Florida: Dunedin by car

Day 164
No Boat Travel

We made it to Dunedin today, and the town certainly did not disappoint us! The town is truly lovely, and it seemed like every nook and cranny of the town was decorated for the Christmas season.

One of Several Dunedin Street Signs

Even the statues at the old train station / historic museum were in festive attire.

Dunedin History Museum
(Old Dunedin Train Station)

"All Aboard!"
Note stop watch in left hand!

Running for the train ... 

We had it on good authority (Nuclear Fishin') that we had to visit the museum, so we paid the modest entrance fee of $3 each for a look around. I found myself in Christmas past as I moved from one toy display to another and relived my youth! I saw a Barbie doll, a Raggedy Ann, a Radio Flyer red wagon, jacks, a metal spinning top, Mr. Potato Head (the one that required a real potato), and so many games - Stratego, Sorry, Scrabble, Candy Land, Tiddledy Winks (which I always called Tiddly Winks), Cootie Bug, Operation and many more that I played during childhood.

Interesting Display of Historic Toy Information
Gives years toys were introduced as well as
History of Frisbee

Barbie, Yogi, TinkerToy, Play-doh, Battleship, Yo-Yo, and
Pez Dispensers (to name a few)

I even saw a set of blocks like ones I played with and had Clark take a picture. My youth revolved around dolls and blocks. I still have my 14 Barbie-type dolls and a handful of my blocks!

After the museum we continued our stroll through town and saw a number of interesting sights starting with an historic oak tree. A plaque under this tree explains its presence as follows:

  In the 1920s a group of women from the Dunedin Women's Club perched themselves on a limb of this tree to save the 150-year-old oak tree that was destined for a sawmill. It's a beautiful tree almost 100 years later.

Tree with Plaque entitled "Out on a Limb"

Running near the tree and through the shopping district, the Pinellas bike trail has an interesting road sign for the town.

Bike Trail through Town of Dunedin

 As I mentioned earlier, Santa and Christmas spirit appeared everywhere. Notice anything unusual about this painted mural on the side of a realty?

Santa's sleigh and a Christmas Tree adorn a Dunedin Town Mural

Dunedin is a sister city to Stirling, Scotland, and the Celtic heritage is strong in town. During our explorations, I found a Celtic store with British food treats for sale - HP Sauce, Branston Pickle, and Cadbury chocolates to name a few. I restrained myself from buying one of each for my boat supplies.

I started getting very hungry while reading the menus for some of the local restaurants including those serving British pub food. As I dreamed of shepard's pie, we crossed the street and ate the boring sandwiches we brought along with us while sitting on a park bench in the Firehouse Gallery Garden.

Statuary in Firehouse Gallery Garden

Further along the Main Street we saw a, for us, unusual sight - an egret crossing the street at egret pace. At least one car had to wait while the egret completed his crossing of the road.

Egret Crossing Main Street in Dunedin, FL

Before leaving town we walked down to the Municipal Marina. On the way there we passed a monument displaying a stone for every state. Of course I looked for the New Jersey stone, which I finally found hiding in the back, as well as Idaho, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

50 States Monument plus District of Columbia

After our walk to the docks, we stopped by a handmade ice cream shop for a sweet treat. Clark found "Christmas Cookie" flavored ice cream and picked that as one of his two scoops. Yum! On our way back to the car I spotted a couple trying to elope out the fire escape ...

Metal Sculpture of Eloping Couple
Note the phone box in the corner of the photo - it stands as a monument in town.

We decided that on our way back to Tarpon Springs we would stop by Marker 1 Marina to see which looper boats might be at dock there. We found a number of looper vessels we recognized including Corkscrew, Elizabear, and Island Office. However, we did not find any loopers to go with them as everyone has headed home for the holidays.

We did find Larry on Lila Blue with whom we crossed the Gulf. He invited us on board to see his new cigar box guitar. It only has 3 strings. Clark played with it for a bit trying to work it out, but it is totally unlike his regular 6-string version.

As long as we were visiting Marker 1 Marina, we decided to drive along the causeway for a while that ends at Honeymoon Island, a place that put Dunedin on the world map when it opened in 1938 as a fantasy Honeymoon destination. We learned at the history museum that the dream came to an end abruptly when, in 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Road to Honeymoon Island

We stopped at the beach briefly. The breeze was heavenly, and
the smell in the air of a saltwater beach reminded me of the Jersey Shore.

Along the road to Honeymoon Island

We got back to the boat around 4:00, and Clark ran off immediately to play Christmas Carols on his guitar with Susan on violin. I heard both Susan and John singing along to the music. I could not hear Clark. They were all up on our fly bridge this time. Meanwhile, I was down in the master state room working on a small craft project. His guitar and my sewing project kept us both busy until dinner time.

With the length of this blog entry, maybe you can guess what kept me busy after dinner!