Take a short drive west out of Tampa and you will come to the small town of Tarpon Springs Florida known as the Sponge Capitol of the World
Before the arrival of the Greek divers sponges were usually speared and brought aboard. In the late 1880's hundreds of Greeks, who had perfected the art of deep sea diving and specifically sponge diving, came to Tarpon Springs
The mural on the wall of a shop illustrates a diver at work collecting sponges
Sponge boats used to line the river here and go out to the Gulf to harvest sponges
As the marker says the Gulf waters here are one of the few places in the world where sponges are found. As the industry grew more and more Greek divers came and made their homes here. A large Greek community still resides here today
By the 1950's sponging was nearly wiped out in the area. But in the late 1980's as conditions improved new sponge beds started growing.
Today a visitor to Tarpon Springs can go on a boat and see a sponge dive or just take a tour and see the sights
On Dodecanese Blvd many shops and restaurants have made this a great way to spend the day
Charter boats available for fishing trips
Tarpon Springs...you can easily spend a day here walking and seeing the sights. A great way to spend and afternoon
In this blog I went back to the neighborhood I grew up in. We moved here when I was 6 years old
Our first house is somewhere inside this one on Round Pond...it was much smaller then
There were woods here when we lived across the street. It was a great place to play and climb trees.Then we moved into this house. My grandfather planted that oak on the far right in the top pic. It was a small little twig looking thing when he planted it and one day my buddy Steve and I tried out Steve's new pocket knife by shaving the bark off of it. It was the only time I ever saw my grandfather even remotely upset. Lucky for us he saved the tree
Sadly all grown over now this was once a nice field where we played every day. My dad would stand on the driveway and we would go up to the curve in the street and he would hit us his legendary "major league fly balls"
There is a small pond behind all that growth that used to hold all kinds of fish
Now we'll start at the top of the street and see all the neighbor's homes
This was my best friend Steve's house. I think the church uses it now and school was getting out when I took this so people park there to pick up their kids. I spent much of my young life in this house. Steve lived here with Mr and Mrs Fortner and sisters Ann and Sandi...tons of memories here
Coming down the street we come to the Stahl's house. Mr and Mrs Stahl lived here with Johnny, Ruth Ann and David.
Next door is the Boyette's house. Mr and Mrs Boyette lived here with Nancy and Susan. Mr Boyette was an amazing man. He used to take me all over with him. He took me fishing a lot. He used to keep beehives and he took me with him to work the hives. He used a garage in the back yard to extract the honey from the hives. I can still smell that garage...it smelled so good...like honey
Sadly Mr Boyette and Mr Stahl passed away much too soon. They were as good as men can get and were my Dad's best friends. I don't think he ever got over losing those two men
Next is the Maves' house. Mr and Mrs Maves along with David and Ted lived here. Mr Maves owned Maves 5 and 10 cent store back in a simpler time when stores like that existed
Across the street lived the Ryals. Mr and Mrs Ryals and my friend Bill lived here. Bill deserves his own blog someday but he also left us way too soon and I still miss him. I visit him once a year
At the end of the street lived our cousins the Akins. Wendell and Marion lived here with Wendell and Blair. Another house I spent much of my young life in. Another place with so many memories
For elementary school all we had to do was walk to the end of the street to Lake Magdalene Elementary
So that was our neighborhood. It is older now and a little run down from age but it was a great place to grow up. I'm not sure if places like this are around anymore. Kids roamed freely all day and went home when we heard our mom's yell that supper was ready. We were all lucky to have grown up here.
Today we visit Upper Tampa Bay Park. Just minutes from the hustle and bustle of the big city you can find this gem
Located on the far western end of Hillsborough Avenue a little east of Racetrack road
These picnic shelters and the Nature Center are the only development you find here due to the extremely sensitive environment that the park resides in
The park is bordered on the east by Double Branch and on the south and west by Old Tampa Bay
Founded in 1982 the park is 596 acres of protected mangrove forests, salt marshes, freshwater marshes and woods. The Nature Center has many exhibits and displays
The park provides several trails to walk
Some of what you might see on the trails
There is a canoe launch facility. Bring your own or rent one from the park
A boardwalk through the mangroves out to the bay offers beautiful views
Just a beautiful place to see nature at it's best...undisturbed and undeveloped
Fiddler crabs
We are at sea level so if you're visiting the park during a hurricane bring a life jacket :)
I did enjoy my stay and I recommend this park to anyone
Here in Florida just staying home is a good thing. Sometimes we like to stay a night or two at the beach so we head for the Grand Plaza on St Pete Beach. We have been staying here for years...that's a restuarant on top
The view from a gulf front room is hard to beat
MK making the view even better
Beautiful white sand of the Florida gulf coast
Looking north and then south
Cruise ship heading out the Egmont channel
MK roughing it
Some sunset pics to close out this stay at home weekend
The best for last
