2009 March | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Monthly Archives: March 2009

T-Mobile Dancers Stop Traffic In London Train Station

Published March 16, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

Who says Brits are straight laced? At 11 a.m. on January 15, 2009, hundreds of people who had trained for eight weeks showed up at London’s Liverpool Street train station and unexpectedly broke out into dance. The event was organized by T-Mobile as part of its “Life’s For Sharing” campaign. And if the number of people who filmed the event on their cell phones, texted, and called others as it was happening is any indication, it certainly was an event that was shared. Frankly I think T-Mobile is on to something. Through music, we can change the world. Take a look at the video:

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Posted in Europe travel |

Tagged Change The World, dancers, Life's for sharing, london, Music, T-Mobile, train station, videos |

2 Comments

“So Baby Boomer” Hosts Blogging Boomers Carnival #108

Published March 15, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

This week’s Blogging Boomers Carnival has a bit of a different twist. Our host, So Baby Boomer, asked members to write about recession anxiety – specifically addressing how we are handling challenges in these very tough economic times. This was definitely a stretch for me. Frankly, I’m handling things by ignoring them. I don’t watch the news and refuse to look at my portfolio. But then I realized that I do have a very specific stress management technique…I travel, of course. Cruise on over to So Baby Boomer to read about how others are handling the stress.

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Posted in Carnivals |

Tagged anxiety, Baby Boomers, blogging boomers carnival, recession, stress |

Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, Homosassa, Florida

Published March 14, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

On my third day of travel around the Nature Coast of Florida, I visited the towns of Homosassa Springs and Old Homosassa (HO-mah-SASS-suh). Meaning “place where the wild peppers grow” in the Seminole and Creek Indian languages, the town’s names may refer to the holly bushes that used to grow in abundance along the banks of the Homosassa River.

There are really two Homosassas: the village of Homosassa Springs is a developed area along a stretch of U.S. Rt. 19 and Old Homosassa is a village along the banks of the river, just a few miles to the west. The first is the area’s commercial center where most of the stores, hotels, and services are located. The second is a mostly residential village with a two motels, a few restaurants, a library and school. It is also the site of most of the seasonal festivals and contests held throughout the year.

The park's boardwalk runs along the Homosassa River

I had come to town specifically to visit the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, famous as the home to a second magnitude spring where six female manatees live in captivity. The park has been a tourist attraction since the early 1900â€™s, when trains stopped to let passengers rest at the spring while crabs, cedar, and barrels of salted mullet were loaded aboard (old-timers willingly divulge that during prohibition many of theÂ barrels actually held moonshine). Beginning in 1940, the site was operated as an attraction by various commercial entities. In 1984, the Citrus County Commission purchased the attraction to protect it as an environmentally sensitive area. Today the park is owned by the State of Florida and operated by the Department of Environmental Protection.

To provide the best possible view of the spring, previous owners of the park, then called Homosassa Springs Attraction, installed a floating underwater observatory in 1964. The 168-ton structure, officially named the “Fish Bowl,” allows visitor to see a large variety of fresh and saltwater fish and turtles, all of which can travel unrestricted between the headwaters of the spring and the Gulf of Mexico. However, it is the park’s six permanent residents – West Indian manatees – that most interested me.

Two of the six resident female manatee drift along the shore

Continue reading →

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Posted in Florida travel |

Tagged Homosassa River, Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, manatees, monkey island, Nature Coast, old Florida, panthers, photos, Travel, woman, Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins |

25 Comments

Dunnellon, Florida Blessed With Natural Attractions

Published March 12, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

Having thoroughly explored the historic architecture in Dunnellon’s Historic Boomtown District, I turned my attention to natural attractions during my second day in this north central Florida town. As home to Rainbow Springs, Florida’s fourth largest natural spring which disgorges 416 million gallons of water each day, and the meeting place for the Withlacoochee and Rainbow Rivers, Dunnellon easily lives up to its claim of being the “Treasure of Florida’s Nature Coast.” The local rivers are so famous for their large mouth bass that the State officially calls Dunnellon the bass capitol of the world, and fishermen also pull sunfish, bream, longnose gar, shad, and crappie from these waters as well. For those who prefer saltwater fishing, the Gulf of Mexico is only a short distance away by car, or by boat via the Withlacoochee.

This cascade in Rainbow Springs State Park is the highest man-made waterfall in Florida

Not being a fisherman, I decided to investigate Rainbow Springs State Park, the site of the headwaters of the Rainbow River just ten miles north of town. This spring became popular in the late 1880′s when hard rock phosphate was discovered in the area and by the 1930′s it had been developed as a tourist attraction. Sea walls, a lodge, a gift shop, and a reptile exhibit were built and tailings from the nearby phosphate mining operation were used to construct miles of nature trails, scenic gardens, and three waterfalls, one of which is still Florida’s highest man-made waterfall. In the 1960′s, Sperry and Hutchinson Corporation (S & H Green Stamps) purchased the spring and turned it into a popular theme park, dredging the river in order to offer glass-bottomed boat rides, riverboat rides, a log raft ride, and submarine boat tours. S & H also added a zoo, a monorail with leaf-shaped gondolas, and an on-site rodeo.

The theme park’s heyday was short lived, however. In the early 1970′s, Interstate 75 was built 30 miles east of Dunnellon, diverting traffic from U.S. Rt. 41 and forcing closure of the park. Thankfully, the U.S. Department of the Interior stepped in, designating Rainbow River as a National Historic Landmark. Determined not to let this natural treasure wither, in 1984 volunteers began clearing the overgrown lands, restoring the pathways, and with the help of the Village of Rainbow Springs Garden Club, planting azaleas, magnolias, and a variety of other native plants. Constant lobbying on the part of the volunteer organizations finally convinced the State of Florida to purchase the original area that was the Rainbow Springs Attraction in 1990. The park was opened to the public on weekends in 1993 and on a full time basis two years later. Continue reading →

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Posted in Authentic travel, Florida travel |

Tagged Big Bend, canoeing, Dunnellon, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, hiking, kayaking, KP Hole County Park, large mouth bass, Nature Coast, Rainbow River, Rainbow Springs State Park, saltwater fishing, snorkeling, swimming, Withlacoochee |

10 Comments

Historic Dunnellon – An Undiscovered Gem in Northwest Florida

Published March 11, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

Last week, the blues hit me with a vengeance. There was no mystery about my mood; wanderlust was having its way with me and I knew it was once again time to travel. I threw a few things in a bag, grabbed my camera, and pointed the car north, intending to check out some of Florida’s smaller inland towns along the Nature Coast, where I’d heard “Old Florida” still exists. Exiting I-75 at US Rt. 98, I traveled west through Brooksville (cute enough, but it just didn’t have the energy I sought) and then turned north on US Rt. 41. Because this used to be the main north-south route in western Florida, it passes through scores of small towns – Inverness, Hernando, Holder, and Citrus Springs – but none piqued my interest enough to make me stop.

Blues Brothers sculpture stands at the entrance of the Two Rivers Inn

A few minutes later, as I crossed over the Withlacoochee River into Dunnellon, my “interest radar” perked up. A sign proclaiming “Dunnellon Boomtown Historic District” directed me onto Pennsylvania Avenue. I drove past dozens of lovely old restored homes and commercial buildings to the end of the street, where I found the Two Rivers Inn. Mounted in front of this otherwise unassuming row of concrete block cottages was a full-size statue of the Blues Brothers.

“It’s a sign,” I thought. “Maybe the Blues Brothers can chase my blues away.” I found the office and paid for a night’s stay, delighted with the $59 per night rate that came complete with wireless internet. Since my room wouldn’t be ready for another couple of hours, I wandered back down the main drag in search of something to eat. At The Levee Cafe, they were literally standing on the front porch, dragging folks inside on this slow Sunday afternoon. Lured in by the promise of a great Caesar salad, I slid into a booth just as BJ and Bruce began singing the blues during the cafe’s afternoon jam session. “Did I pick the right town, or what!”

Bruce and BJ sing the blues at the Levee Cafe

After a delicious lunch, I headed back to the motel to deposit my suitcase. I must digress for a moment. My criteria for motels and hotels is simple – I seek budget prices, a modicum of cleanliness, and safety. As you might imagine, I have stayed in some real dumps, and with a nightly rate of $59, I was prepared for Two Rivers Inn to be another dump. Hoping for the best but expecting the worst, I opened the front door. Continue reading →

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Posted in Authentic travel, Florida travel |

Tagged antiques, Big Bend, Blues Brothers, Boomtown Historic District, Dunnellon, Florida, Levee Cafe, Nature Coast, old Florida, phosphate mining, Rainbow River, Rainbow Springs State Park, secrets, Travel, Two Rivers Inn, Undiscovered Places, victorian mansions, Withlacoochee, woman |

14 Comments

Blogging Boomer Carnival #107 Is At GenPlus

Published March 9, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

This week, the prolific Blogging Boomers are reviewed by Janet Wendy Spiegel at GenPlusUSA.com. JWS is passionately dedicated to the issues affecting boomers and 50 plussers, and that enthusiasm spills over into her synopses of the carnival articles on tap. Cruise on over to Gen PlusUSA and to see for yourself the variety of subjects that our boomers are discussing – everything from to the new Facebok craze among our generation to why women in menopause have so many bad hair days.