Florida, the Sunshine State

In the last year, I've walked three different coasts of the U.S.

The beach in Galveston, Texas, was not particularly enthralling ... Although, there were some cool paintings on this type of cliff that ran along the beach. We only stopped long enough to walk around and take pictures, but I don't think we were too disappointed missing out on the murky water and stinky fish.

The West Coast ... a fabled, popularized phrase and dream that most people use to glaze over the reality of the dark sand and frigid waters. But it was pretty nice, I'll admit it. Great for nature-lovers, appreciators of beauty, and die-hard WC natives. The Oregon Coast does hold a special place in my heart, it was rather captivating.

And I've just returned from Florida two days ago. There's a reason people put up with the massive insects and arachnids (Have you ever seen a Banana Spider? EW) and getting boiled alive in humidity. And it is the beaches.

Beautiful white sands are endless in your eyes and mostly warm waves make your eyes burn with salt. We had SO much fun getting pushed around by the waves, joking about shark attacks, only to be surprised by a school of jumping fish right around us. "Why are they doing that?" asked one of my cousins to her dad. "Well ... that means there's a bigger fish around somewhere." We all got a little nervous and backed up, only to miss seeing three dolphins up close as they followed the school of fish.

(This is my cousin Andrew.)

The following is also somewhere around Florida ... and yes, those would be sharks and people in the same location.

I got waaay too much sun, as my peeling nose and forehead can attest, but it was definitely a great time spent on that Florida beach. (Crescent Beach, in case you are wondering.)

Some of the other wildlife we saw (or didn't see) were alligators.

Yes indeed, this is THE gator of University of Florida. I do have a small amount of allegiance to UF. My Grandpa Tillman taught there years ago, and though I might have grown out of my UF t-shirts, I still sometimes cheer for them.

This was the only black widow I saw on my grandparents' back porch, but probably one of 10 large spiders seen in one night. I CANNOT do large arachnids. I cannot.

(This was probably a leg-span of at least 2.5 inches ... I didn't really want to measure too closely.)

Anyway, we had a family reunion in Gainesville, more accurately, Alachua. My grandparents own farmland, and so we had a grand time wandering their tree-farm and swimming in my uncle's pool, which is also on the property. The Itchatucknee River, a natural lazy river, is a tradition that is definitely loved and looked forward to, as you sit on a tube and float down a crystal clear river.

Boiled peanuts. I love them. People back west think they're weird, or nasty, or just plain wrong. And I admit, if I hadn't eaten them before, I would think there is something odd about eating a very wet, slimy and mushy peanut. But there is something so satisfying about opening a shell and finding four plumped peanuts jammed together, perfect for the taking. mmmm. And I plan on broadening a few horizons when I get back to Provo ... watch out!

Needless to say, it was a great family reunion ... and this photo is still missing 20 people.

Word of the Day: undercast \UHN-der-kast\, noun; Something viewed from above through another medium, as of clouds viewed through an airplane.