Sunday, March 30, 2008

Sunset over Lake Jessup

These photos were taken on March 29, 2008 from Central Winds Park in Winter Springs, Florida at dusk. There was a very nice sunset over Lake Jessup...

Over a football field in Central Winds Park...

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Sulphur Springs Water Tower

Sulphur Springs Water Tower
The Sulphur Springs Water Tower is a mysterious castle-like tower along the shore of the Hillsborough River. The water tower provided water for the town of Sulphur Springs. Sulphur Springs was once a town that was located north of Tampa, Florida. The town had started to evolve into a tourist attraction and built an alligator farm. There were plans for an amusement park, then the Great Depression hit, and all of the plans fell through, and the town slowly died.

Today, most of what remains of Sulphur Springs sits abandoned, as a reminder of the past...

Follow the link for more:

LINK: Sulphur Springs Water Tower

Railroad Relic?

Mysterious Marker

While biking on the Seminole Wekiva Trail and the Cross Seminole Trail through the Central Florida Area, I've been noticing several strange concrete markers with numbers on them. The marker pictured is located along the Seminole Wekiva Trail in Lake Mary. I find markers like this a bit intriguing, leaving me wondering what exactly they are marking. My guess is that they have something to do with the railroads that used to run along the sections of trail where the markers can be found.

Does anyone have any information about these, whether my railroad hunch is right, and what do the numbers mean?

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Space Shuttle Camera

Cool first person perspective video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS 123) launching last week...

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Citrus From the Past...

Seminole Wekiva Trail

Along the Seminole Wekiva Trail, somewhere in Sanford, Florida, I came across this little historical marker...

Citrus Packing House

The sign said...

Citrus Packing House:
The Umatilla Fruit Company was located here besides the Sanford and Lake Eustis Railroad Tracks and served the citrus industry that flourished in the Paola/Sylvan Lake area.

The Seminole Wekiva Trail was built on top of abandoned railroad tracks. You occasionally get little glimpses of the past from signs like these, a random railroad tie on the side of the trail, or even old railroad trestles.

Right across from this sign on the opposite side of the trail, this gift for patrons of the trail was set up with free oranges, tangerines, and kumquats. Could this fruit be from some leftover trees from when the citrus industry in the area was centered around this spot?

Citrus Packing House
Citrus Packing House

The fruit was in front of this old tin-roofed house. Could this be an old building leftover from the citrus packing house as well?

Citrus Packing House

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Curvy Pedestrian Bridge

Pedestrian Bridge

A new pedestrian bridge for a new leg of the Cross Seminole Trail has gone up over 17-92 in Longwood, Florida. It's very curvy...

Monday, March 10, 2008

Osprey Thunderbird?

Identify this bird! It looks like an osprey to me, only it is way too big! The picture was taken on from the temporary Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, Florida. The bird was no more than ten feet away and stood at least three feet tall. Any clues?

Osprey?

Could large birds like this be the source of the thunderbird legends?

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Space Shuttle Launch

Space Shuttle Endeavour is having a night launch early Tuesday morning. That means stay up late Monday night to watch it!

Endeavour Launch







It turned out to be cloudy, so I couldn't see the launch.
:-(

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Storm Bats...

Several bats were flying around yesterday evening as a big storm was approaching. I'm not sure what type of bats they were. I don't really know how to identify bats by their silhouettes as they swoop by eating mosquitoes...

Friday, March 7, 2008

Lake Mary Pedestrian Bridge



In a previous post, I put up pictures of the Lake Mary Farmers Market. To follow up on that post, I am going to talk about the bridge that was built crossing Lake Mary Blvd in front of City Hall where the Farmers Market was held.



Not long ago, two pedestrian bridges were built crossing over Lake Mary Blvd. The bridges took an insanely long time to build. I believe they were scheduled to be open for the start of the 2006 school year. Over a year later, they were finally finished for the 2007 school year. One bridge is located at Rinehart Road and the other is at Country Club Road crossing Lake Mary Blvd between City Hall and Lake Mary Elementary. Once the bridges were finally finished, I was actually surprised how ugly they were. Seminole County has built some nice looking pedestrian bridges for their trails, but these two aren't very ascetically pleasing in my opinion. Compare these bridges to the suspension bridge crossing I-4 and you'll see what I mean. Ugly or not, I walked across the bridge in front of City Hall for the first time last Saturday. Here are the pictures I took...






View from the bridge...

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Lake Mary Farmers Market

vendors at the farmers market

This past Saturday I went to the Lake Mary Farmers Market. The farmers market is in Downtown Lake Mary in front of City Hall. I was actually surprised by the amount of vendors at the event, especially since it has been a weekly thing for a few months now. It seems like when neighboring cities attempt farmers markets, they all seem to fail miserably after not long at all.

All I am going to say is good luck Lake Mary. It was a nice event with some decent vendors, and I hope it continues...
Lake Mary Clocktower
farmers market
farmers market