a busy summer part 5: the vacation, finally

I’m a coffee snob.  I may also be a music snob, a boot snob, and a guitar snob.  I am not, however, a beach snob.  I have friends who think South Carolina beaches are crap.  I have friends who think the Myrtle Beach area beaches are dirty and gross.  I understand that I do not have to agree with them to be their friend or to respect them.  I’ve been to beaches on both sides of Florida and the panhandle and their beaches are nice.  There are probably not many beaches I wouldn’t like.  The beaches at St. Augustine are pretty good.  The sand is white and fine and the beaches are very wide.  One difference from the beaches here is the long distance one must walk to get to the beach.  St. Augustine has wisely protected a wide area of dunes between the beach and the residential areas and this creates a cool little ecosystem in that space.  So while you may have to carry a bunch of beach stuff farther and across a long boardwalk, you may just see tortoises, snakes, and rabbits along the way.  

I woke up a little after 8:00 am on Sunday and after my run we drove into town to eat breakfast at a little place we had never tried called The Blue Hen.  It was a tiny, cool little place in the historic district and the breakfast was good.  We stopped by the grocery store to grab supplies for the week and then we went back and got ready to bask in the sun.  This was the last day of the heat wave and the temperatures were expected to be in the mid to upper 90s.  I found some breeze and some cooler air on the beach and after about an hour in the sun, I spent the rest of my afternoon in the shade of the umbrella.  Now I was really in a show about nothing.

Violet and I needed beach sunglasses.  You can’t use your regular sunglasses for this.  Beach glasses are disposable.  They’ll be scratched, covered in sunscreen, and lost in a few days.  The coolest pair I ever bought were $10 last year and I wore them 20 minutes before they were lost at sea.  I’m not certain Violet feels as strongly about this as I do, but she saw an opportunity for new sunglasses and we jumped in the car after cleaning up from the beach and headed for the local crappy beach store.  We tried on most every pair available.  The idea with beach glasses is that they have to have personality.  These are glasses you wouldn’t wear in regular life.  With some laughter we settled on two pair and headed off to pick up Thai food for dinner.  We attempted to walk on the beach that evening but a huge scary cloud drifted up and the lightning started about the time we started walking.  But there were plenty of sweets in the room so we just started dessert time early.

Monday after my run, I ran with Violet.  After that I walked a bit while keeping an eye on Blue when he ran separately.  Monday was cooler and such a beautiful day.  I stayed on the beach most of the day alternating between sun and the umbrella.  The big story of the day was watching this guy near us.  He was my age or older and clearly Scottish.  He talked to several people around him and was very nice.  The cool thing about him, though, was that he had a raging bull tattooed on his nipple area.  The face of the bull was right at the nipple and his nipple was pierced with a ring, making it look like the bull had a ring in it’s nose.  It was kind of great.  The beach was so quiet and wonderful that eventually I fell asleep in my chair.  I didn’t wake up when the tide started kissing my feet and there was a brief moment I was aware that a wave had gone under my chair getting my butt wet.  Soon I sensed someone was near me and I jumped awake.  It was the bull tattoo guy.  He was bent down rescuing my sketchbook from the waves.  He picked it up and was trying to place it on my sandals to keep it from getting wet.  He apologized for waking me and messing with my stuff but I told him how grateful I was that he was trying to help.  Sorry I don’t have a photo of the tattoo.  

We ended the day by walking through the old town.  If you’ve never been, it’s definitely worth putting on your list.  The oldest continuously inhabited city in the US.  Lots of parks and historical things and some really good food.  We ate at a place called Burger Buckets and it was really good.  We also got some Hyppo pops and Blue and I grabbed milkshakes at Cousteau’s.  Cousteau’s is worth the drive to Florida on its own.  They only sell waffles and milkshakes.  What a dream come true.  They’re all specialty mixtures and all very good.  The restaurant is themed around the movie “The Life Aquatic” and Jacques Cousteau.  Very cool.  Highly recommended.  It was a good day.

By Tuesday the days started to blur on me a little.  I was getting in the vacation groove.  I’d watch a bit of the Olympics at night and sleep a little later each morning.  I ran, and then usually ran again with Violet.  I made coffee and made my way to the sand to sit and watch people.  Blue was looking forward to going shopping at the outlets in town.  The afternoon was a bit rainy, so we drove to the outlets and walked through.  I wasn’t very excited about this and we did have a bit of a moment when we drove a short distance in search of a Journey’s store that apparently no longer exists.  We followed the map and kept walking by the “x” designated as the destination, but we never found the store.  This was mostly forgotten when we got to eat exceptional BBQ at Mojo’s on the way back.  This was also the night we tried to go to the torture museum.  I know that sounds sort of terrible, but we saw signs for the museum the previous night and decided it would be cool.  When we tried to get tickets the little goth dude inside scared us away by saying that it was strongly recommended that kids under 18 not be admitted and that it wasn’t legal for him to even describe some of the exhibits inside.  Fine.  We left.  But maybe they should reconsider their marketing plan.

Wednesday was a dreary looking day.  I dodged a bit of drizzle on the beach by scooting under the umbrella a little more.  When the skies got darker, I opted to gather my stuff and head inside.  As soon as I got inside it started pouring.  I napped while the rain slowed down and when I woke up, Violet and I decided it was time to explore the lighthouse.  The last time we were in town Blue and I climbed the 219 steps to the top but Violet didn’t meet the minimum height requirement.  This was her year.  I’m afraid of heights but I love looking out from high places.  Maybe that’s weird.  I don’t like looking down, just out.  Violet waited until we climbed all the way out onto the observation deck to tell me that she was also scared of heights.  We hugged the bright red wall all the way around as we looked out.  The view was amazing.  And though we were both terrified, it was exhilarating to be up there.  It was starting to rain again and we were VERY careful as we climbed down the 219 slippery cast iron steps with our wet feet.  We went through the various museum exhibits and just when we walked in the one farthest from the parking lot, a downpour opened up on us.  We tried to wait it out but it was 6:00 pm and one of the workers came to lock up.  We were soaked by the time we got back to the gift shop.  

With half of the car riders soaked to the bone now, the four of us tried to go to one of our favorite restaurants and found it closed with a lot of irritated people sitting in the parking lot.  We shifted to another favorite restaurant in town and we may have bought some warm, dry clothes at Marshall’s before returning to the room.

Thursday woke us all up with the realization that vacation was almost over.  We got breakfast at a local diner and then hit the beach.  It drizzled a little but I didn’t care.  I finished my David Sedaris book and had a beach nap.  I may have went inside in the afternoon and had a second nap.  We tried the closed restaurant again and it was open this time.  We drove around a little seeing things we missed on previous visits and watched lightning in the distance.  We ended the day by visiting the Publix bakery and grabbing desserts.  Oh, and I caught a vintage Tom & Jerry cartoon before the Olympics were back on.  That was nice.

Friday was “go home day”.  It’s always the worst of the vacation days.  We did two runs that morning and worked up an appetite.  We kept seeing this place called “The Kookaburra” in our restaurant searches.  There was one right across the street from where we stayed.  Their coffees were famous and so were their Australian pies…whatever those were.  We decided we needed to know so while we were on our second run, G ran over and got coffees and pies to try.  Dude, these things were excellent.  It was like a little breakfast pie with eggs, cheese, and meat.  The coffee was great too.  I mean, not as great as mine, so I followed my bought coffee with a homemade one.  We all went out for some final beach time and I stayed as long as I could.  Violet and I finally went inside around lunch time, showered, and packed the car.  

We checked out and drove to a mall in Jacksonville on the way home.  There was one or two stores we needed to go in briefly and we also needed a late lunch.  We shopped fast, hit the food court, and were back on the road pretty fast.  The drive home was pretty easy, though I did make G drive the last hour because my butt was cramping up.  We were home before it was too late and the dogs were very happy to see us.  The car was unloaded and we scavenged the pantry to find sweets before bed.  The credits started rolling on this delightfully boring episode.  Would this be our last adventure of summer?  

Find out when part 6 is posted....

the difference between a madman and me

The deciding factor for me when offered a trip to Tampa was the proximity of Tampa's downtown to The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.  Would I drive 9 hours to visit a beach?  Maybe, but I'm pretty particular about my beaches and I have some great ones about 3 hours away.  But The Dali Museum has been on my "to do list" for a long time.

I could always draw and I took lots of art classes in school but it wasn't until high school that I was introduced to Salvador Dali, the crazy artist with the handlebar mustache.  Dali's work was right up my alley with it's absurdity and sense of humor.  Even the artist himself didn't seem to take anything very seriously.  In 12th grade, I got a copy of "The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali", an autobiography and I'd bet the strangeness of that book helped form some of my current strangeness as an artist and as a human.  

I've been lucky enough to see some of Dali's paintings and a few of his sculptures in museums here in America but I figured I was going to have to jump an ocean to see his museum.  Then, not too many years ago, I read about a Dali museum in Florida and I decided that the next time I was even remotely close, I would make a trip.

 The museum opened at 10am but since I was up early, already had my 5K in and was properly caffeinated, I arrived a couple of minutes early.  This gave me time to walk around the exterior of the building and see the garden area.  

 I'm a fan of the visually interesting museum architecture.  I can appreciate a classy church-like museum exterior with columns and a good pediment, but I think it's good for the exterior of the building to give some information about what you'll find inside.  The Guggenheim in NY, for example, prepares you for the modern art you'll find inside.  The Dali, with it's geometric concrete and organic bulging glass forms, helps to prepare you for Dali's work inside.

The glass reflects the sky, water and trees of the St. Pete waterfront just outside the museum.  This all at once presents you with something alien to the environment while also making that alien thing unify with it's surroundings.  It's also beautifully landscaped.

 The artwork in the small garden area was created by other artists who were inspired by Dali.  The melting clock/melting bench provided a single seat.

And the bronze cast bird with the Dali mustache offered a playful atmosphere.  Several large rocks had been brought in from Dali's home turf in Spain for the garden and for the entrance to the museum.

 This large Ficus tree had been turned into "The Wishing Tree".  Strings dangled from the branches and the strings were covered with wrist bands from visitors to the museum.  Visitors were invited to take off their wrist band after leaving the museum and tying it on to the tree while offering a wish or prayer for someone.

 The tree itself was in need of some prayer as it had recently weathered some high winds and was being braced back together.

 This large steel abstract sculpture was inspired by Dali's iconic mustache.

 By 10am, people were starting to gather near the doors, so I took my place in line and started observing the other visitors.  All were tourists from out of town but a couple were clearly art teachers.  A few were obviously just there because they were told this was something you had to do while in town.  A couple more were pretty intense fans.

I'm not sure what I was.  With my dad shorts, running shoes, Keith Haring shirt and Charleston hat, I probably just looked like an art teacher.

 I had heard a bad review of the museum.  A friend visited and was disappointed by the amount of work by Dali.  This had me a little worried that I would leave disappointed as well.  I walked into the first gallery with a wall mounted explanation of how this private collection came about and how the Morse family met Dali and became his collectors early in his career.  This small painting was the first painting they purchased and it hung on the adjacent wall.  "Daddy Long Legs of the Evening - Hope!"  This is exactly what I think of when I think of Dali and at that moment, any thought of disappointment vanished.  

 The galleries were arranged in historical order, showing Dali's work as a child and student first and then tracing his development through each new stage.  This was a very early self portrait.

 Dali was not afraid to paint a butt.  I'm pretty sure we are long lost relatives.

 These early works move into Surrealism.

 And some of the forms he painted originated from rock formations he observed in Spain.  He thought the rocks looked like things and when he painted them, he began to transform them into those other things.

 That idea of transformation or metamorphosis became a constant in his work.

 When you walk up to a painting you immediately see certain things.  Then, as you stand there, it seems as if the images change right in front of you into something totally different.  

 This is what makes a Dali painting so much more enjoyable for me.  It keeps me standing there, looking, trying to figure it out.  Even more so than an Italian Master or any other "famous" artist.

 Several of the paintings were on cardboard, like this poster he painted to promote himself.  The idea of "shameless self promotion" may have had it's roots in Dali.  He seemed to understand early on the power of promotion and marketing in order to sell your work.  

 Many of the works were very small but this was not surprising to me.  You always hear people talk about seeing the Mona Lisa in person and being disappointed that she's so small.  But with these paintings, instead of being let down by the size, I found myself even more impressed with the amount of realistic detail Dali was able to put into such a small scale.  

 He referred to these as realistic photographs of non-realistic things and the size and the realism of each work in this time period lived up to that description.

Just check out how much detail is in this one part of that small painting.  Skulls for the win!

 Many of these were inside glass shadow boxes so obviously my head and phone were not part of the composition.  I've always loved this one, even with my reflection messing it up.

As the timeline moved into the 1960s and 70s, the canvases jumped up in size.  This one in particular was exhibited perfectly in the museum.  It was the first large scale canvas after moving through a small scale gallery.  This one took up an entire wall on one end of a corridor-like gallery, providing room for you to view it all the way across the space.  When you enter the viewing space the information is posted and you are just a couple of feet from the painting looking up.  The title, "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln - Homage to Rothko (Second Version)" gives you the clear instructions to start moving back in space.  As you move back, with each step the nude Gala recedes and the pixelated Lincoln comes into focus.  For me, this demonstrates the genius of Dali as a painter and a creative thinker.  When this was completed in 1976, pixelated art didn't really even exist.  You didn't have a computer then and you had never even seen a blocky looking Mario.  Not only was this a good 10-15 years ahead of it's time in idea, the transformation between the close image and the distance image is magnificently done.  

I was able to eavesdrop on a guided tour led by one of the docents.  When the group came to this painting she asked that they not take photos until after they listened to her talk.  This is because as soon as you raise your phone to photo this painting, the image of Lincoln is obvious.  But standing close to the painting, all you can see is the wife of Dali standing at a stone block window in the shape of a cross, looking out at the ocean.  I watched as people listened to the title and stepped back.  They would gasp and "oooooooooooh" out loud as an expression of surprise and joy came over their faces.  It was fun to watch and it was a reminder of the power of art to affect a viewer.

 Another large canvas that seems to be a straightforward glorification of Columbus "discovering" America, but with all sorts of hidden transformations inside.

 "The Hallucinogenic Toreador" from 1970.  Another one you can look at for hours and keep finding new things.

 This is just a corner of a very large painting.  The painting was on loan to another museum and this reproduction was exhibited on a canvas.  It includes a self portrait of Dali.

 The signatures changed almost with each canvas but this one is a classic.

 This was another large one that just kept changing as you viewed it.  Each time I came back to it, I saw something new.  I observed a few people "ooooh" and "ahhhh" over this one too.

 The interior of the museum was just as interesting as the exterior.  Dali loved geometry and spirals and these were included in the interior as well.  

 The organic glass forms created windows looking out over the waterfront.

 And there was still something church-like about the architecture.  The gaze was still directed up to the sky and the space created was sacred.

There was another interesting exhibit on the other side of the museum of photographs taken in the hometown of Dali in Spain.  The photographer was an American artist famous for photographing the Florida landscape and he was sent to Spain by the museum to capture the landscape of Dali.  Many of the photos contained imagery directly used in Dali's paintings with references reproduced showing the site in a painting and in a modern photograph.  It was definitely worth seeing but sort of beside the point in this post.

 "The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory", 1952-54

This one kept my attention for a while.  Dali reinterpreted his more famous 1931 painting "The Persistence of Memory" as an image of the same surreal landscape in the process of breaking down.  I marveled over the original in the Museum of Modern Art several years ago but this one kept my attention even longer.  

A few years ago I read "Art and Physics" by Leonard Shlain.  This book goes into great detail in comparing the world of the visual and performing arts to the world of scientific discovery.  Throughout history, each area has developed and moved forward in parallel paths.  Sometimes it is the artist who discovers or visualized something first and sometimes it is the scientist.  But instead of seeing these as separate worlds, this book compares the two paths in time and shows the correlation between the two.  The idea is that while not always even aware of what is happening in the other path, these two paths move forward together, often "discovering" things at the same time.  

In the case of Dali, his imagination allowed him to move in lockstep with giants such as Einstein as he developed his Theory of Relativity and investigated quantum mechanics.  "The Persistence of Memory" seemed to visualize the relative nature of time better than it could have been explained in a text.  A later "Crucifixion" painting precisely visualizes a 4-dimensional "hypercube".  In a 1932 painting "Agnostic Symbol" Dali paints an accurate portrayal of a beam of light bending as it passes through the warped spacetime of a massive object.  

This may not seem like much to us in a world of computer simulation, but having the imagination to even contemplate the fourth dimension or spacetime warp is astounding to consider in 1932.  Then to have the ability to paint it is something else altogether.  It is as if Dali and artists of great imagination like him were sent to help the scientist give visual form to their thoughts.  And like the image of Lincoln above, once you see it, you can't unsee it.  Once it's there in your mind, you are able to move on to newer, more difficult things.  

Dali was a crazy person but he wasn't crazy.  He was probably even the genius he claimed to be.  

The thing that's most impressive to me about Dali is the combination of his technical skill and his imagination.  In contemporary art, I feel like we often lose this combination.  Many artists who are good at a technique don't know what to do with it.  Many more who have great ideas simply don't have the skill to render it appropriately.  Dali handled both as well as anyone.  

the sunshine state

Florida is a strange state.  It starts out swampy and beachy like any other southeastern state but then it turns into a tropical island sort of place.  My parents took me to Florida the year I was born and again when I was 12ish.  Both times we went to Disney and one of those trips I remember clearly.  We spent a few days in Disney and one at Epcot and we even got to go to Cape Canaveral and saw the Space Shuttle Discovery on the launchpad a few weeks before it took off.  But what I remember most vividly was seeing alligators.  They were everywhere.  In the grass, in the ditches by the road, in every body of water.  The gator captivated my young mind.  

Now when I'm offered a chance to go to Florida, that inner gator hunter in me comes alive and I happily agree.  This despite how hot I know it is in Florida.  And how much it rains.  And how far it is from my house.  

 When G asked if I wanted to tag along to her work conference in Tampa, I immediately said yes because I knew The Dali Museum would be close by.  But I also knew we would find great food and fun things to do as well.  The first stop was St. Augustine.  Within 5 minutes of getting in town we were at Mojo's eating BBQ.  We cooled off with peach pops from Hyppo and walked through the historic city.

 It was dreadfully hot but beautiful.  I wanted to get a few photos of the sky over Castillo De San Marcos so I left G in the shade and scooted across the road for a second.

 As it happened, I was just in time for the afternoon cannon firing over the waterfront.  So I took up my spot in the hot sun and waited through the reenactment.  

 Covered in sweat, I needed to cool down again with a milkshake from Cousteau's.  This may be my favorite place in the city.  The small restaurant only sells gourmet waffles and shakes and every item on the menu is based on the movie "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou".  And waffles and shakes...come on...what could be more perfect for me?  

 We enjoyed a nice seafood dinner on the water at Hurricane Patty's and then walked out on the beach to sample the cool water in the Atlantic Ocean.  The sun was setting on the way back to the hotel and the whole town was golden.

 My internal runner's clock woke me up at 6am and the golden light was back for sunrise over the city.  I got to run across the Bridge of Lions and I estimated my distance pretty well.  I only had to run around the hotel once to get my mileage.

 St. Augustine is beautiful.  I highly recommend it.

We had breakfast at Georgie's Diner, an old reflective silver 50s style diner.  We went because of the name but the food is excellent.  While we were there, a dude leaned in and asked what G ordered and the people behind us spilled their ice water all over themselves.

Then we jumped in the car and headed for the other side of the state.

 Neither of us had ever been to Tampa and G had never been to the Gulf Coast.  As we drove in to the city, at the last minute we decided to bypass the hotel and drive out to St. Petersburg to watch a baseball game.  The Tampa Bay Rays were playing the NY Yankees at Tropicana Field.  This was G's first MLB game.

 We had amazing stadium dogs.

 And we enjoyed the luxury of a covered, air conditioned stadium.

 I've head a few times that Florida is like a reversed US east coast.  Meaning, the northern part of Florida is more like a southern state and the farther south you go, the more northern the state gets.  I assumed this meant that there were more people from northern states moving to southern Florida to escape the cold.  In Tampa and St. Pete, this proved to be truth.  At least every second person we saw was from New York.  At the game, the ratio may have even been higher.  The Yankees have a spring training facility in Tampa and there were at least as many Yankees jerseys and fans as Rays fans.  (Or in our case, Cubs fans)  We pulled for the Rays out of principle but it was cool to see the Yankees.  The Rays won.

We thought we dodged the rain storms inside the stadium and on the drive to the hotel.  We found a mexican restaurant nearby and walked over.  When we sat down to eat, the rain returned and though we tried to wait it out, we ended up getting soaked walking back to the hotel.  

 And in true Florida fashion, the moment the rain stopped, the beauty returned.  That was the sunset view out our 11th floor window.

The next morning I tried out the River Walk on my morning run.  I had a quick breakfast and then headed back to St. Pete to spend the morning at The Dali Museum.  That was an experience I'll have to save for another blog post.  It was great.

 When our kids were tiny, they'd get really excited when they saw palmetto trees because they knew we were near the beach.  You can get a sense of where you are by looking at the trees.  The tall pines near our house slowly give way to spanish moss and palmettos at the coast.  Then, driving south from Jacksonville, the palmettos change to these tall, beautiful palm trees.  These were all over St. Augustine and Tampa.  I think they're my favorite.

 When I returned from The Dali, G was still in conference sessions so I walked a few blocks to the Tampa Museum of Art.

 One of the exhibits was an untrained guy who started decorating baseballs.  He sent them to MLB teams and coaches and developed quite a following.

 This one was to honor the Cubs' 1989 Division Championship.

 The figurative exhibit featured some well known artists and some personal favorites...Niki De St Phalle...

 And Keith Haring.

Later we found a Maggiano's Italian restaurant and explored the town a little more.

 The next morning I got a little lost on my morning run but afterward I found the coolest place for breakfast and coffee.  I love my coffee and there's no substitute for the coffee I make at home.  But Moxie's Cafe in downtown Tampa makes better coffee than me.  

 I did a little exploring after breakfast, trying to walk off the two huge coffees I had.

 The Tampa Theater was showing the Mr. Rogers movie but we couldn't fit it in our schedule.

When G got free, we drove to Clearwater Beach.  We stumbled in to Frenchy's Cafe and won the food lottery.  The crab fries were so wonderful.  G copied the recipe from the menu and we hope to try to replicate this soon.

 Then we got to see the Gulf of Mexico.  The water was mostly clear but it was very, very warm.  We walked a bit and enjoyed watching people.  We discovered that bathing suits can be very different in Florida.  It was an interesting walk.  

 Each morning on the River Walk, I passed lots of runners, walkers and bikers.  Near the Convention Center, if every second person was from New York, then every third was a nurse traveling from another place.  The first morning I noticed quickly that people were not making eye contact or speaking to me.  Runners normally at least acknowledge one another with a nod or a wave.  After the first few people didn't speak, I made it my mission to bring some southern hospitality to the Tampa River Walk.  I "Good Morning-ing" everyone and made them smile and speak.  

I had another giant coffee at Moxie's and when I got back to the hotel, G was ready to hit the road again.

 We drove back across Florida on a different route, taking us past farms, horses, cows and lots of small bodies of water.  I'm pretty sure every road we traveled in the state was under construction.  About 7 hours later we arrived in Charleston, SC just in time for the afternoon heat.  We walked around the city a bit and then headed across the bridge to eat dinner at Page's.  While we were there we noticed that Page's also offered breakfast.  The next morning we considered several options before deciding we would go back to Page's.  We made a good choice.  

 My runner's clock must have decided I needed to sleep in an extra 30 minutes so I missed the sunrise but I still had a beautiful run over the Ravenel Bridge.

 I only stopped once for photos and I held my phone extra tight this time.  The last time I took photos while running across the bridge, I dropped it and nearly lost it over the edge. 

 After my run I got to explore the fishing pier under the bridge.

 Charleston (and Mount Pleasant) has the best light.

After breakfast, we had to go back to the beach.  We decided we prefer the Atlantic to the Gulf.  And South Carolina to Florida.  

Now back to the alligators.  If you're wondering how many gators I saw on this trip...the answer is none.  Not a single one.  No space shuttles either.  But that milkshake at Cousteau's...more than made up for it!