Gone with the Wind

     I wasn’t lying yesterday when I said we’re experiencing some very strange weather. It’s 80 Degrees, 86% Humidity and after 8pm with a forecast saying it will reach 90 degrees tomorrow.  Oh, maybe I forgot to tell you I’m in the Panhandle of Florida right now, more specifically outside of Milton, Florida at Adventures Unlimited.

     I’ll tell you right now if this place isn’t on your bucket list then you better add it now.  The owners are friends of ours from the Paddlesport Industry Association and they operate an incredible paddling business here.  Not only do they send people out on the river in canoes, kayaks and tubes they just added a Zip Line Tour on their over 80 acres of wooded property.  We spent the day zipping in the tree tops and over the river. I videotaped a bit and will fill you in on that awesome adventure tomorrow.

     Right now I want to tell you I’m staying in an old school house that was made into some unique overnight accommodations on the property of Adventures Unlimited.  Each room is filled with antiques, wooden floors and has a special theme.  A little known fact about me is my love for the movie "Gone with the Wind" based upon the book by Margaret Mitchell.  Guess whose room I am staying in?  The Margaret Mitchell room filled with Gone with the Wind books, posters and decor from that era.  There’s a swing and rocking chairs on the porch and everything.

     This place is in the middle of the woods, there is barely cell phone service and I can see the stars in the sky.  No television or telephone is in the room and the only sounds outside I can hear are the chirping of crickets.  Pine trees tower overhead as well as cypress, magnolia and oak.  There are cotton fields down the road and bales of cotton lining the ditches. If only the curtains were velvet and I could sew myself a fine gown…

There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South… Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow… Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave… Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind…