Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Friday, July 22, 2011

Thematic Photographic # 154 - Vacation

Welcome to Written Inc.'s "Thematic Photographic" series as Carmi invites us to unleash "vacation" leaving it as wide open as always.

                    Sometimes while snapping photos on vacation it isn't always the main subject that should be captured.........These are the kinds of clouds that bring me right back to my childhood.....it's time to see all the shapes we can find flying overhead.....

Outside Buckingham Palace, London England


       For me a well planned vacation  is ...first, having a destination and once you arrive everything mysteriously falls into place, usually.   While vacationing in the United States I'll pick up a copy of the vacation area detailed in a series from Images of America ....and searching for the less traveled roads....of yesterday's greatness...... or any other book title with Uncommon Guide or Off the Beaten Path from any Barnes and Noble or other local book store....or the local library.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida once a steamy mangrove swamp, now still hot and steamy  this U.S. Fort constructed in 1838 to guard against the Seminole Indians was named for its commander, Major William Lauderdale (of course) and remained open until 1857.  Then all became quiet and still steamy (of course)  in such a sleepy shore front hamlet until Henry Flagler's railroad reached this area in 1911.  The arrival of the steam engine, and travel to Fort Lauderdale opened up easy vacationing, and people capitalized on real estate opportunities...and have ever since!

   The most interesting story I found while walking these grounds was a little bronze sign telling of, "The Barefoot Mailman"
It begins in the early history of the southeastern coast of Florida with the legendary Barefoot Mailman!  It begins way before roads, rails or tourists and superhighways came to be, as it was quite the challenge to get mail between Jupiter and Miami.  The quickest and most safe and sure way was to walk the mail down the beach, of course.   It started in 1870 when the Barefoot mailman walked along the very large and deserted beach and often swam or rowed across the many inlets.  These mailmen really had boats waiting for them in different areas.  This was a highly dedicated way in which the U.S. Post Office maintained its delivery on as best a schedule as any Barefoot mailman could!

I hope you enjoyed my post of "vacation" for Thematic Photographic and if you too want to join in or just simple check out the other than please go here

http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2011/07/thematic-photographic-154-vacation.html

10 comments:

Bob Scotney said...

I was hoping the Barefoot Mailman was a link for us to follow, but I guess he just walked off somewhere. Good to see Buck House!

Karen S. said...

Bob Scotney, Hello good to see you! His story is a cool one, perhaps I should make a post about him sometime! I still have issues with blogger on posting some comments and just wish I could comment on yours ...if you share emails with bloggers here is mine and you can email me so that I can at least send my comments to you that way until blogger gets everything back to normal! Okay?! swirlgal01@aol.com

Karen S. said...

Bob- sounds like you've been here before, very cool!

Max Sartin said...

I love the clouds, glad you don't always focus on the tried and true views. My father was a big fan of the untraveled path, he hated taking the big interstate freeways and whenever possible opted for the smaller highways. I inherited that from him and truly believe that's the best way to see an area. Great pictures!

Galen Pearl said...

One of the best vacations I ever took was loading up my car with camping gear and a Rand McNally road atlas and taking off to see Native American historic sites. Some of the places were out in the middle of cow pastures! I found little out of the way museums, interesting people, and a lot of history.

Love your story of the barefoot mailman!

Alexia said...

Amazing clouds. I visited Fort Lauderdale oh-so-many years ago - it was gorgeous, and steamy hot! :)

Nice story about the barefoot mailman... I've occasionally had problems posting comments on Bob's blog too, Karen

Karen S. said...

Alexia - Thanks, my sister in law lived in Fort Lauderdale, and I still have a few relatives in Vero Beach ....it's quite lovely down there....if you can stand the humid air, and the oh so many BUGS! I only seem to have trouble on a few blogs, but it's been ever since blogger went down for awhile....I sure hope it corrects itself!

Cloudia said...

interesting post!



Aloha from Waikiki;


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laurak/ForestWalkArt :) said...

clouds! love the clouds over London!!
that was an interesting story of the Barefoot Mailman!! thanks!

carmilevy said...

You have a cool way of looking at the world, Karen. I like how you always look for the scene that no one else is seeking.