August 28 – September 13, 2026
After less than a week at home, we turned right back around and hit the road, this time south and east to the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Brandy is in charge of several properties in Florida, spanning across multifamily living, mobile home communities, and RV resorts. In an effort to provide some on-site face-to-face interaction time with her employees, she decided to take a 2-week trip to the area and asked if Ash and I would like to join her.
We eagerly agreed.
Long Drive
This was to the inaugural trip for Francesca, our 2023 Hyundai Palisade. I packed her up, drugged up Ash and headed out on Friday, August 28, after Brandy finished up her work day. We drove almost 5 hours, finding ourselves in O’Fallon, IL, just on the other side of the Mississippi river from St. Louis. The drive there was rough, Ash was not content and kept trying to climb into the front seat with us. Having captain’s chairs in the second row, I folded them flat and spanned them with a padded board I’d made in the brief time we had the Nissan Odyssey minivan. This wound up being the issue. After fighting with him for several more hours on Saturday, we decided to pitch the board, and Brandy moved into the back seat. Once he had unobstructed access to the floor of the vehicle, he calmed down somewhat. Brandy rode the rest of the way to Florida in the back seat with him.
We stopped for another night in Dalton, Georgia then made the rest of the drive Sunday, August 30, arriving at our AirBnB in Port Richey just after 3:00 pm.
I unloaded the car, got everything set up then ran to the nearby Publix for 2 weeks’ worth of groceries. $400 later, I was back at the home and ready to call it a night.
The Accommodations
The AirBnB was an older home that had been added on to over the years. There was a small one-car garage that I am convinced had been converted to a studio apartment that was actively being rented while we were there – a Mercedes SUV would often be parked in the driveway alongside Franny.
There was also a small shed/Mother-in-Law’s quarters in the back yard. That, I’m not sure was occupied.
There was a large, screened in porch in the back yard, just beyond which was a small above-ground pool. The pool, sadly, went untouched as it rained pretty much every day of the two weeks we were there, and only stopped on days that we were out and about for the day.
The front also had a smaller screened in porch, with a concrete lion standing guard
A concrete bench standing in the middle of the xeriscaped potion of the yard
And, far and away my favorite part of the AirBnB, the 7 foot tall, three-tiered fountain…
…with a plastic pink flamingo floating on one of the tiers.
Otherwise, the kitchen was oddly shaped due to the expansions from its original footprint, the placement of items made zero sense (the coffee pot was placed on what was supposed to be a coffee bar, but there were no outlets in the alcove so the drip machine had to move to the main counter to be used), there was no hardware on any of the cabinets or drawers and the faces were situated so that they were exceptionally difficult to open using those overlays, the garbage can was in another room entirely, the largest frying pan they had to offer was smaller than my hand… overall, it was a bit of a frustrating experience, but nothing a trip to the nearby thrift store couldn’t fix.
More pictures from around the AirBnB can be found on the Photo Diary.
Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park
Just across highway 19 from the AirBnB is the Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park, a swampy gateway into the Gulf of Mexico. I took a half day Thursday to get my four-day holiday weekend started early and drove over with the new Canon to see what I could see.
Unfortunately, it had rained pretty much all week, and continued, even during my visit to the park, so everything was muddy, the mosquitos were out in full force, and in an effort to protect the camera from the elements, I decided to cut the trip a little shorter than I’d wanted to.
I did take a few pictures with the new DSLR, which are in their usual location, in the Photo Diary.
Sponge Docks
Apparently, Tarpon Springs is the Sponge Capital of the World thanks to the arrival of deep-sea divers that immigrated from Greece in the early 1900s. Using their expertise, they harvested natural sponges from the deep waters of the Gulf and created an industry in the town and the industry continues to this day.
The Sponge Docks is a historic waterfront district that leans heavily into its Greek heritage with many shops, restaurants and even street signs in Greek.
I took a solo trip to the district that Friday with the new Canon in tow. I took a handful of pictures just to get a feel for the device and what it can do, even in full auto mode. Brandy had taken Franny to her property so I hailed an Uber and was at the Sponge Docks just after 10:00 am. I wandered up and down Dodecanese Blvd, snapping pictures on the waterfront, stopping for lunch at Mykonos at noon-ish.
After eating way too much Greek food, I headed on down to Hellas for a tray of baklava and a box of kourabiedes, then I hailed an Uber for the ride home.
Pictures from my outing are in the Photo Diary, where they belong.
Thrifting, Couples Massage, and Honeymoon Island, Attempt One
Saturday, with Brandy off work, we headed out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel, my first breakfast of Momma’s French Toast in who knows how long. After our post-breakfast shopping stroll through the Country Store that yielded two large bags of stuff, we headed south toward Honeymoon Island State Park. We stopped at a nice Goodwill on the way, then took note of other thrift stores along the way to the beach.
As we pulled in to the line of cars waiting to get into the park, we decided to try the beach another day. I made a U-turn, stopped at a gift shop for some trinkets, and then made our way back to the Sponge Docks.
We strolled some more then headed over to a massage parlor for a 60-minute couples massage. After a quick stop at Winn-Dixie, we found ourselves back at the AirBnB for the night.
Return to Honeymoon Island and More Shopping
Sunday morning, we made an early escape from the AirBnB and headed straight to Honeymoon Island. We paid the admission fee and found a surprisingly uncrowded beachfront with ample parking. We found a spot right up against the sand and got out for a stroll among the waves.
We found ourselves on a shallow sandbar picking up cool shells and rocks and taking pictures (on our phones, this time, the Canon stayed home.) Brandy waded deeper into the water and remarked on how warm the water was.
After plenty of pictures, we headed back to Franny and drove back up to Sponge Docks once more, stopping for lunch at Mykonos again (I ordered the stuffed grape leaves and Brandy ordered… fries… 😶) then went back to Goodwill before calling it a day and heading back to the AirBnB for the night.
Pictures from the Honeymoon Island stop are here.
Tarpon Springs Aquarium and Animal Sancutary
Brandy decided to spend Labor Day… well, laboring.
I, on the other hand, wanted to get out so just before 10:00, I made the 15 minute drive to Tarpon Springs to visit the aquarium and animal sanctuary. I paid my admission and paid extra for feeding tickets as I definitely wanted to feed stingrays and alligators and sharks.
After passing through the gift shop and stopping at the food table, I headed to the ray feeding tank where I spend a few minutes feeding the little beasts. What a surreal experience it was!
From there, I headed over to a feeding area where I fed some mammales like a goat, a donkey, a cow and where I saw my doppelganger wallowing in the mud.
I headed back to a small viewing area where a talk was given on some of the creatures featured at the sanctuary, like a giant monitor, a huge python and a little baby gator. I am grateful I was able to handle a couple of the lil fellas.
Check out the Photo Diary for the rest of the pictures from the aquarium.
I made a hasty exit from the aquarium and headed south to St. Petersburg where I had tickets to visit FloridaRAMA, which appears to be Florida’s answer to MeowWolf. Sadly, there was a sign on the door that said that they were going to open late due to a power outage that morning.
I took the opportunity to head to Maple Street Biscuit Company for lunch. I strolled Central Avenue and snapped some pictures which can be seen here.
After I’d taken a few pictures, I headed back to FloridaRAMA only to see that their opening was further delayed. I instead requested a refund for the tickets I’d bought and headed back to Port Richey to call it a day.
The Rest and Departure
The rest of the week was spent getting ready for our departure that Friday evening, September 11. As soon as we logged off of our respective works, we packed up our computers and we hit the road, stopping in Valdosta, GA and Clarksville, TN along the way.
Sunday, we drove 4 hours to St. Louis where Ash and I kicked Brandy out of the car at the airport so she could fly on to Detroit for work, then the two of us made the last four hours of the drive home, arriving at 4:30.
Conclusion
I hadn’t been to Florida since we moved away from there when I was, like, 11 or 12. Needless to say, I don’t have many memories from that initial residency, save my attendance at the Jackson 5 Victory Tour at the Orange Bowl in Miami, and we lived on the east coast of the peninsula so I wouldn’t even have any memories from the gulf coast, so I am grateful to have been able to visit. I enjoyed the outings I had, at the Sponge Docks, the Aquarium and Honeymoon Island. I wish I’d have been able to cross my tenth stadium off my stadium chase list, but I will definitely save it for when the Dodgers are there.
It was a long drive to be sure, and one that really should have been made in the truck, but lesson learned, we will take the truck when Ash comes with us on these trips.
Pictures from the trip are in their usual location in my Photo Diary.
Stay tuned for our next adventure, our return to Cabo San Lucas for the 2026 Blue October Getaway, a mere week and a half after our return from this trip.
Until then!
-Phil