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@(tbd) Tarpon Springs

5/7/2019

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​Our inventory of grape leaves was low, photo shoots in interesting local areas did not happen for months, so it was off to Tarpon Springs. Very interesting stop in downtown Tarpon (not the sponge docks) was a visit to the Historic Train Depot Museum. We met Tom, the 'curator' who brought to light so !!! many interesting facts about Tarpon Springs history we could never imagine. 

​Did you know Tarpon Springs was the first 'hub' of development a future Pinellas County, it is part of the largest land purchase (4 million areas for $1.0 million) just behind the Louisiana Purchase and Alaska (wow!). The year ... somewhere around 1880 when Florida was in financial trouble and the investors said "hey, open land, sand, a good place for real estate development". It wasn't until 1920 when a Greek entrepreneur found this to be a great place for the sponge industry and called home (Greece) and enticed 25 families to come to America. 

We walked the sponge docks (nothing really changed, just low end (cheap) novelty stores, but before the photo walk we found an out of the way Greek diner - next to an auto repair shop. Two Gyros for $8.99!   
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@?? Cedar Key

5/6/2019

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​Cedar Key is one our Florida trips 'list'... It is "old Florida". Narrow streets lined with shops, locals and tourists, neat cafes and dining at a slower pace. Cedar Key is a clamming, fishing, and an artist village with a tourist trade. The tourism is seasonal and most visitors are looking for a low key sort of vacation. Richard and Sharleen were looking to get together, and we thought this would be a good full day trip. Travel was a little over 2 hours and we all caught up with each other during the drive. Once we turned off Rt19 north onto Rt 24 west ... well 24 miles later we entered Cedar Key. As we parked, we saw marine police at the small marina (and came to learn, they were extracting one of the three bodies from a small place crash into the Gulf reported two days earlier. We walked the street and found a General Store that served freshly ground coffee - delicious!

Finishing coffee we proceeded walking the main street (but were somewhat disappointed) and realized much had changed as a result of the major tropical storm that saw major storm water destroying much of the businesses. Getting close to noon, and feeling hungry, I had found a popular eating establishment a few blocks away - Tony's that was well know for Cedar Key clam chowder - a must try!. We ordered Poo Boys, Shrimp sandwiches (both to split) and clam chowder.  Oh, our 'professional' server did not have a clue what fish was part of the Poo Boy, delivered the sandwiches BEFORE the soup, never brought drinks and never served condiments we requested. As Ginger and I waited for dressings and soup, our food (after 15 minutes) got cold, I walked up to the kitchen and politely shared "our food is cold, we do not have condiments, we did not recive our ordered soup or all the drinks. (they apologized, removed what was served, re-ordered hot food and all turned out fine - oh, the Potvin's had finaished their meal and were served a second!

After Cedar key we headed home and made a stop at the Yullie Sugar Cane Ruins for a photo shoot (me).
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