“You boys ain’t from around here, are ya?” A low-budget “hixploitation” film, Trapper County War stars the great Bo Hopkins, along with Rob Estes, Noah Blake, Betsy Russell, Don Swayze (yes, it’s Patrick’s little brother) and Ernie Hudson. Two young city slickers from New Jersey get into a heap of trouble with a backwoods North Carolina family. Not a bad way to waste 90 minutes or so!
“What would life be like if you could step away from shore and live your life on the sea? To find out, we jump aboard WOLF, a 74 foot topsail schooner commanded by Admiral Finbar Gittelman, a 75 year old master sailor from Key West Florida. Finbar weaves tales of his adventures at sea as we witness the open water like never before. Finbar’s family fled Cuba during the height of Castro’s revolution, now he returns for the first time in 50 years to walk the streets and see what remains of his former home.” Visit The Old Man and the Sea: Return to Cuba official website.
“A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.”
– Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” ―
“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Two days. Thirteen miles. 11 deer sightings. Many osprey sightings, among other bird species. Riverbend Park. Jupiter. Don’t miss it!
I hiked about six miles at Split Oak Forest, first heading South along the North/South Trail and then taking the Lake Loop Trail that winds by Bonnet Pond and Lake Hart. A very enjoyable hike and I saw two deer and two Sherman’s fox squirrels. An amazing wilderness area, Split Oak Forest deserves to be preserved for future generations to enjoy!
“One of the stories in the film comes from Jason Robards, who famously fought in the war, was in the Navy … I worked with him on Magnolia. And he told me the story of coming back. I don’t remember what boat he was on, but he was coming back, and V-J Day was announced, and they’d run out of booze. And they broke into the torpedoes and drank booze [i.e, fuel] out of there. And the way he tells it, he woke up the next morning on the mast of the ship, and an inch either way he would have fallen to his death. And that story just stuck with me as a great story … something to get into the film.” – Paul Thomas Anderson, NPR Interview, 2013
We enjoyed a pleasant stroll along the 3,500-foot boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Conservation Park in Tampa over the weekend. Don’t miss the observation tower, which offers some great scenic views of the Hillsborough River. Highly recommended!
Wandering Florida 