Cross-Florida Odyssey

Sue and I walked past this Circle K on Anna Maria Island yesterday morning. "Wow, that is the reddest gas station I've ever seen," I said. "It's like being inside a toaster oven, or maybe an Ed Ruscha painting."

Our long morning walk also took us through a nature preserve, where we said hello to a well-bronzed woman named Wanda June who Sue often meets walking the trails there. ("No animals today!" Wanda June reported.) We popped into a little cafe where I had french toast with mango butter, and then headed back to Sue's house to get tidied up for our road trip. We were on the road by 10 a.m., headed clear across the state.

We took State Road 64 into the heart of rural Florida, where gigantic chickens guard driveway entrances (and pull double-duty as signposts).

We rolled through Wauchula...

...and into Avon Park, which I last visited a few years ago. My great-grandparents lived in this town, and we checked out their old house (which is still standing and occupied, but looks like a wreck these days) and the quaint downtown.

I was sorry to see that the Diving Girl Diner is no more, nor is the western wear store where the actual diving girl motel sign used to be displayed in the window. (See my earlier post to better understand all that.)

Sue and I ate this time in a little Cuban cafe on Main Street called Sophie's. I had a Cuban sandwich with rice and beans and a cafe con leche. Then we popped into an antique shop next door where I found a fantastic glass vase shaped like an owl, made of Murano glass. I couldn't pass it up. I'll share a photo of it once I get it back to London, since right now it's heavily shrouded in bubble wrap.

I asked the woman running the antique store about the diving girl. She assured me that "someone in town has it." Sue and I laughed later because it all seemed rather conspiratorial, like she didn't want to reveal its whereabouts.

We got back in the car and kept driving and driving eastward on State Road 60 to our final destination -- Vero Beach.

Years ago, Dave and I planned a Florida trip that was going to include a night in Vero at a fun-looking little boutique motel. We wound up cancelling the trip at the last minute, and ever since I've had a lingering desire to see what we missed. So Sue and I made the pilgrimage, and this is where we're staying -- South Beach Place, about a block from the ocean. It's a great '50s building of small apartment suites, with a pool and snazzy mid-century decorations. My Murano owl would fit in well here. (But they can't have it.)

And this is where we had dinner last night, at a table near the plate glass windows overlooking the ocean. When Sue and I drove this coastline about 27 years ago (!), we stopped at the Ocean Grill and had lunch at the bar. This time, we had a proper meal and it was one of the best seafood dinners I've ever had -- pompano with broccoli and a baked potato, and key lime pie for dessert. Simple but wonderful. We both left very happy (but felt the restaurant has gone a bit overboard with its Halloween decorations).

Today we're road tripping again in the opposite direction, but both happy with our overnight cross-Florida adventure. As Sue said, "We had our toes in the water on both sides of the state on the same day!"