Walking Tour of Sanford

We have had a Sanford mailing address for the past 3 years, and keep our boat at the Monroe Harbour Marina in downtown Sanford, yet we have never truly explored Sanford until we took a recent walking tour sponsored by the Florida Trail Association. This was another tour hosted by Steve Rajtar.

This walk lasted about 3 hours and covered over 6 miles of historical buildings and sites. It really provided a sense of Sanford's history, and we were amazed at the number of restored beautiful homes in the area. There are also several parks in the downtown area, and many churches which also have a wide range of architectural styles. The downtown area has many older buildings as well, and there is a nice variety of restaurants and shops in the historic shopping district.

Downtown Sanford is located on Lake Monroe, which is part of the St. John's river. The waterfront area is nicely done and well maintained - it's a nice place to walk along the water or just sit in one of the swings and just relax. Other points of interest along the tour are a former ornate hotel now being used by a missionary organization, the national guard armory, the Elks Club building, and many other sites. It was great to learn some of the history and to see many of these buildings, etc. that we otherwise would not have known were there.

One of the many nicely restored and well maintained older homes in Sanford.

One of the many interesting church buildings along the tour.


Another of the older churches.


Building housing the Sanford Museum on the shores of Lake Monroe. Interesting to note that the tops of the columns (green part) are formed in the shape of celery stalks, one of the primary crops for the area in years past.

One of several parks in downtown Sanford.

St. Simons Island, GA

We have enjoyed vacationing at St. Simons Island several times in recent years. St. Simons is near Bruswick, Ga and Jeckyll Island, and is about an hour north of Jacksonville. While not part of Central Florida, we were recently there for the weekend for our daughter's wedding, and wanted to share a bit about St. Simons.

For history buffs, there is Christ Church and the cemetery adjoining the church, as well as Fort Frederica. Christ Church is an old and beautiful Episcopal church. The most interesting thing to Mary and I when we first visited was wandering through the cemetery. For those who have read the historical fiction trilogy based in the area by Eugenia Price, you can walk through and see the headstones of many of the books' featured characters. Fort Frederica is a federal park that has artifacts and reproductions of one of the areas oldest settlements.

Nicole and Jon were married at the Lovely Lane Chapel located at Epworth by the Sea (www.epworthbythesea.org). Lovely Lane is the oldest remaining church building in the area, and was originally associated with Christ Church before later being sold to the Methodist Conference. Epworth itself is a beautiful spot that has a wide variety of hotel / conference rooms available complete with a cafeteria and recreational facilities. It is located on the Frederica River, and is set among huge live oak trees. It is named for Epworth, England, home of John and Charles Wesley who both spent time on St. Simons Island. Epworth also has a very nice Wesley Museum.

The reception was held at the historic King and Prince Resort (www.kingandprince.com). The King and Prince is ocean front, and the service we experienced there was phenomenal. Our event was held in the Delegal Room with a ocean view, the meal was delicious, and it was a very memorable evening. Special thanks to Anne Thompson and Scarlett Starr at the King and Prince, and Justin Henley with Island Sound. We are also grateful to Rob Breter of Breter Photography in Orlando. This is the second wedding that he has shot for us in less than 2 years, and we appreciate his traveling to GA for this one. We already have the pictures back and they are fantastic as usual.

There are many other neat features that attract us to the island. There is a very quaint village area with a pier,shopping, and restaurants, an historic lighthouse, an old Coast Guard station, and a long stretch of beach that is very nice at low tide (it becomes "no beach" at high tide by the King and Prince). We look forward to exploring other parts of the island on future visits. We especially enjoy doing so by bicycle - they are easily rented at several locations by the day or week.

Here are just a few of the pictures from our weekend:

A Dolphin frolicks behind a sailboat in front of our hotel - picture shot from our balcony.

Part of the King and Prince as seen from the beach.

A shrimp boat prepares to go to work.

More dolphin in front of the resort.

Silver River

It's been a few weeks since the last post, as we took some time off from exploring to concentrate on our daughter's wedding. Nicole and Jon were married at St. Simon's Island on 10/10 - more on that later (it was a great weekend!)

Last weekend we finally made it to one of the places we have been wishing to paddle for some time - the Silver River. We were afraid that it might be too chilly, but it turned out to be a beautiful weather day. We launched the canoe from Rays Wayside Park off Highway 40 in Ocala. This is a county-owned park, and the $5.00 entrance fee per car is well worth it. The launch facilities for motor boats and canoes/kayaks are in good shape, there is ample parking, and they have restroom facilities and picnic areas.

We had visited Silver Springs a few years ago and did the glass bottom boat tours, etc. - we had both visited as children as well. Paddling the river is a whole different perspective. From Rays Wayside, it is a 10 mile round trip paddle to the Springs and back, with a fairly steady 3 mile per hour current. While you can hear road noise, etc. for much of the trip, this river is still one of the most beautiful that we have experienced. Most of the trip is through state park land. You are not allowed to land your boat anywhere along the river except for one spot at the state park canoe launch, and there is no fishing allowed along the river. Motor boats are required to maintain idle speed for the entire length of the river, which is good for the paddlers.

The water is crystal clear not only at the Springs, but for the whole river. We were amazed that right after launching we could stop and watch fish and turtles swimming. I was also surprised that the river is relatively deep compared to other rivers we have paddled in Central Florida. Within a couple miles of the launch, we spotted the Rhesus monkeys. There were about 15-20 of them, and were actually on both sides of the river at the same spot. We actually came a lot closer to them than we intended, and had to back up a bit to be on the safe side. They were great fun to watch. It's amazing that the small group of monkeys that were originally places on a island at the Springs in the 1930's has multiplied and been allowed to grow wild in the park - this alone makes this river and park unique in Florida. We continued paddling to the Springs, passing a multitude of turtles, alligators, and many species of birds along the way. After turning around at the head of the Springs, we pulled over in a small cove and had a picnic lunch (in the canoe - you are not allowed to land your boat). While eating we enjoyed watching several types of fish swim under the canoe, including some fairly large Gar.

The paddle back to the launch site seemed almost like a reward for the work it took to reach the Springs. We took our time and basically drifted back, stopping briefly at the state park launch site. We were on the water a total of 5 1/2 hours, and it was definitely worth the trip!

Here are a few pictures taken along the river:

Rhesus monkey - almost too close!

Now that just can't be comfortable!

Some of the many turtles and birds seen along the way.

Anhinga drying wings behind a cypress.