Northeast Florida; Deland to Daytona Beach to Jacksonville 1/19-22/2012

Posted: January 25, 2012 in Florida trips
1

Marineland, north of Daytona Beach

Whatever you say about Florida, when viewed from the road, most parts look uniquely Floridian.  There are streets and buildings that look like nowhere else.   I mean, what else looks like Marineland, from 1938?   California would never be so green.

Where else can you go for a hog hunt?   Where else but Daytona do guns and motorcycles get so incongruently mixed together?

Outside Daytona Beach

Somewhere west of New Smyrna Beach

Also outside Daytona Beach

My bike among the bikers; Flagler BeachAlso outside Daytona Beach

In this part of Florida, restaurants and bars frequently park a large motorcyle in front of their establishment, to show they are “biker friendly.”

This trip took me for three days from Deland in central Florida to the coast south of Daytona, then up the coast a hundred miles, through St Augustine, to Jacksonville Beach, where Tom picked me up.   I had a nice two days with Tom and Esther before taking Amtrak back up to North Carolina.
Many parts of central Florida exhibit a rural vibe, with early twentieth century buildings surrounded by Spanish moss.    Some parts of New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach also have such an ambience.

Older neighborhood, Daytona Beach

Outside Deland, Florida

Other parts of Florida exhibit brash sometimes Jetson-like architecture; this could be nowhere else but Florida.

Jacksonville Beach

Art deco Daytona Beach

Oceanfront modernism, Flagler Beach

 

You know this is Florida because Floridians practically invented the gated community.   Ponte Vedra Beach, just south of Jacksonville Beach, is home to the TPC golf tournament and is the epicenter of gated communityness.    There is one every quarter mile or so.

Largest gate in a gated community (at least that I saw!)

Florida is ground zero for the real estate crisis, and evidence of collapsed developments was everywhere.
Look carefully, only one house, lots of empty lots

Look carefully, only one house, lots of empty lots, underground utilities installed

 Once I got to Jacksonville, the hospitality was for real.  I hope to get back real soon.

Somewhere in rural Volusia county

modern art, Tom's backyard

modern art, Tom’s backyard

Esther & Tom

Comments
  1. Cindy Anderson says:
    January 25, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    great pics and what a crazy bunch of gun toting, bike riding Americans. I love the billboards.

    Reply

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