Finding Wakulla

So how did this Yankee end up in Wakulla County, Florida? Population 32,815,  A far cry from Boston’s population of 645,169.

Wakulla County is one of the  the fastest growing county in the state. (are they all following me?)

I remember the day that I arrived here. It was the summer, I did hear the stories of the humidity and all and thought that I was prepared for it. After all, I was coming from Boston where it was 83 with a slight breeze this day.. 

Landing at the Tallahassee airport, I located my luggage and went to the electronic door that opened to the outside....

Swoooooooooooooooooosh! 

The humidity hit me like a brick, it had a sound and a fury all it's own. The combination of the door opening and the humidity hitting me all at once sounded like an F15 fighter strafing from above. I will never forget that sound. My eye glasses......

.......fogged immediately. I first thought to myself, how can they live in this? Can a Yankee live and breath down here? I asked a Cabbie "is it like this down here all the time?  

He answers "yes, It is not so bad today"


Oy! I immediately started to sweat in places that I was not use to...Water was my new friend.

I went to work in Tallahassee for a fortune 500 company on a specific contract, when that contract was up, I had two choices, move to Trenton NJ for another contract or stay in Tallahassee and look for another job.

I stayed in Tallahassee. Nothing against Trenton, I did not know anything about that city and was familiar with Tallahassee.

While living in Tallahassee, my wife and I would take frequent trips to Wakulla County: We eventually moved to the county  4 years ago. 

Wakulla County was created from Leon County in 1843. It may (although this is disputed) be named for the Timucuan Indian word for "spring of water" or...................

....... "mysterious water." This is in reference to Wakulla County's greatest natural attraction, Wakulla Springs, which is one of the world's largest freshwater springs, both in terms of depth and water flow. In 1974, the water flow was measured at 1.23 billion gallons per day—the greatest recorded flow ever for a single spring.

Wakulla Springs was/is famous for something you might have seen.....The filming of....

Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed and originally released in 3-D requiring polarized 3-D glasses, and subsequently reissued in the 1970s in the inferior anaglyph format (this version was released on home video by MCA Videocassette, Inc. in 1980). It was one of the first Universal Pictures films filmed in 3-D (the first wasIt Came from Outer Space, which was released a year before). It is considered a classic of the 1950s.

We are proud of this movie!

 Beat that, Boston!!

Speaking of the creature from the black lagoon, one thing I do miss is the culture Boston has to offer.....

from..

 The Museum of Fine Arts....to..

The Museum of Science...

I also do miss the Boston skyline.....

Wakulla does have a skyline of its own...

We also do have some culture here in the County.....

We educate our fish!!!! 

Some things in the Wakulla County wild you will not find in Boston:

Florida Statute 372.667 states: Do not feed the alligators- I am a good Yankee and follow this statute at all times. 

Manatees will come right up to your canoe (Never thought I would say that as a city kid) ) They are very docile 

  Wakulla Springs..

The higher, the better

To all my fellow Yankees, Wakulla County is light years way from Orlando and Disney World! In distance and in culture. I think many of my family and friends think of Florida in terms of Disney world, when I tell everyone I live in Florida, the next thing out of their mouth is “Nice, so how far are you from Disney World?” I explain that I am in the Tallahassee area, 4 hours drive from Orlando. But a million years in time. Tallahassee is a very southern minded city it borders two other southern states-Georgia and Alabama.

So, yes I live down south nowadays. I don't hear much of-"you can't get there from heeya" But how about this one: The pickup truck with the gun rack, and a bumper sticker that reads, "Guns don't kill people. I do." always has the right of way.

Gotta love the south!