If you’ve been reading this blog for very long at all, you had to have seen this coming.  It was the very first thing I thought of when I joined the ABC along.

F is for FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!

(Picture from here.   I hope I did that credit right).

Not just Football but college Football (don’t really care that much for the NFL stuff.)

To be more specific…. I like

FSU……Florida State Football. 

I am deeply concerned that my FSU viewing may be hindered up here in the Pacific Northwest but I shall worry about that more as opening day nears.

I have been an FSU fan since I was a kid.  My love of Football originally came from my mother who religiously screamed at the t.v. every Sunday in autumn/winter.  Her love has faded but mine has not.

Another F…. sounds repetitive but its not….

F is for Florida

My home.

There are many things I don’t like about Florida but when I think about what those are, well, most of it is associated with the large metropolitan areas.  Many don’t consider Florida a southern state.  Well, you’ve got a load of disenfrancised southerners down there that would like to challenge you on that subject.  The best parts of Florida, the best Florida Crackers (local speak for a native Floridian such as myself) are most likely going to be found when you leave Disney and such way behind.  If you really want to see Florida, walk away from Disney, Miami, Daytona Beach, etc and instead……

Visit Paynes Prairie … a lake bed where all the water was drained away years ago by a sink hole.  What remains is a beautiful prairie … and (don’t ask me why) bison (note the baby bison next to the bigger ones).

Drive through the Withlacoochee State Forest  (or hike it).

Canoe the Withlacoochee River (a.k.a. Blackwater River), the Rainbow River where you can paddle right over Rainbow Springs, or the Wekiva River .

Go tubing down the Ichetucknee River (a.k.a. The Itch Me Touch Me) and see Ichetucknee Springs.

Visit Cross Creek, home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (author of The Yearling). Or see the Edison Ford Winter Estates where you can look into Edison’s lab or gaze upon some of the Ford’s original model T’s.

Take a look at the Manatees at Blue Springs State Park or meet one in person while you swim with them in the Crystal River.  (Swimming with them is great.  They try to grab your hand with their flipper, they follow and interact with you.  Way cool!)

My point is that there are amazing things to see, do and experience.   But you have to leave the land of tourists, mouse ears and hustle bustle behind you for just a bit.