Going to Micanopy

Decided it was time to take a little break from the usual and head down south nine miles to Micanopy. Learn a little about the town and see what it offers!

Nothing brighter than the Sons

Decided to make a pretty awesome soundslide show of the Sons of Pitch visit! You should check it out!

Getting out of Gainesville: But seriously … why would I want to get out?

Getting out of Gainesville Episode 1 : Umm well … why would I want to get out? download

Alachua Airboat Adventures

Alachua airboaters show me the ropes

I worked on a radio project a few months back about airboaters in Alachua county being restricted on Orange Lake. The county commission had been throwing around ideas for a curfew on the lake to appease residents claiming the noises were disturbing their sleep … which incited quite a huff with the local airboaters. So I called the Alachua County Airboaters Association President Jerry Wetherington and asked if we could do an interview to figure out what why anyone would fight so hard for airboating rights when so many people – environmentalists and whiney neighbors – were condemning the fan powered boats.

The interview went great and I ended up getting a BBQ out of it – though I had to argue with them that an alligator is meat even if it is a reptile and therefore wasn’t going to eat it (BBQs and vegetarians mix poorly). But the best part of the whole interview by far was the opportunity to ride on the airboat. It’s incredible how versatile the boat is in comparison to other vehicles – its far more amphibious than other vehicles. Either way I have been lucky because since that interview Jerry has invited me to Orange Lake three times to airboat with the group.

I highly recommend anyone looking for a fun Sunday event to get out to Orange Lake and strike up a conversation with an airboater. I bet ten bucks they’ll offer you a ride and … and probably a plate full of gator tail.

A little song in the Sunshine State

Hurricane SOP ... A cappella storms north central Florida

I’ve always been a big music fan. Generally my iPod is tuned to a song from the late 80s or feeding me a playlist from the big band and swing geniuses of the 40s… I’m an old soul. Well with my unusual music tastes, I’m generally left out of the Gainesville’s music scene, but occasionally I get lucky.

A few months back my friend Sean called me up to tell me about his newest addiction, a cappella (really, no surprise to me, I’ve been dealing with him belting out Phil Collins and Backstreet Boys in the car for years). In between his full range lalala’s, he said the George Washington University male a cappella group, Sons of Pitch, are all the rage in the District. Of course I doubted how much I’d like a band which, for all intents and purposes, is a boy band without instruments, but I said I’d love to hear them at some point because he’d have accepted nothing less.

Considering DC to Alachua country is no quick trip, I figured it unlikely I’d be serenaded anytime soon. But after a spur of the moment phone call asking about Gainesville cappella groups, a frenzied Google search, and a dozen or so emails to UF’s coed a cappella group, No Southern Accent, Sean and three other Sons found their way to the sunshine state for an a cappella party in Micanopy!

So I grabbed my edirol and chased them down for, to my surprise, one of the coolest things I have ever heard. Now officially a fan of a cappella, I suggest you get out of Gainesville and go find a boy band without instruments.

Until then, here’s a little taste of the Sons of Pitch singing a little ditty appropriately titled That Good Ol’ A Cappella. Enjoy!

download

There’s got to be something better to do

Being in Gainesville gave me a ton of options for how to spend my time, but after three years of being here I feel like the majority of my time has been spent sitting in my apartment, laying out by a pool at my complex, or sitting at a bar filled with students. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with doing the usual, but I am just so tired of the usual. So I started to branch out, looking for something else to do instead of sitting in my apartment wondering how hot it was outside and if I could overcome my laziness and drag myself to do the same thing I did yesterday… Well I finally did and I found some pretty awesome things are around Gainesville.

So the goal of this blog will be to help you (the awesome readers trapped in the everyday Gainesville) get out of Gainesville and find some neat ways to spend your time!

Shop The Shoppe

Helloooo Football Season goodies!

Something about the middle of no where is surprisingly refreshing when I spend most my days in the midst of a crowded university. That’s why I love Micanopy. It’s small and awesome. People are friendly, the town is buttoned-up and hardly making a peep, and best of all the shops are empty (bad for business, but great for me!) In someways, it is disappointing that these Micanopy stores are being neglected because the goodies sold within their walls are quite unique and very much worth the visit. One in particular takes the cake for goodies however.