The “Outer Limits” or “My First Visit to Florida”

Since June, the announcement of an engagement in my family was quickly followed by a plan for the wedding–during the holiday week–in January–in Daytona Beach. PANIC! was the operative emotion. Suddenly the norm went by the wayside as our family processed the fact of the first wedding of our kids’ generation and the fact there there would be travel with lots of stuff right during Christmas vacation. Oh boy.

Well, it happened and I am happy to report that I have my first officially sanctioned daughter added to a group of 3 sons. She is lovely, smart and capable. And in order to get to that point, we went to a Strange Land. You see, I’ve never been further south than Charleston, SC and quite honestly, I’m a Yankee through and through. I *have* to have that obvious change of seasons, fall color, cold weather and something that resounds in my genetic material that says, “You’re home in the land of your ancestors”. Home would never be Florida for me BUT the weirdness of the place is appealing to visit (as long as I get to go back north). So, for those of you who have never been to the coastal south Atlantic or who celebrate the tropical feel– I have some posts coming up for you this week.

We rented a 1920’s bungalow in Daytona Beach for a week. It was a quirky place that a builder bought and updated the interior. The upstairs had those ceilings that are low and angle in so that you stoop at the walls. The mirror over the sink in the adjoining upstairs bath gave me a great view of only my navel. My tall son bent low to get around his bedroom as the ceiling came slanting down. These are things that make for memories you laugh about, so it’s all OK. There was a lovely screened back porch overlooking a lagoon pool.

Following are a series of pictures to show the house exterior and the yard. I presume there are palmettos and palms (please feel free in put in corrections to my comments as I do not know much about Florida botany/horticultural choices). Palmettos have these really cool “pockets” formed by the leaf to trunk structure that seems to support all kinds of vines, ferns and other plants. No doubt each pocket collects compostable detritus and moisture to support that jungle of growth. I saw mostly evergreen tropicals in Daytona, more than conifers or deciduous trees. In fact, if you go to a big box store like Lowes, their indoor plant offerings are likely to be growing in gigantic proportions outdoors here. The other interesting fauna item–as soon as we arrived and set foot on the driveway—scatter and scoot! A lizard we refer to as Anoles (and some other types) were EVERYWHERE sunning themselves, climbing rocks, trees and in plantings. My son spent a fair amount of time catching them and letting the critters climb on him.

Click to enlarge for detail.