December 8, 2015 - Orange City, FL & Deland, FL

Edith was up very early this morning. She was anxious to go to the spring to see manatees before they leave to go to the river.  The temperature was 52˚ and Edith had a fleece jacket on.

Few photographers were already at the deck when Edith arrived.  One guy had a GoPro camera mounted on the tripod and placed it in the water to record the movement. Edith has a GoPro camera, but never thought to do this. The ranger came around to make count. There was a guy in the Manatee Research canoe making notes as he moved along. Edith stayed there for about an hour.

After breakfast we went to DeLand, FL to visit some places. First stop was to check out Athens Theatre that is one of the few classic American theaters in Florida.  It is a jewel of Italian Renaissance architecture and was built in 1921. It now offers Broadway type shows, musicals, concerts, and other live events.  

Not too far from Athens Theatre is Volusia County Historic Courthouse on N. Alabama Ave.  It was opened in November 1929.  We went inside the courthouse and were impressed with its Neo-classical architecture: fluted Corinthian columns, copper-clad dome and stained glass dome visible from the interior.  It is no longer used as a courthouse and has several collections of artwork.

Inside the courthouse

We strolled down few blocks on Woodland Blvd at DeLand downtown.  We went inside Museum of Art DeLand Downtown, decided not to go inside the museum, but went to their gift shop.  

It was cool to see the "ILY" statue

We were in mood for something sweet, went inside Pat & Toni’s Chocolate and Sweet Things store.  Oh my goodness!  Lots of scrumptious candies, cakes, truffles, etc.  Erwin wanted to get pecan pralines, but backed out after finding out it cost $12.49 a half pound  Yes, $12.49 A HALF POUND!!!  Of course, we left the store without a bag in our hands. Maybe it is a good thing because we didn’t need those extra calories.

We were starting to get hungry and it was already past lunchtime.  We decided not to eat out because we wanted to save money, stopped at Winn Dixie to pick up a package of sliced honey ham (on sale for $3.50 and it will yield about 6 sandwiches).  We came home and fixed ourselves sandwiches.   

Erwin wanted to stay home for the rest of the afternoon. Of course, Edith was itchy to go out again and took the Jeep. Visiting a cemetery was on her mind!

Hollywood Cemetery on S. Carpenter Ave in Orange City, FL was established in 1870.  It had some unusual and interesting tombstones and headstones.  Not too many statues there.  Lincoln Cemetery was close by, but the gate was closed.

Next door camper, named Bob from New Jersey came over and chatted with Erwin.  When Edith was introduced to Bob, he was surprised because he told us that his wife is deaf, but does not use sign language. 

After supper we went biking when it was still light enough to see the road.  We were hoping to see eagles on the tree near the ranger station, but none were seen. 

Edith got her GoPro camera set up on an extension pole, got batteries charged up.  All ready for tomorrow morning’s filming of the manatees in the spring/river. While she was getting her camera gear together Erwin worked on a new woodburning project.