Terisa Glover and I had a blast in Tarpon Springs Sunday while doing research for an upcoming Swampy’s Florida coloring book. Above and below are a couple sketches done during the trip. Unfortunately, a trip to Ozona, Florida found that one of my favorite Bar-B-Q places, the Ozona Pig, was closed for the day. Sooooo, it’s a trip across the street to Molly Goodheads for fish food. Because of that the drawings ensued.

Earlier in the day we teed off in Tarpon Springs and was welcomed by the sign below. I figured it meant ‘Beware of Hurricane Ahead’.

It’s fried shrimp time at Hella’s Restaurant! Wanna see what Swampy had? Check out Swampy’s Florida Sunday.

Penny for your thoughts? Getting a scrunched official Tarpon Springs penny.

For those who know the story, Sunday, the 5th, is also Taylor’s 19th birthday. I had my annual banana split at a restaurant in downtown Tarpon Springs in honor of his birthday. These folks don’t usually make banana splits, but did an excellent job!

Here’s artwork for a Swampy’s Florida coloring book I just wrapped up a preliminary version of Gatorama , in south Florida. I’ll be showing this version at the Florida Historical Society meeting starting Thursday.

This Friday, April, 1st, is the debut of the new Swampy’s Florida: Lakeland coloring book at The General Store as part of Downtown Lakeland’s First Friday event.

The coloring book has lots to color and learn about Lakeland’s history and great places to visit. I was able to price the coloring book at $3. If you’re in the area come by and say HI! and get a free drawing between 6 to 9pm.

All of this happening at a store that I think every town should have, The General Store. You can’t miss the rocking chairs outside! Also, if you haven’t met Downtown Lakeland’s infamous Sparky at The General Store, now’s your chance! By the way, that’s Sparky in the middle on the cover.

I attended a 3-D showing of ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’ on March 16th, 2010. I had a great time visiting with friends I was surprised to run into there, Paula Large, Jerry Darkey, Priscilla Rose, Dan Stapleton, etc. I got to finally meet Holly and Dolly of ‘Holly and Dolly’s Bar and Grill in Casselberry. The twins were also former dancers at Church Street Station and mermaids at Weeki Wachee. To the left is a sketch of someone at the theater.

The best part of the film viewing is that Ginger Stanley attended. Ms. Stanley was the stand-in for Julia Adams in ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’. She spoke before and after the film about her experiences in the film and answered questions. After the viewing she was outside the theater greeting fans and signing autographs, which she did for hours. Below is the autograph and below that is a photo of Ms. Stanley and myself.

My first entry of my new Rob’s Video Sketchbook. Friends, J.R. Griggs and Mark Shilensky suggested this and I’m giving it a go. The first one is clunky, but it’s a start. below is the sketch. All done at the Steak ‘n Shake on 17-92 in Winter Park.

Butch Wilson is the curator of the Clewiston Museum. He also has a large family. He left his home with forty people there to open the museum for our group of mostly hikers the day after Thanksgiving. He gave us a tour, a twenty minute talk and all the courtesy one could. It is heartwarming to see such dedication to educate and inspire others of the history, heritage and culture of our great state of Florida. A sketch of Butch is below along with sketches I made of inhabitants of the Lake Okeechobee region at one time.

Sandra made our way into Palm Beach County and made a stop at Lion Country Safari. They’ve recently celebrated 40 years at their location. We saw plenty of critters including the spring monkeys above that I sketched.

 Made a trip into Gainesville to pick up materials for the McCain campaign. Quickly sketched these University of Florida students waiting for the light to change, as I was, at a Gainesville corner.

After running around for the McCain campaign, I headed over to the Springs Festival dinner for sponsors, the Springs Festival committee and politicians at Silver Springs. Sandra has been gone in Southwest Florida this past week working on stories and updating a book. She had driven from there to be at the dinner.

There were a number of speakers. Below is one of those continuing to sducate us about the fragility of our water supply in Florida.

We made our way onto the Big Cypress Reservation to the Billie Swamp Safari. Above is a croc that lives around the swamp buggy ride we took.

Above is a tree, with bucket chapeau, I sketched along the swamp buggy trail.

We also took an airboat ride. I sketched these as the airboat roared along.

Billie Swamp Safari is a terrific place that all Floridians and non-Floridians should make a must-stop!

Later we had dinner with friends Kathy Wolfe, Phyllis Malinksy and the ever-jolly Rob Labby at Tropical Acres Restaurant. Above is Rob entertaining us all.

Our first stop during our Volusia County tour was Ponce Preserve. It’s a park that has a combo of opportunities to experience the original natural Florida tidal area of this part of the east coast. See the site for details. It’s a GREAT park and well worth the trip whether you take the boardwalk, the natural trail or head out to the beach.

Our next stop was Sugar Mill Gardens. It is the site of a sugar mill, a theme park, a Civil War site and a Seminole Indian War site. It covers it all. There is no doubt ‘Bongoland’ is the most interesting. I’ll let this site explain it as I run out of time to type all of this. By the way, I counted 7 dinosaurs. Above is one of them.

We continued our Volusia County tour with a stop at the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences.WHATTAPLACE!!!!Everyting from greek statues (See right) to antique cars to Florida history to pirates to actual train cars to….It’s an amazing place!We made a stop at Zeno’s, a favorite of ours,

We next stopped at a favorite of our in Volusia County, Zeno’s. They have two locations. We stopped at the one on A1A. Got ice cream and salt water taffy. Above is cover of the box of the saltwater taffy we picked up. I love the historical photos.

After Zeno’s we wandered up A1A to Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area. The park, that includes beach access, is named for the Florida troubador, Gamble Rogers, who sang and told stories of Florida’s history, environment and a series of characters that dwelled in our state in the fictional area of Ocklawaha County.I got to meet and work with Gamble back in the ’80s when I was working with Florida music and storytellers festivals and groups. He was a sight to behold. A very calm and steady performer. I’m reading a number of books about Dean Martin. Gamble was the easygoing come-what-may Dean Martin on stage.It was a tragedy he died in the surf at the very spot where this park is. He was trying to save another person caught in the rough waters. We happened to be there when there was a red flag warning of the rough surf and dangerous waters at the beach as it was when Gamble died. The difference now is an actual red flag atop a pole flapping in the wind, see the sketch to the right. At the time of Gamble’s death there were no flags there. Too bad the story of Gamble’s death isn’t at the park. I felt like chasing after the people in the surf and warning them of the dangers and of the reason why the park area is named after Gamble.

We finished our trip in Marion County and had dinner at Lena’s Restaurant, where you can have a “whale of a meal”.To the left is the papertowel holder on every table.