November 8th

This morning before leaving Zephyrhills we went to check out the camphor tree that is located in town.

In addition to water, parachutes, and friendliness, Zephyrhills has a signature tree-the Camphor tree, northeast of town. Doing some research at the Depot Museum recently, we discovered news coverage has been compiled about our signature camphor tree which majestically adorns the area.
Captain James Polk Renfroe, a Florida Pioneer who engineered the first railroad locomotive from Fernandina Beach in Tampa and whose descendants still live around Zephyrhills, planted the tree 119 years ago. Captain Renfroe brought his wife and three sons  to south Florida in 1881 from Blakshear, Ga. The family came first to Tampa near his railroad business and later moved to Plant City.
After he saw the hills of Pasco County, he and his wife decided to build their home near the small town of Richland. He ordered some trees and shrubs from Washington, D.C., and in the shipment was a small camphor tree (about 12 inches) which Mrs. Renfroe planted on March 3, 1890, the day before her daughter, Mrs. Agnes Roberts, was born.
In 1972, Zephyrhills News reporter Valerie Wickstrom said, “This camphor tree has the record of being the largest in the world. The girth of the trunk is 27 feet, 5 inches.” In 1972, the Pasco County Commission attempted to dedicate the tree as the ‘county tree.’ A Dec. 20, 1989 Tampa Tribune article reported the Zephyrhills camphor was then the second largest camphor tree in the United States. Stan Weston nominated the tree in 1971 for the National Forestry Association’s Listing of Big Trees in the U.S.A.
Capt. Renfroe was a hearty pioneer in Zephyrhills and one of the first to develop the land.  Samuel E. Nyce wrote in his Rise and Progress of Zephyrhills about his visit to Zephyrhills Colony on Nov. 23, 1911. In addition to a detailed description of what the town looked like with the old buildings of the Colony Company, Hennington’s Department Store and three Railroad houses, he talked of having dinner with Capt. Howard Jeffries and then taking an excursion to see a real ‘orange grove’ at Capt. Renfroe’s. He described it as the ‘turning point’ of a pioneers visit because it showed what could be done with the wilderness!
For you guys that live around the Tri-Cities check out that highlighted sentence.  Small world, huh?  And in Florida.

From there we went on to Tarpon Springs.

I thought Tarpon Springs would be larger.  It felt like it was all situated down the main street, definitely a street for tourists.  We did go through the residential part of town, there had to be more we didn't see, more city.

I was also surprised, only because of pure ignorance, that the biggest part of the vendors were of Greek origin.  We ate at a little restaurant and then took a boat ride out to the Gulf of Mexico.  THE GULF OF MEXICO, WOOHOO!!!!

The skipper of the boat took us to a little island, about 1 mile long and if you had a good throwing arm you could pitch a ball across the width.  There was nothing, and I mean nothing, there except sea shells.  We picked up a bag full.

We were hoping to see whales, manatees, dolphins, anything.  But apparently they didn't get the memo that we were coming.

This might have been a manatee but we will never know.

Then we headed to the beach, Sunset Beach, to get, what else, a Gulf sunset.

Side note, they are decorating for Christmas and it is still 80 Degrees here.  WTH

Until next time

Love to all