Off the Beaten Path Patrol

My favorite travel quote comes from Jack Kerouac. It is “Live, Travel, Adventure, Bless, and don’t be sorry”. We set out on our road trip to Palm Island, Florida with this thought guiding our way. We knew our destination was a 6-minute ferry ride to our very own island for a week. We also knew we would end up in the heart of the great shelling on the Southwestern coast of Florida.

One mile north of U.S. 41 on Florida’s Southwest Coast is North Point, home to the only warm mineral spring in Florida. People from all over the world come to soak in this “Fountain of Youth”. The waters are believed to have extradinary healing powers. We had to find out for ourselves.

I have strong memories from my childhood vacations to Keystone Heights in north central Florida to visit my dad’s mom and family. Once each trip we would head off to Saint Augustine in my great- uncle’s Cadillac. I remember the huge old fort, the smell of the ocean, and the trees of unknown origin. Last winter, we stopped for an afternoon on our way to Seabrook Island, South Carolina. My return trip brought back these great memories and much more.

A few miles south on US29 from our home base in Everglades City, we discovered Chokoloskee Island. It is a wonderful Off the Beaten Path spot with great food, photography, fishing and the historical and mysterious Smallwood Store.

From our home base in Everglades City, we headed out to get an up close look and feel of the Everglades. We wanted to photograph its beauty and somehow understand how this amazing “River of Grass” works. We went in February so there were few bugs and temperatures were between 55º to75º. We walked on boardwalk trails, drove our car way back non-paved roads and took a 2 hour boat ride. What we found left us amazed. The interconnections between the animal and plant life with the salt and freshwater underline the international importance of this natural wonder.

As part of our 36^th Anniversary celebration, we headed off on a 25-day road trip to Florida. We wanted to revisit some of the places we discovered on our honeymoon in 1979. At the top of our list were The Everglades. We wanted a home base because we wanted to spend a couple of days in the area exploring and taking photographs. We chose the Everglades City Rod and Gun Club as our place to land. It is the Western Gateway to The Everglades National Park.

To celebrate the 100^th birthday of Tennessee’s Statehood, Nashville built the 1897 Centennial and International Exposition. Many states and major industries built exhibits for the celebration. A full-scale replica of the Parthenon was the centerpiece and is the only remaining building. It sits in what is Nashville’s premiere urban park. It makes for a great afternoon walk, picnic, and time for reflection on the big thinkers and dreamers that made the Parthenon possible.

Our trip to see the Angel Oak Tree near Charleston, South Carolina was far more powerful than I had expected. The only other time I've felt so overwhelmed, humbled and stunned at the sheer majesty of Mother Nature was standing in the Redwood Forest.

Combine a 30-mile trip on My Old Kentucky Dinner Train through the heart of Kentucky Bourbon Country during October, with good friends and a great lunch; you have a bucket list afternoon. Bardstown, Kentucky is the home of this great destination experience.

Traveling to Irish Acres Gallery of Antiques from any direction takes you through the heart of the Kentucky horse country. The beautiful drive takes you past horse barn after horse barn that would be the envy of any human being. The stonewalls that line the narrow winding road remind you of a time gone by. We were meeting our extended family for lunch at “The Glitz” located in the gallery. We were off the beaten path in the small town of Nonesuch, Kentucky, 10 miles outside of Versailles.