The Wandering Disciple

Most people think of sandy beaches with turquoise surf when they think of Florida. But did you know that Florida is also home to over 300,000 lakes as well. In fact almost 3 million acres of Florida land is covered in lakes. The state is also home to the nation's fourth largest lake, Lake Okechobee which spans 730 square miles. This photo is from Lake Dora near Mount Dora, a 4,000 acre lake part of the Harris Chain of Lakes. (Photo: March 18, 2020)

Our nation's oldest city, St Augustine has its fair share of haunted history. But on a sunny Wednesday afternoon it was the paranormal haunts that made St Augustine a ghost town, it was the lack of tourist and locals walking the streets as the nation practices social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. CDC guidelines and orders from the President and Governor had people staying at home in an attempt to flatten the curve of infected patients. (Photo: March 18, 2020)

Fort Myers, Florida: The COVID-19 pandemic has really changed the dynamics of the airport.  From triple digit flight cancellations and planes parked around the field due to reduction of flights, the volume of traffic in and out of Southwest Florida International is way down.  I managed to get a few photos this past week including a good chunk of the grounded aircraft.  There is rumored more to come as the industry struggles to manage the pandemic.  I also managed to get the Thank You livery aircraft from Delta Air Lines on a rare Sunday trip to RSW.  Here is a look at what I saw this past week: C-GHLV – Boeing 767-300 (Air Canada Rouge)  N6A – Embraer Phenom 300  N201FR – Airbus A320 (Frontier Airlines)  N213SY – Embraer 175 (SkyWest Airlines/United Express)  N218WN – Boeing 737-700 (Southwest Airlines)  N256JX – Embraer 135  N342FR – Airbus A320 (Frontier Airlines)  N391DN – Airbus A321 (Delta Air Lines/Thank You ...

The invention of the automobile and the later invention of car camping led to an explosion of growth for the nation's oldest city. Known as tin can tourists, these campers would roll into town and live out of their campers. It popularity led to St Augustine and the rest of the state of Florida becoming the tourist hot spot it is today. (Photo: March 17, 2020)

What better way to cap off a busy day of exploring the ancient city than by taking a moonlit stroll through town. The old city takes on a new look under the light of the moon and the night lights of the city. From the brightly colored stain glass of the churches to the glowing historic structures along the historic district, the city looks much different when the sun goes down. (Photo: March 17, 2020)

Way before we had major pharmaceutical companies to mix up medicine to cure our ailments, the sick and injured required the needs of an apothecary to mix up a cure. A good example of this early art of medicine can be found at the Spanish Military Hospital Museum in St Augustine. Here you can see an 18th century apothecary and learn about how plants were used to help heal soldiers during the second Spanish occupancy of St Augustine. (Photo: March 17, 2020)

The Axis of Evil stand shoulder to shoulder across the aisle from their Allied counterparts. This isn’t a peace convention during World War II but an exhibit at the Potter’s Wax Museum in St Augustine. The nation’s oldest wax museum, Potter’s helps to bring the pages of the history book come alive with life like wax replicas of politicians, military leaders, government official, inventors, music and literary icons and even television and movie actors. There are over a hundred figures spanning the generations all on display within this historic facility. (Photo: March 17, 2020)