We woke to very chilly temps this Sunday morning — heavens, only in the 60's!! However will we cope with the cold temperatures back home? We've become fond of sleeping on top of the blankets, in summer pj's, with the windows open!
We are in the Tampa area as we make our way northward, soon to return to Maine. We have mixed feelings — Florida is so beautiful, and we finally understand what motivates snow-birds to leave our equally lovely Maine. But we are missing our family and friends, our daughter, grandchildren, our adorable dog Willie who must be VERY confused by now, and our kitty Pumpernickel. I imagine our reunion this weekend will be very sweet indeed. Oddly, what we don't miss so much is the house... again, we realize how easy it would be to live in a 19-foot trailer full-time!
When we arrived here yesterday, our campsite was not yet available, but we were able to park the Zeppelin in a beach lot, pack a picnic lunch, and hike a bit in the State Park we're visiting. We're only a couple of hours north of the Everglades, and yet the landscape has shifted dramatically — this is part of what makes Florida so interesting! Once settled in and hooked up, we headed into the city of Tampa, where we encountered the "Ybor City" district. This is where the Cuban cigar industry in America was established in the latter 1800's.
The area is named after Vicente Martinez Ybor, a Spaniard who went to Cuba as a young man, learned the cigar trade, and amassed a small fortune. Seeking the freedom to escape the rise of organized labor (and revolutionary rumblings), he emigrated to Key West for awhile, found it difficult to move his inventory, as the Key was not then connected to the mainland. And so he came to this location, where with a few other early industrialists he helped establish the community (and where, to his dismay, he still had to deal with organized labor).
This is now a National Historical Landmark District, and is very charming, as well as architecturally lovely. Buildings have been well maintained or restored. We loved the old storefronts with balconied apartments upstairs, and can imagine the place in its heyday, when we imagine lovely ladies sat on the balconies blowing kisses to handsome boys below.
We made a stop at the Ybor City Museum State Park, which provided good exhibits about the Cubans, Spaniards, Italians, and European Jews who arrived to work in the cigar factories, or to open businesses serving those who worked in them.
But mostly our time was spent strolling up and down the pretty Main Street, enjoying the architecture and ducking into a couple of vintage-clothing shops — my favorite thing!
We finished the day with a good meal at the beautiful Columbia Restaurant, which serves Spanish food, and has been run by the same family since 1905. We both chose dishes that are original to the place, and what a delight to consider ourselves eating from recipes served continuously since that time. The interior and exterior architecture here is beautiful, and I swear, that makes the food taste even better.
I know you guys are gonna bring some of that heat with you right? Because hear March is doing the lion thing. Good to see you in tank top. And to hear that due to FLA's length the topo graphy is very varied and you can see why people flock there in Winter. Me too. Sometimes. Barefoot. Temperate. Lots of life around. I hear what you say about swearing the architecture makes the food taste even better. Me a lover of mood and ambiance.
Cute little worker houses. Even if they weren't union. :-)
Posted by: jenny | March 24, 2009 at 11:09 AM