Hollistic Holiday at Sea

Dan and I had never been on a cruise together, so this was something we thought we might pursue while in Florida. As it turned out, a cruise called "Holistic Holiday at Sea" came up at the same time we planned to be in area, and with just a little tweaking of our schedule we were able to make all the arrangements necessary to go on this adventure.

The group we were traveling with included a macrobiotic vegan chef, so all of our meals were perfect for the way we eat. We were also treated to seven days of workshops and lectures by esteemed authors and presenters such as Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. Joan Borysenko, vegan cookbook authors, and a variety of entertainment.

Our ports-of-call included Key West, Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Georgetown (Cayman Islands), and Cozumel (Mexico). The food was wonderful, the weather warm and mild, and being catered to for an entire week with no more responsibilities than showing up for gourmet vegan meals was a real treat!! We've both agreed that if we ever do another cruise, it will again be with "Holistic Holiday at Sea". 

 

  

Key Largo & Everglades National Park

Our original plan was to begin our Florida visit with a one-month stay in the Keys, but when Dan needed to have neck surgery in December, our plans were set back by a month, so we arrived in Florida mid February instead of mid-January. Following our Capitol Tour of Tallahassee, we visited briefly with friends from Canada who were staying in Zephyrhills, then moved on to Ft. Lauderdale for a week while awaiting a cruise that sailed out on February 27th. During that week we did some touring, picking up a trip to Key Largo and a visit to The Everglades National Park.

Key Largo is the first, or northern most, of the keys most people are aware of, although there are actually 4500 islands in this archipelago that begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula. Key Largo is a popular tourist destination and calls itself the "Diving Capital of the World" because the living coral reef a few miles offshore. We visited the John Pennekamp state park while there to see the coral reef and the marine life that it supports.

The Everglades visit allowed us close-up views of alligators, nesting birds, and marine life, all living in a fragile ecosystem protected under the National Park system. The Everglades are wetlands created by a slow-moving river originating in Lake Okeechobee, fed by the Kissimmee River, and flowing southwest at about .25 miles per day into Florida Bay. The park protects an interconnected network of marshland and forest ecosystems that are maintained by natural forces. Thirty-six species designated as threatened or protected live in the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee. The park protects the largest U.S. wilderness area east of the Mississippi River, is the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America, and contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the western hemisphere. More than 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles live within Everglades National Park. All of South Florida's fresh water, which is stored in the Biscayne Aquifer, is recharged in the park.

Tallahassee, Florida

From Baton Rouge we headed east, just skimming the southern most sections of Mississippi and Alabama to find our way to Florida, where we plan to spend the next 6 weeks. Our first stop was Tallahassee for the Capitol Tour. Much to our surprise, this, too, was a towering capitol building, although not quite as tall as the one in Baton Rouge. The 23rd floor housed an enclosed lookout tower, and again, it provided fantastic views of the surrounding capitol grounds and the city at large. The inside of the capitol was functional, with a few highlights, such as the engraved State Seal on the floor of the first level, and a mural depicting scenes representative of the Florida environment. There was also an interesting photography exhibition on the 22nd level depicting the many faces of hard working Floridians.

Sitting directly in front of this very tall capitol building was the Old Capitol, which much to our delight, was open to the public. We found the architecture and design much more pleasing, and the displays spanned the history of Florida using posters and video clips. Another treat was the capitol dome, a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors, made bright by the sun shinning through.

We capped off the day with a visit to the Tallahassee Museum of Natural Science, where we walked around outside for a couple of hours among rescued wildlife indigenous to the area, rare historic buildings including a small plantation, and beautiful natural scenery.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

We finally got the green light from Dan's doctor to travel again, so it didn’t take us long to pack everything up and start moving towards Florida. Since Baton Rouge was along our route, we took advantage of the opportunity to stop for a couple of days for the Capitol tour. This capitol building is like none other we've visited before, and indeed, is quite unique, being the tallest state capitol in the United States. The building is 450 feet high with 34 floors, with an observation deck on the 27th floor. The day we were there was clear and bright, so the view of Baton Rouge from this vantage point was spectacular.

The entrance to the capitol has a grand staircase with one step for each of the 48 states, listed in order of their admittance to the Union. Alaska and Hawaii were added to the top step when they were made states, well after the March 1932 completion date of the capitol. We explored the first floor, really the only area that was open to tourists, as both the Senate Chambers and House of Representatives were being remodeled. Huey P. Long, former governor of Louisiana, was assassinated in the Capitol Building, and his body is enshrined on the Capitol grounds. There is a showcase near the sight he was shot displaying newspaper articles depicting this historical and tragic event.

We were sorry to find out that the Old Capitol wasn't open to the public, as it looked like it might have been more interesting than the current more modern capitol building, but we did manage to walk the square block around it, and take some pictures of the very beautiful structure. The rest of our tour day consisted of walking along the Mississippi River on part of a designated river walkway and enjoying the beautiful weather.