Thu, Nov. 11:

Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL:  A beautiful morning.  We drove over to Cedar Key.  Hadn’t been there since 2005 I think—right after Wilma.  It hasn’t changed too much, thankfully.  They’ve built a new cement fishing pier.  We walked around the little historic downtown area for a while.  The resources of this area—mostly the red cedars—were important to its growth back in the day.  German entrepreneur, Faber, was looking for splinter-free wood for pencils.  He found it in the abundant red cedars in this area.  He ended up building a pencil factory on the site where the UN building stands now in NY.  There are a lot of historic buildings in this little community.  And tourism hasn’t ruined the charm of this place—yet.  We had lunch at a little place on the water.  We had a great time visiting with four co-eds from Gainesville at one table and a vacationing British couple now living in Toronto at another table with their dog, Chester.  We had a great discussion about the Canadian health care system.  They LOVE it.  Wonder why some Americans are so against health care reform?  They wonder the same thing.  Upper 70s today.

Old mill

Historic hotel--1859

Beautifully restored MG sitting in front of one of the shops