Gainesville Redux*

*I have always wanted an occasion to use the word "Redux!"

It is nice to stay put for a day or two after changing hotels nightly.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to the Butterfly Rainforest at UFLA’s Museum of Natural History (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/) which is conveniently across the street from our hotel. I have been to smaller versions of butterfly enclosures, specifically, at Van Saun Park in Paramus, NJ, but that was a traveling exhibit. This permanent exhibit is really lovely with over 1500 butterflies living in the enclosure.

We then drove the 50 miles (hey, what’s another 50 or so out of 3,000!) to Cedar Key on the Gulf. It is so authentically a small seaside community…it looks like a movie set!!

All this car travel reminds me of my first job. I worked in Admissions for the University of Dayton (go Flyers). My boss handed me a set of car keys and told me to visit as many community colleges east of the Mississippi and north of Virginia as I could in three months. That was 1970 and community colleges were just being established. UD wanted to capitalize on admitting newly-minted associate degree students to baccalaureate degree programs on our campus. I drove 60,000 miles in a year and had one fender-bender in Syracuse. Unlike my colleagues whose recruiting efforts at high schools were clustered regionally, I moved from place to place almost daily. Hard to believe today, but forty years ago it was unusual for a woman to travel and stay in hotels alone. I grew weary of all the travel but it whetted my appetite for car trips.

So here I am, on the road again.

Since 1970, I DID have one other cross country trip in 1975. Jeanne Ormrod and I drove across country in her VW. Jeanne was a SAINT. It was a new VW and I had never driven stick shift. Sharing the driving with me, particularly in San Francisco, was an experience. On the trip West, we had a two-person tent and would set it up between behemoth RVs at camp grounds. Jeanne was getting married that year, right after we returned (now that’s a bride who was organized!) and, as luck and fate would have it, I started dating Don when Jeanne and I returned to State College. The rest is history.

I went to the gym this morning. It really did feel good! Don is off to work at UFLA and I am going to do some errands and maybe take in a movie.

You have noticed that I finally figured out how to upload pictures. I am going to add some to my earlier blogs. Got a cute one of the belted cows, particularly for Carol and Ellen!