a walk in central park

Today, I stumbled across Central Park, a 150-acre park in Ormond Beach. In it, I found the G.F. Althouse Trail that goes along the banks of several different ponds & through the woods. It was very beautiful!

Along the way, I found this rare specimen of the J.Lo tree - isn't it voluptuous!

In fashion news, I discovered the "look" of Volusia County! All you divas out there will soon find yourselves wearing sequins, shrugs, miniskirts, and fluffy pom-pom boots!

And this is an SUV from West Virginia that was painted like a jigsaw puzzle with only one piece filled in.

lousy interview; good dinner

Well, I have been a bit lazy the past few days. No walks, no bike rides. But in my defense, it has been yucky rainy weather, so it was not conducive to outside activity.

I had a second interview for a job this morning. It went well until the issue of salary came up. What really cheesed me off was that the salary they 'offered' me was 2/3 of the salary I said I needed during the first interview. Why waste my time and theirs? I'm less upset about not getting the job than I am about the pointlessness of it all.

But the day got exponentially better. This afternoon, my mom, sister, niece, nephew, and grandmother came for a visit. My mom & grandmother had seen the house before, but not my sister or her children. It was so nice to see them, and even nicer to enjoy a homecooked meal together (lasagna). I look forward to future houseguests! Especially now that I have a home large enough to fit everyone!

This weekend I hope the weather will be nice enough for me to get outside and partake of an activity. I don't care what activity, just something to keep me going in the right direction (read: off the couch)! Ok everyone, send thoughts of good weather my way! (1-2-3-GO!!!)

my first daytona bike ride - about 5 miles

Let it be said that John is nothing if not ambitious! For our first bike outing in Daytona Beach, he decided to lead me over the Oakridge bridge to the beach! Yes, this is the bridge that I have vowed to walk over within a month. We rode over it! Going up was hard - John's gears were slipping (time for a new bike) and I was just pooped! But the real thrill (read: scary part) was going down! I felt as if I was going 1,000 mph! I was surprised to have any brakes left!

Once over, we rode on the sand for a bit past the pier and took some video that I wish I could post here. It was a beautiful day!

Of course, we had to ride back over the bridge to the mainland side - ARGH!!! But we made it and it was fine and hopefully we'll do it again soon!


It may not look that way from the picture, but this was quite a hill! Especially for a couple of South-Florida-flatlanders!

The view from the top was beautiful :) The bridge off in the distance is the Int'l Speedway Blvd bridge. Directly in front of us is the marina.

It was foggy but sunny today. It looks as if this parasailer is just floating in nothing!

And tonight, I'm 5-miles and 2-bridges worth of sore!

the loop

John had the day off today, so we took a drive around The Loop, a scenic route in north Volusia county through forest and marshland.

One of the first things we encountered was the ruins of an old sugar and rum processing factory.

Driving through the forest, you are shaded by a canopy of live oak - a glimpse of what Florida looked like before being overrun by Northerners!

What a beautiful peaceful place!

Of course, I can't completely get away from the wierdness that civilization brings to nature. I don't yet understand why, but I seem to be stumbling across a wide array of used latex gloves. This one appears to be giving us The Finger :)

John offered this explanation: they are left behind by paramedics. And as "proof" of his theory - nearby we found remnants of crime scene tape. Hmmmmmmm.

If you would like to see The Loop you may not want to waste any time - soon it will be developed (you can read all about it at SaveTheLoop.org).

a walk to my childhood street - almost 3 miles

Today I had some things to mail - packages that are too big to put in the mailbox with the flag up. Since it was a nice day, I thought I'd walk to the post office a few blocks away and then continue on a bit. I stuffed everything into my backpack and headed out, only to remember that it's President's Day and the post office is closed!

So instead I walked to the street I lived on as a child - Walker Street. Except that was in Connecticut and this was in Daytona Beach. But the local walk felt almost New England-y because there were leaves on the ground and it smelled like fall. Of course, in New England today it would have been WAY too cold to go walking in a t-shirt ;)

It was very dangerous for me to be outside today!!! But I'm a daredevil, so I kept going!

This is a very rare handprint from the Holly Hill Gnome - notice the red aura around the fingers.

And how lucky is this! The board across the top reads "Home of the Holly Hill Gnomes." I don't need to tell you how exciting it is to see this!

When I came upon this crudely tied wire at the end of a long pier, I wasn't sure if I had stumbled upon another mysterious crime scene. Also near the pier: many used rubber gloves and a crack addict. Coincidence? You tell me!

And here is the Seabreeze bridge, which I was under during yesterday's walk. This is my Everest! You are all witnesses: by this time next month (20-March-2006), I will be walking over that bridge without even breaking a sweat!

Be sure to check back for updates and progress!!!

a walk at noon - just over 2 miles

This afternoon, I decided it was time to get off my couch and get outside. It was 60°, very overcast, and a bit windy. I took a 50-minute walk down to the bridges.

Holly Hill is a city just to the north of Daytona Beach. When we were first looking for homes up here, we were told by those in-the-know to stay away from Holly Hill. "Avoid it like the plague," they said. It is... how can I say this politely... the bad part of town. BUT, we live in the unofficial historical section of Holly Hill, east of US-1. It's very nice, and not at all scary:)

Here's a view from under the bridges. One in each direction, connecting the beach area to the mainland. My goal is to eventually walk over these bridges all the way to the beach and back. But we must start small...

Under the bridges are a little boardwalk and pier, but getting to them reminded me of a crime scene. There are nice sidewalks near the road. Then you come to a sign that says "Boardwalk and Pier funded by" blah blah blah. But then there's just rocks and sand and it looks like an empty lot; once you cross that, there's the boardwalk and pier. While I was crossing the lot, there was a car parked off to the side. At first, I didn't think anyone was in it, but then I saw a woman in the front passenger seat. No driver, just a passenger. I thought he must be fishing, but no, there wasn't anyone else there but her and me.

What I did find was this sweatshirt in the trashcan at the end of the pier. I wondered for a moment if this belonged to the driver of the car and that maybe the woman threw him in the water because he had turned abusive...

...after drinking all these beers. But she stayed in the car for a bit to compose herself and think of a story to explain his disap- pearance.

The man, of course, was swept away by the swift current, and will wash ashore somewhere down south.

But then again, maybe she was just sitting there taking a nap waiting for the Daytona 500 to commence.

Next time, I hope it will be a bit sunnier so that I can take some pictures that aren't quite so dreary...

more about the whales

I read in a Daytona Beach News-Journal article that for "2 1/2 months the right whales migrate from New England to give birth in Florida's warm waters. Only 325 or so right whales are left in the North Atlantic, and seeing one is a rare privilege" :)

How did I get so lucky?!?

a pair of right whales

Today I saw the coolest thing: a right whale and her calf swimming a few hundred yards off shore. I have never seen whales in their natural habitat, and even though they were far away and these aren't the best pictures, it was simply awesome!

They were swimming south - I took these on Ormond Beach right around SR-40. There was a man there that had been following them since about 9:00 this morning. He said that this is part of their territory, and they may go as far south as New Smyrna Beach.

I took alot of videos, but the fluke wasn't visible in any of them.

This was truly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Not a bad Valentine's Day!!!