Farsighted Fly Girl

Amelia Island may be famous for its shrimp but I spotted a form of the pink delicacies that I was not expecting at all. I was strolling down the sunny, cobblestone streets on a historical tour when my guide stopped and plu cked a curving, pink branch from the flowering bush above.  " Wh at does that look like to you?" My guide asked, showing me the blossoms close up.  It looks like a shrimp!  Hence the name shrimp plant.  They grow all over the island and my guide insisted that they will grow just about anywhere. Well, not in Chicago, I informed him.  Not enough sun. Two weeks ago, guess what I spied for sale in front of my local grocery store? It was a vividly blooming, potted shrimp plant. In Chicago. I've never seen them here before and don't know how long they'll last but it just goes to show that sometimes things don't always make sense but it doesn't mean they can't happen.  

I love horses. One of my favorite activities wherever I travel is to go horseback riding. There's nothing like exploring a place on horseback, grabbing a totally different perspective. Sometimes, the horses don't always love me back. I've ridden bossy horses that refuse to move. Hungry horses that insist on snacking on nearby bushes instead of gallop ing and nervous horses that spook  if I dare to hold their reins a tad too tight. So when arrangements for my horseback ride on Amelia Island were planned, I requested a friendly, gentle horse.  Those qualities can be relative but with Debbie Manser , owner of Amelia Island Horseback Riding, I was well taken care of. She paired me with Honey, shown above. I've never met an animal that personified their name quite so perfectly as sweet-natured Honey. We rode along a luminous stretch of American Beach just as the sun was about to set. Debbie guided Honey along the shore and even in the water's edge. Honey trotted sl...

I've seen a lot of things during my travels but I've never seen a fountain like this.  It stands in a sunny corner of historic Fernandina Beach and it looks like a creative art installation. I stared at it for a long time, trying to discover exactly what its for. Washing dishes?  Splash ing nearby plants?  Look closely.  There's a tiny fountain at the bottom, a huge fountain at the right and a normal sized fountain on the left.  What in the world do you do with all of them?  Turns out that this is the  Duryee Fo untain , built in  the 1870s, by the wife of an army officer.  She loved animals, perhaps a little bit more than humans so she commissioned this fountain to give water to horses, cats and dogs and humans! Now what did you think it was for?

Amelia Island is a magical place. Not just because of the sun-drenched cobble stone streets, the Victorian architecture or its long stretch of pristine beaches.  Its the people, as warm as the Florida weather that makes it irresistible.    Apparently, I'm not the only one attracted to this little island.  Pirates loved to hide out on Amelia Island during the 17th and 18th centuries. Throughout the Fernandina Beach historic district, you'll find homages to these characters like the waterfront statue above. And this life-like specimen that guards a local shop. Palm trees also line every street and strip of land, just so you remember you're on an island.  These are my favorite, called pineapple palms because of the texture of the bark. Palm trees often supply the only shade  on a sunny street, making them practical as well as pretty. Apparently, Amelia Island beaches are studded with millions-year-old sharks teeth. I only found pretty shells but...

Amelia Island's main town of Fernandina Beach is lined with sprawling Victorian houses, palm trees, cobblestone streets and, shrimp.  That's right.  Amelia Island is famous for creating the modern shrimping industry in 1900 and its annual Shrimp Festival attracts thousands to the tiny isle.  So yes, shrimp makes up a significant part of Amelia Island's identity.  Throughout Fernandina, whimsical shrimp sculptures dot the lush landscape.  The structures help raise funds for Mica's Place, a local domestic violence intervention center.  I loved spotting these silly creatures wherever I journeyed on the island, they each display a particular personality.  The mosaic shrimp above is called Cool, Coastal, Captivating Cutie and she lounges in the park in the Fernandina Historic D istrict . This is Rock Shrimp and he's my favorite.  It helps that he hangs out right by the local ice cream and fudge s...

Located on northeast Florida's Amelia Island, American Beach is a dreamy stretch of 200 acres that was established as a beach resort for African Americans in 1933, during the Jim Crow era when most beaches were segregated. American Beach remains an undeveloped historical gem, brimming with cultural history. The very first thing that caught my eye on the beach was the bottle tree above, glistening between two palms. Bottle trees are a hallmark of Southern gardens but the tradition reaches back further, centuries ago in the Central African nation of the Congo.  Bottles were slipped onto tree branches to catch spirits trying to enter a house. This tree shows the customary sea green and " haint blue" bottles that whistle like captured ghosts when the wind blows. The other thing that immediately grabbed my attention was this swirling 60 feet sand dune called Nana, a West African term for  great mother.  Nana is the tallest sand dune in the state of Florida an...

This is the turtle that ambled in front of me as I started a tour of  historic American Beach on Amelia Island. He crossed Ocean Blvd casually and confidently, as if he wanted to be part of the tour too. But he got spooked when I moved close to snap his photo. Or maybe he heard my tour guide, Marsha Phelts explain that the only reason he was so big was that the women who live on Ocean Blvd are too old to catch him and make turtle stew!

This week, I'll be on a press trip to Amelia Island, one of the southernmost of the Sea Islands, located off the coast of Florida.  Steeped in history, this 13-mile island is also called  the "Isle of Eight Flags"  since it has flown the flags of France,  Spain (twice), Great Britain, the Patriots of Amelia Island,  the Green Cross of Florida,  Mexico, the Confederate States of America and the United States, since 1562.  I'll be staying in a charming inn on Fernandina Beach, pictured above, complete with rocking chairs to watch the blue herons. My activities will include delving into all that intriguing history as well as horseback riding on the beach, a segway tour of the Amelia Island Plantation nature center and a walking tour of American Beach, a storied African American enclave  frequented by legends like Zora Neale Hurston, A. Phillip Randolph and Joe Louis during the Jim crow era of the 30s-60s.   Of course, I hope to sneak ...