This weekend D. and I shared a most perfect Saturday afternoon. We packed up the car with blankets, books, fruit for a picnic and Henry and headed a bit south to Fort Desoto State Park. The park is a naturally preserved bit of coastline. This close to the city its hard to find undeveloped beachfront areas.
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| A Great Blue Heron |
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| Most beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, if allowed to be left to their own devices, would have lush mangrove forests hugging their coastline. Mangroves are incredibly important for fish spawning as well as protection in hurricanes. I am amazed that they can grow in such sandy and salty conditions. |
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| Fruits of the Florida winter sun |
After our most perfect day of reading, picnicking and fussing over Henry, we found a little local smoked fish house and had ourselves some good eating. Although its been here for over 50 years, it was our first time. A really relaxed, un-pretentious, old Florida Southern style restaurant, it serves locally and responsibly caught mullet and Spanish mackerel. You can't get much more local, not only is the fish itself local but smoking is historically very important in the Southeastern part of the U.S. The process of smoking these varieties of fish was introduced to the Spanish by the indigenous inhabitants of this region, as a way to preserve a large catch.
Besides that, the place itself feels like your at your uncle's fishing cabin! We had cold draft beer for $2 and a big heaping plate of smoked fish, cole slaw, and potato salad served on big wooden benches in the "dining room," where we sat nice and toasty by a wood burning fireplace (I'm kicking myself for not getting any pictures).
Truly, a perfect weekend. Hope yours was full of local adventure and good eatin'.
ARGHHHHHH I REALLY WANT TO GO THERE! You have described such an amazing weekend. I love that you enjoy good food, and the dining experience as much as I do. I say "pish" to people that don't eat! I was reading recently about the Southern coastline and how so much of the natural habitat which protects the land-area has been destroyed and utilised for other man-driven purposes. Such a shame. We have sand-dune rejuvination projects happening all over our coast - I think there has been a lot of erosion without them. So funny, about D not liking old things either, i laughed out loud when i read on my blog that you try and sneak things in - ME TOO! When I bought my new-old chairs the other day, i decided not to tell Steve until i got home..and then very casually said..'oh i bought us some new chairs, we have to pick them up later"...and then ran away really quick so he couldn't question me. hahaha
ReplyDeleteHoly smoked fish! That looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a weekend out, hermit. :)
that smoked fish place is beautiful. the fireplace, the wooden tables, the fresh food...sounds like how i'd plan my dream kitchen!
ReplyDeleteand that beach scene is absolutely breathtaking; i'm so glad some mangroves are growing heartily out there as part of the natural habitat. darin and i have never been so surprised on any of our ramblings as we were by the beach areas around much of the gulf of mexico (i'm talking the panhandle mostly). it was springtime and there were these giant empty hotels and tacky souvenir shops for as long as the eye could see. we were hard-pressed to find gorgeous beaches like this although we LOVED the water there, swimming, and the birds. it was even worse in places like virginia beach, which i had romanticized in my mind as a beautiful southern beach (like your photos but maybe with a little old fashioned boardwalk) and it turned out SO DIFFERENT. tourism is a weird thing!
anyway i'm glad you got a dream weekend with your boys. henry is the cutest dang thing ever! and you are quite a good storyteller!
That fish looks so darn tasty! Looks like a perfect weekend getaway!
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