Photo TR: Andy's 2021 Floridian Revenge

[PKI Jizzman]

Stellar photos, love all the different angles. I was so wow'd by it in person, I forgot to take photos of most of the ride 

[rachelmadcow]

Fabulous pictures! 

 

I forgive Universal for removing DD. Velocicoaster is spectacular in appearance and ride experience just like DD. 

[The Great Zo]

And finally, Part 3 of this trip report, which I don't know what to title other than:

October 12-21, 2021 -- All The Other Crap I Did In Florida

Sometimes when I do TRs, I'll throw in a short bit of "other stuff" after a theme park segment. This time, it's all getting its own segment. This is really long. I apologize in advance. Just wanted to get it all done in one shot.

Florida is much more than theme parks. Interesting cities, wildlife, nature, hockey, tons of water, and an endless supply of ideas for a photographer. This stuff isn't anything even close to resembling chronological order -- just gonna throw it all together kinda-geographically in three parts, from east to west to central, and see how it turns out.

So let's start on the Atlantic coast with...

Flagler Beach Pier

Actually, this is the last thing I did in Florida, on my way northbound out of the state.

I like piers. Scenic, relaxing, good for photography.

Bird on the pier.

Red flag means lightweights better stay out of the water.

A distant view north.  Flagler Beach is about halfway between Daytona and St. Augustine.

Looking south, on the steep, red-tinted beachfront of the Atlantic coast. Very different from the Gulf coast.

The end of the pier. I have walked the plank.

Fishers out in force -- and catching stuff, too.

Also, surfing!

Let's head down the coast to...

Cocoa Beach Pier

And hey, this one's got a tiki bar at the end!

It's a wider beach here.

Zoomed in, you can really see the curvature of the barrier island.

Cocoa Beach is just south of Cape Canaveral. If you've heard of it, it's probably due to the 40 million advertisements for that surf shop. You know the one.

And the surfers were out today!

So were some dolphins, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get a shot.

Off to the north, the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, and some launch facilities nearby.

Is that a roller coaster on a cruise ship? See, this post has theme park content! Sort of!

Sometimes you take the waves.

And sometimes the waves take you.

Next up...

Sebastian Inlet State Park

Not much here, just some fishing piers and beach areas, but another scenic area to check out.

Piers line both sides of the inlet.

On a Saturday, it was busy with boats coming in and out.

Plus, a whole bunch of people fishing.

Waves crashing ashore to the south.

And shorebirds scurrying around.

A1A is a scenic drive, with parks and beach access all over the place. Even on a Saturday, most of the beach spots weren't too crowded.

Here's another park further south.

Round Island Riverside Park

This park goes out on the west side of A1A toward the intracoastal waterway. Some walkways through the mangroves.

An observation tower!

Views out over the water.

Distant boats. I don't own a boat. I just get to look at them from afar.

Also, a whole bunch of these lizards running around. Kind of like the ones you see at Disney, only twice the size.

Across A1A is Round Island Beach Park.

A quiet stretch of beach on the Atlantic coast.

More pelicans flying by than you can count.

Waves and condos or whatever. This is just outside of Fort Pierce.

A pleasant curl.

Some serious fishing going on, too.

Alright, heading way way way further south for a night photo set...

Downtown Miami -- From the Venetian Causeway

I arrived just after sunset, as the lighting got good.

An orange glow on the skyline.

Oooh, klassy!

The view on the north side of the Causeway. Miami has so many tall buildings near the waterfront. It's nuts.

This is one of those nice photo spots I didn't read about anywhere or anything -- I just sorta played around looking at maps and found it on my own.

Long exposures at night -- and airplanes streaking across the sky.

Two cruise ships sort of blocking the view.

(For some reason, some of these pics are a little fuzzy in-line in the thread, but if you open the full size version they should be OK.)

A closer view of downtown.

A little bit of Disney magic to keep this almost relevant!

They've even got a big wheel.

I have no idea why these fireworks were occurring, but I'm not going to complain.

I just had to switch targets real quick in the middle of my photo set!

A nice spot with a nice view. I wasn't the only one who stopped to take a few pictures from here.

And then, another angle from the next morning.

Downtown Miami -- From the Rickenbacker Causeway

Great view, sketchy location. I might have been trespassing to get this shot. Not totally sure. But I definitely had to drive on a dirt path with potholes the size of my car.

It's an interesting skyline because, unlike a lot of big city skylines, so much of this one is residential.

By air or by sea.

In this case, by air.

At the southern tip of Key Biscayne, one of my favorite Florida State Parks...

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

You can start with the pristine waters.

Or, the birds, like this Great Blue Heron.

Or all of these birds in flight.

The main attraction here is the Cape Florida Lighthouse.

It's 95 feet tall, and dates back to 1825 -- renovated in 1855.

Let's climb up!

One of the rare US lighthouses I've been to where you can actually get in the lantern room. The lens is unimpressive and modern, though.

The views are tropical and beautiful.

A nice beach for the Miami locals.

The city is not far to the north.

And there's South Beach, where you can take your talents if you'd like.

Recreational opportunities abound.

Just offshore is an interesting oddity -- a collection of stilt houses called Stiltsville. Can you imagine living out there?

There were originally many more stilt houses, but after a handful of hurricane impacts, only seven remain.

Next up, a quick stop at the Woodlawn Park Cemetery.

This is a weather history stop.

The 1935 Florida Keys Labor Day hurricane is one of the worst in the country's history.

This is the site of a mass grave for US military members who died while out in the keys.

About 80 veterans were buried here, but very few of the graves are individually marked.

After this, I went to the famous Versailles Bakery on Calle Ocho. I got some outstanding pastries, and a terrible Cuban sandwich. The inconsistency was baffling.

Finishing off the Miami segment with some planespotting at Miami International Airport.

Yep, for the three or four of you who like airplane pictures -- this is the best spotting airport in Florida, and probably top 5 for my favorites in the country.

Miami has a ton of traffic from countries in Latin America, so it's not just your typical US carriers coming in here.

Nonetheless, here's one for Garbles.

It's an American hub, so here's a 777-300.

From some of the spotting locations on the east side of the airport, it looks like the planes are landing right on the Dolphin Expressway.

Iguana-spotting?

So, another spotting location -- the Hilton on the Blue Lagoon -- is absolutely overrun with Iguanas. More than I've ever seen.

They are funny little creatures, and not particularly shy. Not particularly little, either, now that I think of it.

Back to the airplanes -- it's interesting to see stuff like Cayman Airways that you just don't get in the midwest.

The best spotting location is outside of a furniture store at the west end of the southernmost runway. You can get really close.

Seriously, the planes land right in front of you.

And this spot is always crowded with locals watching too.

This spot is best when planes are landing from the west.

Hey, who you lookin' at?

The queen of the skies.

From here, I headed east, crossing the Everglades on the Tamiami Trail, and then eventually...

The Loop Road

If you've never heard of the Loop Road, look it up on your mapping website of choice. It's a 27-mile loop off of US-41 that cuts way deep into the wilderness of Big Cypress National Preserve. Most of the road is gravel, but in decent shape. Just very, very dusty.

The gators are plentiful, including this very large one just a few feet away from me in a culvert.

Further along the Loop Road, I came across a spot called Sweetwater Strand. It's a swampy waterway about as far as you can get from the main road.

I parked, turned my car off, got out, covered myself in bug spray, and just spent 15 minutes kind of observing. Not a single vehicle passed me in that entire time. You could hear birds and animals calling in the distance. Pretty cool place.

Fish in the stream.

Cypress rising above the water.

And one more gator, just because.

Heading north on the Loop Road, I came across a whole bunch of little things crossing in front of me.

Baby softshell turtles! Probably two dozen of them, recently hatched, trying to get from one spot to another.

Look at this little guy!

Maybe 3 inches long, at most. I had to move a few of them out of the way to ensure I didn't hurt anybody before I drove through.

With that, I headed north, and we'll pick this back up in Tampa for the next section...

[The Great Zo]

Alright, for the next batch, we'll focus on the Tampa / St. Pete area, which is usually sort of my "home base" for Florida trips.

Spending some time near Busch Gardens? Looking for a quick and easy escape to nature while you're in the area? Just a few miles away is...

Lettuce Lake Park

That is, if you like boardwalks through swampy areas. I do. Maybe you do too.

From what I recall, this was a rather loud and obnoxious ibis.

With sharp eyes, you might see the gator hiding below.

Views from a tower above the Hillsborough River. Same river that runs through downtown Tampa.

Further south, on Tampa Bay, another little park to check out...

Picnic Island Park

It's got grass and trees and water, what else do you need?

Maybe some birds?

A pelican, resuming normal safe operation.

And now, diving in for a snack.

Downtown St. Pete across the water. We'll get over there shortly.

This spot is on approach to Tampa International Airport, so you might see some traffic overhead.

Or, some arrivals at MacDill Air Force Base, like this KC-135 Stratotanker.

Don't get too crabby.

Yep, there were also hundreds of these little fiddler crabs at Picnic Island.

Picnic Island isn't actually an island, though. That kind of bothers me.

Another little park out in Pinellas County: Boca Ciega Millennium Park.

Some people ask me if I need a vacation from my vacations. But walking around places like this is my vacation.

Another obs tower view!

As the sun begins to set.

Not a bad spot to spend an hour.

Onward to see the sunset at Pass-A-Grille Beach.

Some clouds in the sky, but it's still nice.

This little platform at the end of the jetty says "keep off" so of course I went out there.

The southernmost beach of the main populated stretch of beaches in Pinellas County.

Just to the north, the opulent Don CeSar hotel, with sunset onlookers watching the sky.

A relaxing scene.

Some clouds got in the way, but it still looked nice.

The next morning, I headed back to the southern end of Pinellas County for a trip to...

Fort De Soto Park

I think this is the fifth time I've been out to this park. It's one of my favorites.

This is the Fort De Soto Gulf Pier, with more birds than people.

This one has the right-of-way.

This egret was about to go fishing.

I think this great blue heron was just catching some sun.

See that stretch of land across the water? With the tower near the right side?

That's my next destination.

Egmont Key State Park

But how do you get to Egmont Key? You get on Hubbard's Ferry.

The boat doesn't look like much, but on these calm waters, it does the trick.

Egmont Key has been on my list of places to visit for a long time, and I finally made the time for it on this trip.

There's only one way to get there -- by water. And unless you have your own boat, you're taking the ferry, and you're on their schedule.

The island has no facilities and no concessions. You're on your own for three hours with whatever you brought with you.

Actually, that's quite nice for a chance of pace.

The 1858 Egmont Key lighthouse. You can't climb it, but it's a landmark for the area, extremely visible at the mouth of Tampa Bay.

A cemetery near the lighthouse -- or is it? Actually, all the residents were removed and re-interred elsewhere.

Up above, an osprey on the weather equipment. My kind of bird.

Egmont Key is also home to the ruins of Fort Dade, a fort built during the Spanish–American War in the late 1800s.

This is one building (the Guard House) that was actually up-kept.

Pathways through the former fort. And if you want an idea of the atmosphere around here, I was completely on my own at this point, hiking on a virtually-deserted island through historic ruins and scenic pathways.

At the south end of the trails, I headed west toward the beach on the Gulf shore.

Stubby looking dead trees on the beach.

Egmont Key is also a National Wildlife Refuge, and the southern tip of the island is off-limits to visitors. So, I walked north from here.

The beach here is pristine.

Ruins of the fort's power plant, and finally getting back to the area where some day visitors were stopping by.

People go snorkeling around these ruins, too.

Fort Dade's bunkers, building up an otherwise flat stretch of island.

There were quite a few people on the north part of the beach, but it's still pretty neat to visit somewhere kind of remote like this.

The birds can drop by whenever they want.

And before I forget, Egmont Key is pronounced "egg-mont", and I might have messed that one up once or twice before I figured it out.

The ruins of one of the batteries, open for exploration.

Atop the battery, now devoid of any heavy artillery.

A view over Egmont Key from up above. It's a pretty scene.

Oh, and one more thing. Egmont Key is home to a huge population of gopher tortoises.

Who wouldn't like gopher tortoises? They crawl around and eat grass and that's pretty much it. They're the best.

Gopher tortoises are listed as a vulnerable species, but Egmont Key's population is quite large. I've never seen more than one or two at any nature preserve or park I've been to before, and I saw five at Egmont Key.

I even found two at the same time!

If you've never been to a Florida park and run across a gopher tortoise, you're missing out. It's like finding a hidden gem, or finding a winning scratch-off ticket, or finding a modern-day B&M that doesn't suck.

You better get back on the ferry on-time, or else you're going to find yourself stranded on a remote island for the night, and I wouldn't recommend doing that.

Heading back across to the mainland, with the Sunshine Skyway in the distance.

So, I've been to Tampa many times, but I'd actually never spent any time in downtown St. Pete.

So.

Downtown St. Petersburg

The big attraction here is The Pier. It used to be this weird upside-down pyramid thing. Now it's modern and it's better and it's a great place to walk around.

The big building at the end has a tiki bar on top, or you can just head up there and use it as an observation deck.

Which, of course, I did. There's downtown St. Pete off to the west.

A very busy general aviation airport, Albert Whitted Airport, just to the south.

It's just little airplanes, but a whole ton of them.

Way across the bay, there's downtown Tampa. We'll get there in a bit.

This is art!

OK, I'll credit the artist. It's called "Bending Arc" by Janet Echelman.

Hey, did you know the first commercial airline flight took place right here in St. Pete?

This is a replica statue of the Benoist -- the first airliner.

The Benoist was flown by Tony Jannus, pilot of the St. Petersburg - Tampa Airboat Line. The first flight was on New Years Day in 1914.

And now you know.

A pelican on the pier.

Another view of the pier -- and downtown Tampa in the distance -- from Albert Whitted Park.

If you're into art, one of St. Pete's main attractions is the Dali Museum.

For performances, the Mahaffey Theater is right next door.

I was actually supposed to see a concert here during this trip. I had a second-row ticket for Steely Dan. The show got cancelled due to the pandemic. Boo.

A slightly smaller airplane than the ones from earlier in Miami.

Still, kind of fun to watch from up close.

Maybe the busiest little airport I've seen.

South of downtown is Bay Vista Park.

Another nice view of the skyway, and a visiting great egret.

Overall, not much to see here, just another little waterfront spot.

So, that brings us to the Sunshine Skyway.

And in particular, the Skyway South Fishing Pier.

Here's another bit of history!

The big dramatic Sunshine Skyway bridge is actually the second to stand on this spot. The first was struck by a freighter in 1980 and collapsed in a horrific deadly tragedy.

So, they built a new bridge, just east of the location of the old one. What do you do with the approaches to the old bridge?  You convert them into giant fishing piers.

And the views are pretty nice.

Bridges are cool. The Sunshine Skyway is one of my favorites. It's not the first time it's appeared in one of my TRs, either.

It's got about as much airtime as Kingda Ka's second hill! Oh! Take that!

OK, heading into Tampa now.

Here are a couple views from the southern end of Davis Islands.

Yep, it's another little airport, and a view of downtown.

Also, a hecked-up boat. No trespassing!

The sun sets on Davis Islands, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Tampa. Star athletes live out here. People like me only visit and take pictures.

Alright, one more little airplane shot just because.

Time for another night set.

Downtown Tampa -- From the Platt Street Bridge (and nearby)

Dusk.

Dusk-er.

Dusk-est.

Night.

Yep, this is a nice view, and the changing shade of blue in the background make the shot.

Sunset on the Jose Gasparilla. Insert stupid pirate reference here.

A view over the Platt Street Bridge.

The convention center walkway.

Colorful lights and a nice downtown.

Moon over Tampa.

So, what's the story with Jose Gasparilla?

Jose Gasparilla's final battle took place on December 12, 1821, when he and his krewe attacked a "slow moving" merchant ship off the coast of Gasparilla Island. The attack began and Gasparilla soon realized it was a trap. The merchant vessel was a disguised U.S. Naval Ship, sent to capture him and his krewe.

Jose Gasparilla quickly understood the battle was lost. 40 years of pirating had been a good life, but now he was trapped at the bow of his sinking ship. Feeling the inevitable; he wrapped himself in the anchor chain, raised his sword and said: "No man will determine my fate, only I will choose my destiny!"

He then threw himself into the waters of the Gulf, never to be found.

And now the city of Tampa celebrates him with a pirate festival every winter!

Just north of downtown...

Heights Public Market / Armature Works

Tampa's best food hall. Only food hall? Not sure. A cool place to stop by, even late at night.

Not my first visit here, in fact.

It's just about a mile north of downtown.

Still crowds of people at 10PM on a weeknight.

Oh, and a good view of downtown across the Hillsborough River too.

Almost done with Tampa.

But there hasn't been any hockey yet, so that has to change.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Actually, much of this Florida trip was built around the Lightning home opener for 2021, which I had very good reason to want to attend.

Because, well, they were celebrating back-to-back Stanley Cup championships!

And I happened to be in attendance at the last one!

*FLASHBACK TO JULY 7, 2021*

Steven Stamkos lifts the cup!

Steven Stamkos lifts the cup again at 4:15 AM, this time like 4 feet in front of me!

Phew, that was a night!

*END FLASHBACK*

Alright, back to October.

So, introduce the new team...

And then, the moment we've all been waiting for!

Raise the banner!

Watching your favorite team win a championship, and being there for the banner-raising, is probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Sort of a dream to actually get to experience it.

I went back to another game a week later, and saw the banner in its final spot -- marking the team's third championship overall.

And that wraps up Tampa, but we've got some central Florida stuff yet to come...

[The Great Zo]

OK, this is it!

Leaving the theme parks behind, what else is there to do in central Florida?

Let's start in the Lakeland area with my absolute favorite nature preserve in the state: the Circle B Bar Reserve.

Why is this my favorite natural area in the state? Wildlife. So much wildlife. I've been here three times, and it's just a constant stream of different birds and animals on every single visit.

A Gulf fritillary butterfly!

A lizard climbing a tree!

Feral hogs! I've even seen armadillo here before.

'MERICA! There were several bald eagles flying around.

Also, more osprey than I could count.

See? More osprey.

Even more osprey. Some of them were going fishing in Lake Hancock.

More fishin' birds.

Gators hiding just under the slime.

I don't really recommend getting this close.

Cormorants!

Common gallinule!

A Great Blue Heron has, uh, speared itself some lunch. How you gonna eat that whole thing?

Always, always look up.

Someone might have their eye on you.

After a three-mile walk around Circle B, I was hungry.

So, naturally, my next stop was...

MEAT MONDAY

Can I list this as an attraction? Because this was fun, and it was tasty, and it was better than salad.

Seriously, huge thanks to the Alveys for inviting me, this was awesome!

Next up is an odd little place I've been wanting to visit for a while.

Celebration

Celebration is a weird master-planned community originally developed by the Disney company. It's got a kind of fakey, Truman Show vibe to it. I think I wanted to see it just because it's odd.

The first thing I noticed, driving in, is all these really weird Art Deco office buildings. I felt like I was driving onto a movie set.

I did a lap around the walking path that surrounds Lake Rianhard near downtown Celebration.

The theater! It's a local landmark! Or maybe it's not, I don't really know, I'm just making stuff up at this point. Congrats if you're still reading.

Do not feed or harass the alligators!

I will gladly follow the rules.

Celebration is obviously not really a tourist destination or anything, but it's the kind of place I'd visit just because it's there.

The main waterfront, with another gator swimming nearby.

There's a tower.

I tried to climb it, but you can only go about halfway up.

Of course I tried to climb it.

Main Street, USA!

Kind of.

I mean, honestly, I didn't hate Celebration. It's definitely odd. It definitely feels kinda Stepford. But it's not awful? I stopped in the bakery on main street. I got a really good cookie. I was happy. I saw some gators.

I saw an anhinga!

Yeah, honestly, it was alright!

Celebration would like to remind you that Walt Disney World is just right over there.

See? There it is.

But I was just driving through on my way to the next destination. Plus, it's fun to drive on some of those kinda-backstage roads around the Magic Kingdom.

I was headed to Tibet-Butler Preserve.

Tibet-Butler is all of three miles, as the crow flies, from the castle. You know the castle. I don't need to specify which one.

My sources indicate that this is a spiky purple flower thing.

Sorry, I'm not good at this.

I didn't see much wildlife, but Tibet-Butler is a nice walk through several different Floridian habitats.

There's even creepy boardwalks through creepy trees! It's great!

Mossy trees out on the water.

No frogs to be found.

I did find a gopher tortoise, though!

There's also a sulcata tortoise -- rescued and kept safely captivity. Much bigger than the natives.

And several of these stick bug things, which look totally foreign to me, but are kinda cool I guess.

I think we should call it a day on the nature stuff before I start making up names for even more things.

So, we'll head back to I-Drive!

My last trip report covered my day at Universal's Islands of Adventure, but I wasn't quite done there.

First, here's one shot of Fun Spot from atop the Universal parking garage.

I wasn't heading there, however.

I was going to Icon Park!

It's got a big wheel!

A really, really big wheel. And fountains. And a wax museum. And a whole bunch of other stuff.

Also, free parking and a Shake Shack that was open 'til midnight, and I hadn't gotten dinner yet, so...

I did not ride the wheel. But if you want to know what it's like, just fuzz your vision at this long-exposure version of the previous shot, and it's probably something like that.

Wheels in motion!

I did, however, ride the Star Flyer.

At 450 feet tall, it opened as the world's tallest swing ride. While writing this post, I learned that it is no longer the world's tallest swing ride. I am disappointed.

Nonetheless, it's really tall, and it was only like $10 so I figured hey why not, I'm here.

I don't really need to explain the ride experience, because everybody reading this post has probably been on a Star Flyer.

You go up, you go around, you go down.

But this one has views of Universal and I-Drive and downtown Orlando and I guess that's kind of cool.

If you squint, you can even see parts of Disney, but it's rather distant.

So, you know what, let's just close this out with some long-exposure Star Flyer shots, because they look cool as hell.

Spinny!

Colorful!

Like a buzz saw!

Remember spirographs?

Yeah, this is kind of like that.

So, we've reached the end.

And Florida is saying goodbye.

Thank me for visiting Florida! I'm sure I'll be back soon. Maybe this fall! I hear there's a coaster in Tampa that finally opened!

And thank you for reading. If you actually made it through this whole post, my sincere appreciation.

(guess I gotta finish that 2019 TR now...)