SW Coast of Florida

On my mental map this area goes up as far as Tampa and St. Pete, two large cities in Florida I actually like. I once owned a house for a short time in Largo, an easy bike ride from the Gulf. I enjoyed the sleepy ambience of Redington Beach (even the tacky pink Don Cesar hotel). There are some great seaside bars there. Clearwater Beach stands out in my personal history as the place where I was sitting in the sun when I heard that Elvis had died. Come to think of it, I was divorced in the County Courthouse in Clearwater and got married again a few years later in the same building. Neither marriage lasted. On reflection, I don't really care for Clearwater very much.

After my first divorce, my ex's lawyer came up to me in the parking lot and said I'd probably get a good story out of the experience. I was appalled. Here I was, broke and broken, and he was talking about literature. (As it turns out, he was right. I did make literature out of it, as I have with many of the painful things in my life.) Anyway, I stood there as he left and turned to my friend Bill and said, "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?" Bill suggested a baseball game might be a good starting point. It was spring training and the Phillies were playing just up the road. So I ate hot dogs and cheered for the Phillies. They didn't make any errors, but they still lost the game. I saw it as a metaphor for the day, for the previous ten years of my life.

I really like the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, a much under-appreciated institution. It uses the flow of water to frame Florida's ecosystems, starting with underground springs and leading to the ocean. It is all natural Florida, with lots of special exhibits and hands-on displays. If you go, sign up for the free behind-the-scenes tour. It's fascinating.

Other places in Tampa and St. Pete I will talk about include Busch Gardens (great place with wonderfully cared-for animals and free beer), the Dali Museum (this one blew me away -- unless you're an art expert, be sure and take one of the free guided tours, then stick around afterwards and soak it in), and Haslans (a huge used bookstore).

But coming up from the south means I'll be writing more about the Everglades, along with Alligator Alley, Big Cypress, the Florida Panther, Naples and on to Sanibel and Captiva, the best shelling in Florida and home of the J.N. "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge. I can't decide whether Lake Okeechobee, Sebring and Highlands Hammock belong in this section or in the SE Florida section. Geographically, I suppose the latter, but in terms of my mental map, I see most of SE Florida as the unbroken megacity hugging the coast from Miami to Fort Pierce. I guess I'll see which feels right when I get to organizing it.