“Oh, the weather outside is frightful…” It is weeks after
Christmas, but the line from that carol echoes in my head, because it is cold
outside. Today it is in the 50s, quite a change from when we arrived at Tomoka
State Park in Ormond Beach, Fla.,yesterday, amid temperatures in the sunny 70s.
The park straddles the Halifax River and offers many places
for fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and hiking. (We will stick with the fishing.)
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| The monument to Chief Tomokie is erected in the Tomoka State Park. The chief is a mythological legend of the Timucuan Indians. The myth said he drank from waters that gave everlasting life.. |
Despite today’s chill, Jim and I decided to venture out and explore the area and perhaps dip our fishing poles. (We did that, but only briefly. Too cold! Brrrr.)
We drove south on U.S. Hwy A1A (the scenic highway that hugs
the Atlantic coast all the way south) to Daytona, only about 15 miles away. Our
mutual impression of Daytona Beach (my first visit): ugly square buildings. To
be fair, however, we were only in the beach area of the city, and beach
communities are traditionally very trashy and commercial. I suspect that the
rest of the city (on the other side of the intracoastal waterway, the Halifax
River) is much nicer. (At least, I hope so.)
The intent of our initial drive around the area was to find
places to fish. We are constantly amazed at how well these smaller communities we
have visited have developed riverside (and oceanside) parks, complete with
fishing piers. For example, Ormond Beach has developed beautiful parks with
fishing piers and sheltered pagodas on both ends of the bridge that spans the
Halifax River. Daytona Beach has a fishing pier on the ocean. Neither community
charges a fee to use these facilities.
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| Fishing pier on the Halifax River in Ormond Beach |
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| A second fishing area in Ormond Beach |
Jacksonville is virtually surrounded by water—several rivers
and the Atlantic Ocean—yet there are few good places to fish. As an example,
the Atlantic Blvd. and Beach Blvd. bridges that span the San Pablo River would
be perfect places to fish—except that to access the water you have to climb
over some serious rocks (if you dare; I don’t).
Oh…and the fishing pier in Jacksonville Beach? Users have to
pay a daily fee to fish, or even to stroll down it!
As Jim and I were driving around and exploring possible
areas to fish, we discovered a hidden gem in Ormond Beach: The Casements, the
winter home of John D. Rockefeller. This house has been restored by a
historical society and is open to the public. It is used for meetings,
weddings, and fund-raising. It is also open as a free museum with either a self-directed
or guided tour. We learned quite a bit about this beautiful old house, as well
as Rockefeller, whose source of wealth may be dubious but whose distribution of
that wealth has done much good through various foundations.
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| The Casements, John D. Rockefeller's winter home in Ormond Beach, Fla. |
After lunch at an excellent Greek restaurant, we braved the
elements to fish—for about 30 minutes. The north wind was just too much,
especially as the temperature dipped into the mid 50s. We finally called it
quits for the day and went home to Thor to thaw out.
We picked up a lot of literature about Volusia County, in
which Ormond Beach resides. If the weather (or at least the wind) remains too
cold for comfortable fishing, we’ll do some more exploring tomorrow.
Until later,
Your Reluctant RoVer,
Linda
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