I was in Tampa to speak to classes at the St. John Greek Orthodox Day School. I had a great time and I hope I inspired some young folks to be more creative. Above is a drawing I was handed by “The Boys”, as they called themselves.

Afterward we had a good lunch at a restaurant on Howard Avenue, ‘Seven 17 South’. Another restaurant that isn’t creative enough to name itself beyond it’s address. Afterward we went to a place called ‘Daily Eats’. It’s in the place of the legendary ‘Meeting House’ diner. The newer place has kept the interior and, as was obvious when there, a very popular spot. There’s a small sketch I made of a tiled doorway corner. Below is a – Sorry- blurry interior shot and a photo from the outside.

We wandered Apalachicola for the early part of the day. Visiting many shops and meeting lots of folks. Among those met was Gil Autrey whose wife runs her own photography store. The last name begged me to ask if he is any relation to 1920s Mayor L.M. Autrey of Orlando. He’s Mayor Autrey’s grandson. What’s more Gil was a Mayor himself of Valdosta, Georgia. We had a great talk.

Then the storms came. I needed to get back to the Gibson Inn to work on a project. The storms had another idea. The intense storm blew through and blew out the electricity. Not just to the hotel, but to the entire city. I could have worked on the laptop computer anyway. The concern was that we had no idea when electricity might return and what if I drained the computers battery? The storm raged on and we took a nap.

Later the electricity returned and left and returned and left and seemed to finally have returned for good. We made our way to a restaurant named Verandas Bistro at about 8:30. The folks at the restaurant said our timing was good because their electricity had returned only twenty minutes earlier.

I had earlier finished the sketch book that the sketches in this blog come from. I had started it April 12th of last year and it almost made a year. I began the new one with the drawing of Sandra above. There was a fellow playing saxophone on the outside veranda. Karl Dappen is great and we were shocked that he had the Jimmy Van Heusen tune, ‘Apalachicola, F-L-A’ was on his song list. The song opens the Hope and Crosby film, ‘Road to Rio’ and it was on our song list during our wedding. Dappen adapted the tune for saxophone and despite the tricky notes in the music Dappen played an incredible rendition! Here are a couple sketches of Dappen playing.

We made our way to Apalachicola to celebrate our anniversary. Sandra had us staying at the historic Gibson Inn and we had dinner at the restaurant inside- Avenue Sea. The sketch is of a table setting in the restaurant.

On Friday we wandered Apalachicola. I had to go back to the room for a while as I had a project to work on.  Later we had dinner at Papa Joes Oyster & Grill. The sketch here is of a dredging crane that sat still in the bay.

We made a trip to White Springs so that Sandra could drop off a ton of materials for the upcoming hiking festival and to test a hike she will be leading a “V.I.P.” group on Saturday. The test was to see how much of the trail was passable due to recent high water levels of the adjacent Suwannee River. We tried getting through a number of ways but kept running into the Suwannee running over the trail or thick clusters of saw palmetto being impossible to find a way around the water. The hope is that the water recedes and the trail will be passable Saturday. Otherwise, Sandra will have to take them down boring dirt roadways used by government vehicles to do whatever they do. It was a lot of walking for me, but much needed. Above is a sketch of a native azalea. Click here to see a photo of the azalea flowers at Genuine Florida.

Here is a sketch of the former Adams Dry Goods Store that has clocked a hundred years and still stands proudly at the main crossroads of White Springs.

It was Sandra’s birthday and that evening headed to Alachua and had dinner at a great and very popular spot, Conestoga’s. Friend Phyliss Walinsky joined us. We had a terrific meal of steaks and, courtesy of the restaurant, birthday cake ice cream. Below are a few drawings of  a few sitting near us. The middle lady was a bit odd and ended up creating a bit of a spectacle in the restaurant. The end guy looked a bit Burt Lahr-ish.

I made a trip to Umatilla to go to a booksale and found Florida historical opportunities! For more of that you’ll need to click here once I link it.

Otherwise, here’s a sketch of the inside of the old 1800’s Ferran Department Store in Downtown Eustis where I got some drawing done Saturday afternoon. Please excuse the quick color. The wooden corner piece is free standing and is being used as a divider from the cooking area. The corner piece is part of the original department store building.

We had dinner with a couple of Sandra’s hiking buddies. The couple were the ones that Sandra on the trail of being a professional hiker. The dinner spot was ‘Charlie Horse’ in Ocala.

The drawing is of an oar that is part of the various wall decoration at the restaurant.

Sandra was off early getting pics and info of Dunedin. I joined fellow Suncoast Inkslingers for our monthly meeting downstaris by the Palm Grill at the Belleview Biltmore.

Later, after getting a ride from Ron Johnson, I met back with Sandra and we got a meal at the Captain’s Italian Restaurant in Safety Harbor. Ron joined us. As did Sioux Hart and Jim Fern. Jim lives nearby and this is his favorite hang-out. We could see why – Excellent food and atmosphere! Above is a sketch of a bit of interior of the restaurant.

Here’s an interesting looking bloke reading the St. Petersburg Times at the Suncoast Faimly Restaurant in Largo. It was our first stop for Sandra’s whirlwind stops throughout Pinellas County. The restaurant has great breakfasts! Very tasty all around. Most surprising were the plethora of Northern accents in the location and still they had great grits!!!!

I went back to the Belleview Biltmore, where we stayed for the three days. I caped out in the ice cream and coffee shop, Maisies, in the resort and drew away until dinner time.

Sandra was everywhere getting info. Ann Sabo helped her review Safety Harbor.

Later Sandra and I were joined by my brother, Jeff, and his friend, Steve. We went over to the Biltmore’s beach side restaurant, The Cabana Grill. Excellent Food! After that we took the Belleview Biltmore’s “Ghost Tour’.

We arrived for a two day stay at the Belleview Biltmore Friday evening. We checked many a location and I deviated the trip slightly for our yearly encounter with author Tim Dorsey to purchase a couple of his new books. He was signing his new novel, ‘Atomic Lobster’ at the Borders at Tyrone Square Mall.

We then went hunting for a restaurant to add to Sandra’s new book update for her Central Florida travel guide and came across ‘Greek Islands Restaurant’ in Largo. We highly recommend it! Very, very good food for a modest price. If you go there nab their mousse cake that looks like a mouse! So, for the art included in this post is a photo of the mouse mousse.

Our first stop this day was to the Florida Caverns State Park. You can see a photo of the caverns here. 

Here is a sketch I drew while taking the tour.

From there we toured Marianna. Making stops at the Chamber of Commerce and the wonderful building it’s in.

	We made many, many, many stops afterward. We went through ten counties and ten times as many stops. Not that we mind. What an outstanding way to experiencing our great State of Florida and all it has to offer!Our final stop was at Staff’s Restaurant, the oldest seafood restaurant in Florida. Here’s a sketch of a part of the fascinating interior.