These Trees Are the Bee's Knees!

Wow...that headline just came to me. Please hold your applause.

Anyway, continuing our weekend adventures, we decided to go to Safety Harbor. It's a charming little area, where we would love to live, except that we can't find a house there we like that's for sale. Yet.

According to Wikipedia, Safety Harbor is the home of the historic Espiritu Santo Springs, or "Springs of the Holy Spirit", a natural mineral spring. Its waters were given this name in 1539 by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, who was supposedly searching for the mythical "Fountain of Youth".

Similar to Bedford Springs, The Safety Harbor Resort and Spa grew out of these springs - people visited for their supposed healing properties.

This is outside the resort. And a cute little shot down their main street.

Safety Harbor does in fact have a little harbor, as well as a nice fishing pier and a little park.

But the true star of Safety Harbor is the Baranoff Oak, named after Salem Baranoff, a doctor who owned the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa.. This live oak tree is the oldest tree in Pinellas County and is estimated to be between 300 and 500 years old.

Here's Glenn in front of it to give a better sense of scale.

They estimate the tree weighs...wait for it....800 tons! They built platforms to help support some of its giant branches.

Look, they also have a little gazebo in the town square.

And sir, just for you, we took a picture of this giant century plant just growing in someone's yard!

But more history. While in Safety Harbor, we went to Philippe Park (named after Count Odet Philippe who supposedly introduced the grapefruit to Florida).  Philippe Park is home to an Indian temple mound, built by the Tocobago Indians and perhaps the only true hill we've seen.

In fact, they say that Philippe and his family survived a storm surge in the 1800s by getting to the top of this mound as the tides rushed in.

It does provide a lovely view of the surrounding vista.

And again, you just can't believe how beautiful the trees are here.

So that's your little tour for now. Next weekend is our anniversary trip to Marco Island, so we'll be sure to report back.