino funds a lot of what they do including a K-12 school for their children where traditional education and education in their culture and custom taught. Money is given to this support this museum. Very informative video. 

We were there later in the day, so we opted to walk the 1-mile raised boardwalk loop through the cypress dome as it would close by 4pm. This boardwalk zigs and zags through the cypress dome with plaques describing the trees, plants and animal life. There are benches were you can sit and rest if you need. There are emergency stations along the loop in cases you have any trouble. There are also places set to help you understand their hunting camps, what a living village would have been like, a clan pavilion and more. We really enjoyed this walk. Some of my favorite things were the ferns growing under the trees. These speak peace to my soul. I loved all the varieties of air plants growing on the trees. They do not take nourishment from the tree. I was fascinated with the red lichen on some of the trees. 

After we finished the 1-mile boardwalk, we went back inside the museum and cooled down a bit. Then we walked through the exhibits inside the museum. These are rotated three times each year. 

Woman and man dress

Quilters will appreciate the work of piecing these fabrics together. Once the strips of pieced fabric are done, they can be made into clothing like this amazing jacket.

A head dress.

Hunters

A wedding.

Preparing for company.

Note the interesting hairstyle.

A family in a canoe 

Dining.

Children playing.

A pouch to be worn around the neck.

A stick game.

We headed back to our car passing a statue and Spanish moss hanging from the trees and air plants growing on them. Great stop. Highly recommend this one.

As we drove to Florida City, I was reminded of the lesson we learned about them 'draining the swamp' to make way for man. 

We opted for a quick dinner at Wendy's, which was right across the highway from our hotel. Then we stopped at the gas station in front of the hotel to get a candy bar as our Valentine's Day celebration!