Clothing optional Eden apartments Tamp Bay

I saw this article on Ybor City Stogie from 2008 about an apartment building near Westchase going clothing optional. I am very much aware of the nudist resorts and naturalist palces in the Tampa Bay area, and Pasco county. I don't believe I have heard of this place. Perhaps it never got off the ground. What is interesting is the article on Stogie is still one of his highest rated pages. With a photo like this, I wonder why!/>

Motel row and Florida dreams

Many people come to Florida for a fresh start. They will tell you its because of the weather but it usually involves the circumstances of their life. Things will be better in Florida - they are certain of that. In Tampa, most people you meet are from somewhere else. There is a reason for that. They come here with Florida dreams. I got a call around sunset for a middle age couple living out of a cheap motel. They had out of state tags on their car from the north.

They were trying to survive until they had saved some money for an apartment, and were paying out the nose for this dump motel. They needed me to help them with their stuff. They had filled their car up with stuff, but had a tv and other items to put in mine. They also had a cute little dog. The lady said it was just too expensive to stay. I know how they feel. The reason I drive a cab is because I can't work at near minimum wage and survive. I helped them but could see they have a tough road to go. Low wages and few benefits are the jobs in Florida.

The door to nowhere...they hoped for more

They were trying to survive until they had saved some money for an apartment, and were paying out the nose for this dump motel. They needed me to help them with their stuff. They had filled their car up with stuff, but had a tv and other items to put in mine. They also had a cute little dog. The lady said it was just too expensive to stay. I know how they feel. The reason I drive a cab is because I can't work at near minimum wage and survive. I helped them but could see they have a tough road to go. Low wages and few benefits are the jobs in Florida. It was once said that you got paid in sunshine down here. These people found out that don't pay the rent. I hope they make it. Not everyone does who moves to Florida. The good paying industrial jobs of the Midwest are gone. That is why so many people from Ohio, Michigan, and othe states are down here. People often go back, but to what? They seemed like good folks. I learned about that sunshine myth a long time ago.

A video at a nudist camp

I shot this video a fews years ago at Paradise Lakes nudist camp. This is the tame version

Pasco county nude tourism capital of America

Pasco county nude resorts draw many tourist from around the world. The climate is mild in the winter and people can walk around naked all year round.

Years ago I made money providing unique content for websites but the tanking economic situation knocked me out of the game.

Anyway. This was a shoot I did recently at Paradise Lakes resort in Pasco county. Nude resorts are a great place for this type of photography because everyone else is naked too.

Swim across Tampa Bay for Earth Day

A 24 mile swim across Tampa Bay will begin Saturday morning at 7:00 am. The event is to honor Earth Day and celebrate one of the largest estuaries in the country.

The race will begin at the base of the Skyway bridge and end at the Courtney Campbell Causeway. There are about 70 swimmers in this Ron Collins event which is the longest open water swim sponsored by the United States Masters Swimming Association.

The reason I know about it is because I picked up a swimmer at the airport and took him to his hotel at the base of the Skyway bridge.

I think I'll go home and get my swim trunks.

Headed to the Florida swamp

Those that have followed this blog know that I am involved in my own "Finding Bigfoot" project. We explore the deep swamps and look with our cameras for anything that may be moving. We also use a secret weapon.

Today kevin and I went out to deploy a Reconyx RC60 covert trail cam. With fresh batteries this camera should be good until November. The media card capacity is over 14,000 images at 3.1 Mega pixels. The motion activated cam fires an infrared strobe for great nighttime images.

As the rainy season sets in, it will become more difficult for anyone to compromise this area. We do know there are poachers in the area. That is the only thing I am worried about.

I read recently were Matt Moneymaker of the BFRO was in Torreya State park in the Florida Panhandle. That was last week. A good time of year to do this with the rainy season and the heat soon on its way. With its high bluffs overlooking the Apalachicola River it one of the most beautiful parts of Florida with actual elevation that is rare in the Sunshine State.

Tampa Taxi Shots goes deep into Green Swamp to find Skunk Ape

In the forbidden zone

The forbidden zone is the watershed area for both the Withlacoochee River and the Hillsborough River. I actually believe I found the demarcation point for both rivers. That is where this image above was taken. I was in the forbidden zone and it was one hour before sunset and I was alone. I was miles from nowhere and there were no cyber-bullies, posters, commenter's on blogs that use the work "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch" in their handles even though they have never been in the woods but want to rip me for taking risk.

Looking into the Forbidden Zone from the camp

Before sunset, I could hear tree breaks coming from this area when I was back at camp (about 200 feet away).  I was able to forge a trail along the river bank and find an area of cypress knees and a fallen tree that if you could, you would find your way directly into the forbidden zone. Do you think that stopped me. No. I put a camera and went back to camp and let it run. There are growls recorded and I will release them soon.

I am alone at this campsite in the Green Swamp

Keep in mind this is the very area a hiker in this Green Swamp tract vanished a few years ago and his body was never found. Subsequently, the area was closed to the public and it has remained that way since.

Lingerie Model Shot At Nudist Resort Pasco County Florida

This is a video of model I shot a couple years ago at a Pasco County nudist camp. After all, Pasco county is a hotbed of Bigfoot activity and also a hotbed of naked bodies. I put this up to break the monotony of serious Bigfoot research. I could not show you more because YouTube would not allow that (you know what I mean).

Lost In The Travel Section

The same thing as a Sunday morning with a cup of Joe?

     On the way to the airport I asked my fare if they were reading their emails on their cell phone. They said they were reading a book on an Amazon Kindle. They also said they could read the morning newspaper formated perfectly for the screen. I looked down at the newspaper I had bought out of a rack for 50 cents and wondered if I was Fred Flintstone for not being up with the latest gadgets. What price we are really paying for this new tech?  
     The modern world looks no different from the one I grew up in as a little kid in the ‘60s. I see houses, cars, telephone poles, and electrical wires strung aloft in the neighborhoods; styles have changed, but that is just fashion. What I do see are brick and mortar retail stores beginning to vanish along with newspapers because people can simply go online to buy whatever they want, and get a better price. I know I buy almost every book from Amazon. They always have better price, and consistent delivery and essentially every title known to man.
      I am sort of angry at myself for doing it this way, but I still like to enjoy a Saturday afternoon at the local bookstore with a fresh cup of coffee while I browse and look for the books that I will eventually purchase somewhere else.  I still find it very relaxing and there is something tactile about holding a physical book in your hand and thumbing thru it, instead of just reading a brief synopsis of it and a photo.  I had no idea that people would start getting their news this way.
     Can you really find everything you want and need on a website?  How can it be easier or more efficient to navigate than a newspaper with sections that proceed in a linear fashion?  I do not know, but apparently, millions do.
      We will one day live in a world where people will have no idea what its like to curl up on an easy chair on a Sunday morning with that ubiquitous cup of fresh coffee and slowly read and spend time with yourself, without the time pressure you have been under the previous part of the week.
      Does that make us a better society?
      Does that improve our humanity?
      Are we robbing ourselves of a synergetic connection with the world while we are lost in the Travel Section? Once things are gone, they can never be experienced again.
      They say Britain’s undeniably most significant contribution to Western Civilization was afternoon tea.  Is it just the caffeine or is it sitting down to drink tea that we enjoy. Relaxation and contemplation nuance the rewards of life and your humanity in many ways.  That is how I feel about the vanishing of newspapers and perhaps books.    

I Take My Coffee Black

The meter is running and the taxi is in park. Normally I’d be outside of a strip club or message parlor, this time it’s a book store. I’m waiting for my passenger to return.

The large poster declaring 20% - 40% off looms over my cab parked outside of Borders Books on N Dale Mabry. This well publicized sale has brought customers to this store in record amounts. The idling of my engine cuts through the conversations of happy patrons leaving with newly prized possessions.

It’s just after sunset. I’d normally be home drinking beer at this hour - a well ingrained habit since the economy fell apart like a two dollar watch.  Habits are hard to change as you get older.

I turn the radio down as a motorist asks if I can move up a bit. In over fifteen years of coming to this store I’ve never seen it this busy. I guess I’m not the only one that read the newspaper article about the store closing. Then it hits me - Why does Tampa (whose economy is supposedly tied to tourism) have so many people that read books. We are not supposed to be Boston?

I think back over the last decade or so. I have spent a lot of time in Borders. Coffee, reading, chess, browsing, music, liberal lap toppers, this place had it all, a great way to kill a Sunday afternoon and relax. You could have a bit of a repose from the ‘real world’ as books took you to other places and experiences that you one day planed to get around too, one of these days.

The Seattle’s Best Café. Yes, that was the first thing you saw as you walked in the door. Get your espresso and stare at twenty thousand square feet of wonder, knowledge and entertainment. In the next couple of hours, you would walk out smarter and more at peace with yourself then when you walked in. All of this augmented by a fresh cup of Joe (I take my mine black).

Coffee in a book store is Popcorn at the movies. Would it not be a shame if one day all things are by Amazon or Kindle? To me it would be like going to a prostitute for love or eating steak with a balloon on your tongue. You would still get the same knowledge and nutrition - so what’s your problem?

I do think it is a problem.

In the future they say you will just take a pill for everything you need or pick you kids out of a test tube (I prefer the old fashion way).

I once met Jack Harris at a book signing here. I once saw happy kids at Harry Potter night with expressions on their faces not seen since the family trip to Disney World. Do we really want all this to just go away?  It is just all about the discount? What ever happened to smelling the roses?

Anyway, my fare comes back to the taxi and tells me there were at least eighty people in line with all the cash registers ringing. You hear that Borders….You finally figured out how to get Amazons money.  Perhaps there is hope for Western Civilization.

Get In - Get Confident!

I went to SUPERCUTS in Tampa today. The commercial shows guys getting a new look and then going out and kicking some serious ass at MMF, a casino and extreme sports. I can't wait. You can see the before and after below.

AFTER

THE WILDMAN