Cedar Key

Today's road trip was to Cedar Key, a small town about an hour away from Gainesville. We used to go to Cedar Key to go fishing when we were growing up. (We caught catfish, mostly, although there was one memorable trip when my sister caught a hammerhead shark. That thing stayed in the freezer for years, before a power outage did it in for good.) The dock where we used to fish is closed off, though, due to hurricane damage.

These days, Cedar Key has been tourist-ed up a bit. Instead of just the one general store, they have a few blocks of art shops, many of them featuring local artists. (If you want some kind of decoration featuring pelicans, Cedar Key is your place to go.) We had a good time browsing around, and had a seafood lunch overlooking the water (which is Cedar Key's other big attraction).

We also visited the Cedar Key museum -- all five rooms of it! We were surprised to learn that the town had once been a center of industry (well, sort of). They provided cypress wood for making pencils, and had manufacturers making brushes out of palm tree fibers. (Today, you can buy a souvenir palm-fiber brush for a mere $150! The souvenir pencils are substantially less expensive.)

Tomorrow's road trip will be longer and less scenic -- back to North Carolina.