Serendipity

"The faculty of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for." Serendipity, one of my favorite words, is the essence of travel for me. I’m always surprised at it's manifestations.

Granola?

In November, 2012, I visited my friends in Crystal River, Florida, spending a night with Steve and Bonnie. Bonnie, one of my most health conscious friends, served me a delicious homemade granola for breakfast. I liked it so much that I asked her for the recipe. She told me that she'd gotten it from her daughter Angela, mother of three little girls who still finds time to make granola and other treats like whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread from scratch. They graciously agreed to share it.

Bonnie, Angela, and baby Gina

The Recipe

Bonnie and Angie's Granola 

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats 

1/2 cup silvered almonds 

1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut 

1/4 cup hulled green pumpkin seeds 

1/4 cup sunflower seeds or pine nuts 

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped fine 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter 

1/3 cup honey 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/2 cup raisins or chopped dates 

1/2 cup dried cranberries or blueberries or a combination

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl stir together oats, almonds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pecan, cinnamon and salt. In a small saucepan melt butter with honey over low heat, stirring. Add vanilla and pour butter mixture over oat mixture and stir until combined well.

On a large baking sheet spread the granola evenly in a thin layer. Bake stirring every 5 minutes to keep from sticking or burning, until golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes (Do not over cook, granola will crisp when cooled) Cool granola and stir in dried fruits. Granola may be kept in air tight container for a week. 

An added bonus to this recipe is that it's gluten free since it has no flour. I mix about one third cup granola with 2 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt for a delicious, serendipitous breakfast treat!

Madison, Florida

Have you ever watched a movie where someone closes their eyes and finds a destination on a map by stabbing at it with their finger? That's pretty much how I chose Madison, Florida as a midway point between DeFuniak Springs and Winter Springs during my automobile trip to Florida in October, 2012.

The Town

As it turned out, Madison is a quintessential small town and the seat of Madison County. Its wide streets, historic buildings and Four Freedoms Park containing several monuments make it attractive. I knew I was in Florida when I saw palm trees and live oaks draped with Spanish moss. 

Madison County Courthouse at dusk

And I knew I was in the South when I saw the commanding Confederate soldier's monument in the center of the park. Since African Americans made up 62.43% of the population in the 2000 census, I thought it fitting that a monument to the former slaves of Madison County was placed on one of the corners of the park in 1996. 

Four Freedoms Monument

Also prominently displayed in the park is the Four Freedoms Monument, based on the ideals articulated in a speech to Congress in January, 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It's one of four such monuments in the United States, with the others located in Indiana, Ohio and on Roosevelt Island in New York City. 

Four Freedoms Monument. Confederate monument is seen in the right rear

Natural North Florida

Madison is situated in the midst of Natural North Florida, making it a hub for outdoor activities of all types. The water enthusiast can enjoy canoeing, cave diving, fishing, and swimming in the rivers that border the county on three sides and in the nearby Madison Spring Blue State Park. 

The Ladell Brothers Outdoor Environmental Center on the campus of the North Florida Community College was developed to preserve the homes of as many species of plants and animals as possible. It's also a site for the Great Florida Birding Trail, a network of 514 sites covering 2,000 miles in the state.

The cycling enthusiast can enjoy a 100+ mile loop on country roads with some cycling lanes. Billed as the Four Freedoms Trail, it begins and ends at the park in downtown Madison. Additionally, the Adventure Cycling Association of America includes Madison in their Southern Tier, Section 7 map. Linda, the hostess at my B&B told me that she had had some European guests who flew to California with their bicycles and rode cross country to Madison!

Adventure Cycling's Southern Tier, Section 7, map

Lodging

TripAdvisor lists five motels and two B&Bs for Madison. I stayed at The Unity House B&B because I liked the looks of the colorful, clean and modern rooms on the website. Linda told me how her faith had led her there, even though she'd never stayed in a B&B or been to Madison before. Even so, she was successful in creating a peaceful atmosphere in which I enjoyed a restful sleep and a delicious filling breakfast in the sunny breakfast room the next morning. 

Breakfast at the Unity House 

The dining room - all the furnishings purchased from a Miami resale store

Scenes from Madison

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this fire engine 'vignette'

Fountain in Four Freedoms Park with Courthouse across the street

One of the historic homes near Four Freedoms Park

Museum in the downtown area

 

Lake Frances

Happy cows. Florida ranks 11th in the nation in total cattle numbers

DeFuniak Springs, Florida

I lived in Florida for 18 years. Before that, I read a chapter about it in the Reader's Digest's book, America From the Road, entitled 'A Land Like No Other'. If you're a writer, you've no doubt heard of the importance of "the hook". Well, I was hooked by that title, and once I moved there, by Florida. I read about it voraciously and made it my goal to visit every corner of that strangely shaped state. One place that always intrigued me was DeFuniak Springs, in the panhandle, between Pensacola and Tallahassee. At the time, I lived eight or nine hours away, in Ft. Lauderdale. I tried to visit DeFuniak Springs several times, but something always happened to prevent me.

  Perhaps that intrigue stemmed from its claim of being the home of one of only two perfectly round lakes in the world, the Victorian homes that line it, or the area's rich history, including the fact that it was the winter home of the Chautauqua movement from 1885 to the early 1900's. People from all over America converged there by train, paid a gate fee and attended keynote speeches and sessions relating to art, education, recreation and religion. 

Today, only a handful of Chautauqua communities are left, but the idea of Chautauqua is experiencing a rebirth. The North Carolina mountain town of Andrews, 20 minutes from my home, hosts Chautauqua Andrews twice a year, which I've enjoyed attending several times. 

DeFuniak Springs Chautauqua Hall of Brotherhood on Circle Drive

Devotees have put together the Chautauqua Trail of towns, including DeFuniak Springs, home of Florida Chautauqua, to help people find them.

Hotel DeFuniak and Bogey's Restaurant


Finally, I was successful in visiting DeFuniak Springs, and I enjoyed it as much as I had hoped I would. I booked a room at the Hotel DeFuniak, which terms itself a small boutique hotel, and has received 4&1/2 stars from TripAdvisor reviewers, earning it their "Seal of Excellence". Well deserved, I might add.

Hotel DeFuniak lobby

After fortifying myself with the delicious full breakfast that was included in the moderate room rate, which I enjoyed in the charming dining room that is attached to both the hotel lobby and Bogey's Restaurant, the venue for the excellent dinner that I enjoyed the night of my arrival, I set out to explore.

My first stop was at the Visitors Center, where I picked up a Walking Tour of historic Circle Drive brochure, listing 39 buildings and homes of interest around the lake. 

I had brought my bicycle with me, anticipating rides on the flat terrain of Florida, and I was not disappointed here. I enjoyed the sun, balmy breezes and birdsong as I happily pedaled along, with a few stops to take photos.

650 Circle Drive, built for Judge Angus Graham Campbell, c 1905

Magnolia Grandiflora, with a spreading crown of 72 feet, the 8th largest of Florida's champion trees

Plantation style house

Brick house and oak tree

At 3 Circle Drive, stands the Walton-DeFuniak Library, the oldest structure in Florida built as a library and still serving that purpose.

In the 1880's, Wallace Bruce, who moved to DeFuniak Springs around 1890, was the ambassador to Scotland and lived in Edinburgh. His son, Kenneth, began collecting European armor, which is housed in the library. Some of the pieces date back as far as the Crusades (1100-1300 AD). Sadly,I was "foiled" in my attempt to see the collection. The librarian told me that they had closed that part of the library until they could get the bat infestation there under control! I had to console myself by enjoying the library's reading garden.

Too soon, I had to leave DeFuniak Springs for my next stop, Madison, Florida. Next time, I hope to stay longer and to see that armor collection. If you go, you might consider picking up these guidebooks:

Scenic Driving Florida, by Jan Annino Godown, and

Off the Beaten Path Florida, a guide to unique places, by Diana & Bill Gleaner, 

both of which can be ordered through our local vendor, Curiosity Shop Bookstore.

Georgia's Kolomoki Mounds State Park

My imagination has always been fired by thoughts of native American cultures before the advent of the Europeans. When I learned that Kolomoki Mounds was one of Georgia's largest prehistoric mound complexes, and that the state park was just a little over an hour south of Providence Canyon, I included it in my itinerary for the Florida trip. The park, like Providence Canyon, is easily accessible from US 27. A good map or GPS is advisable, as once you turn off US  27 just north of Blakely, the road snakes through a small town and farmland on the way to the park. I approached from the east, driving past Mounds A (or the Great Temple Mound) and D to the Visitor's Center.

Sign at Visitor's Center

Just as the sign says, the Visitor's Center incorporates a museum and an excavated portion of Mound E. The smell of earth was strong as I walked along the wooden walkways and sat on the bleachers to watch an informational film about the complex, the excavation process, and the burial it revealed. The scene below, left just as it was found by the excavators, other than the plastic copies of the bones, had a profound impact on me. More than a thousand years ago an important chief, seen in the lower left, died naturally, but the skeleton in the upper right was of a wife who was probably strangled and buried here so that the chief would not be alone in the afterlife. Do you suppose that was in the pre-nup?

The film explained that the mounds were constructed with clay that was carried to the sites by baskets. This burial mound (E) was dome shaped, about 11 feet high and constructed from soil and rocks with a final capping layer of red clay and rocks. Fifty-four complete pottery vessels were found by the excavators. Mound D, not displayed, contained 77 burials and a cache of ceremonial pottery, pieces of which are on display in the museum. Unique to Kolomoki is the effigy pottery in the shapes of various animals including deer, quail and owls. 

Mound A, or the Great Temple Mound

 The largest of Kolomoki’s nine mounds is Mound A, or the Great Temple Mound, which rises to a height of 57 feet. With a base larger than a football field, it has the distinction of being the Indian mound with the largest land base in Georgia. It originally would have been swept clear of any vegetation and covered with different colored clays. The final capping layer was made from red clay, although years before it was completely covered with white clay. Since there is no evidence of structures on its top, theories state that it may have served solely as a ceremonial platform or stage for public rituals. 

Interesting to me, since my husband is an amateur astronomer, is the idea that it may have served as a platform for astronomical observations, since pottery from this time period suggests such observations were being made and that accurate calendars were being produced. Astronomical alignments have been noted for several mounds at the Kolomoki site. Mounds A, D, and E which form the central axis of the site form an alignment with the sun at the spring equinox. Mounds F and D form an alignment with the sun at the summer solstice. Other mounds were thought to have been aligned in order to predict the arrival of these solar events.*

Although it looked daunting, I climbed up the stairs seen in the photo. By hanging onto the railing and not looking up, I was soon at the top, rewarded with this view. 

View the the west , including Mound D, from the top of Mound A

I was intrigued to learn that Kolomoki is one of the  native American sites that was abandoned well before the Europeans arrived. Without written records, the reason for this can only be a matter for speculation, but interesting ideas are presented in the reference material cited at the end of this post. I shot one more photo as I left the park, with my mind full of what I had seen and wishing that I could go back in time to observe this "highly complex culture that was rich in art, craft and tradition".

View of Mounds A and D from the road

*http://lostworlds.org/kolomoki_mounds/

Georgia's Providence Canyon State Park

When our children were small, my husband Paul and I took them on a trip from Montana to Arizona to visit friends. The Grand Canyon was on our route, so we stopped, spent the night in one of the lodges on the South Rim, and snapped a few photos of the canyon's awe inspiring vistas.

Fast forward to 2012: one of my travel tips is to be prepared. Keep a library of good travel books of places you are interested in. One of mine is the excellent, information packed Moon Handbooks: Georgia. Over the years, its pages have become well-read and bookmarked. Within those pages, I first learned about Georgia's Providence Canyon, remarkably similar to the Grand Canyon in aspect, if not in size and scope. Only about two hours from Warm Springs, a visit was definitely in my planned route for my automobile trip to Florida. Southeast of Columbus, it is easily accessible from US 27, one of Georgia's improved, but underused, four lane highways. At Lumpkin, I turned off onto Highway 39C, which is the road to the Florence Marina State Park. After driving about eight miles, half-way between Lumpkin and the Florence Marina, I saw the sign for Providence Canyon State Park.

Just like the state park website says, “Georgia's “Little Grand Canyon” is a testament to the power of man's influence on the land. Massive gullies as deep as 150 feet were caused simply by poor farming practices during the 1800s, yet today they make some of the prettiest photographs within the state. The rare Plumleaf Azalea grows only in this region and blooms during July and August when most azaleas have lost their color. The canyon soil's pink, orange, red and purple hues make a beautiful natural painting at this quiet park.” 

Not as majestic as the Grand Canyon, perhaps, but I found it to be awe inspiring in its own way. 

If you go: the Visitor Center is only open sporadically, but the picnic area with its bathroom facilities is open year round, and I found the best view by walking straight back to the edge of the canyon from the picnic grounds. 

From Murphy, NC, to Warm Springs, GA

In October of 2012 I took an automobile trip from my home near Murphy, NC, to Florida. Since Murphy is only a few miles from Georgia, the most direct route to Florida is through Georgia. 

And, I'd recently learned that I have a family connection to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aka FDR. It seems that my first cousin three times removed, Roland Livingston Redmond, whose father Geraldyn was my great, great grandfather William Redmond, Jr's, youngest brother, married FDR's niece, Sara Delano. Since my curiosity was piqued by this discovery, I decided to visit some of the sites dedicated to FDR in Georgia's Presidential Pathways, one of the nine themed travel regions that the state has developed, on my way to Florida.

Leaving Murphy on one of those perfect fall days, 

Murphy, NC. October 2012

I took a detour through Blue Ridge, a northwestern Georgia mountain town about a half hour from Murphy. I was just in time to watch passengers preparing to board the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway for an excursion. Wish I'd had time to join them!

Blue Ridge, GA, October 2012

Continuing on, I took I-75 through Atlanta so that I could stop at my favorite grocery store, a destination in itself, Trader Joe's, near Piedmont Park. I exited I-75 onto I-85 South where I drove for about 35 miles to exit 41 onto US-27 South, a two lane road with little traffic that travels through a rural area.

Driving along US-27, I turned a corner and was pleasantly surprised to be confronted with this impressive courthouse. I had reached Greenville, the seat of Meriwether County. 

Meriwether County Courthouse

According to a historical sign on a corner across from the courthouse, "The Oakfuskee Path, main branch of the famous Upper Creek trading route from the Savannah River to the Creek Indians, passed here. Beginning at present Augusta, it led through Greenville via Warrenton, Eatonton, Griffin and Flat Shoals of the Flint River to Oakfuskee Town, an early Upper Creek center on the Tallapoosa River in Alabama. White traders began using this trail in the early 1700's. In time the route became a noted pioneer trace and eventually a leading stage road." 

Meriwether Historical Society

I didn't have time to visit, but I took this photo of the charming building across the street from the courthouse that houses the Meriwether Historical Society.

My destination, the town of Warm Springs, site of the therapeutic waters that helped President Franklin Delano Roosevelt overcome some of the effects of the polio that he contracted in 1921 at the age of 39 and his Little White House, was only about 20 minutes away. 

After checking into my hotel, the historic Warm Springs Hotel Bed and Breakfast Inn, I enjoyed a self-guided tour of the Little White House, coming away with a new respect for the man who had the courage to overcome the label of "cripple" that was meted out to polio sufferers, and whose disability seemed to add to the compassion he had for the common people. Compassion that was a factor in the programs that he put into place in the 1930's and 1940's that are still helping people today.

At the hotel, I purchased the movie, 'Warm Springs', shot in the area in 2005. After watching it, I understood why FDR spent about two-thirds of his personal fortune purchasing the property for what has become the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, and why the only home he ever owned was the Little White House.

If you've got a few minutes, please enjoy this slideshow of some of the photos I took while there. 





Postscript: Thanks to my friend Laura who sent me a link to this powerful photo documentary: Bearing Witness, which explores the extraordinary, wide-ranging legacy of images created by photographers who worked under the support of innovative New Deal programs created by the Roosevelt administration during the 1930s.