I can't believe we've been in Orlando for nearly 2 months already! Now that we are all properly moved in, our old house in Tampa is for sale, Christmas is all done and we have a few days off work, we had a 6 hour Dallas mega-marathon and planned out a little road trip to 'get away from it all' and do some urban exploring...
Daytona Beach is only about an hour and a half away and we had heard about some pretty interesting things to see there including an 11 story abandoned hotel right on the beach and concrete dinosaurs in the woods :). We stopped off at the Daytona International Speedway racetrack as we were passing through. I was blown away with how incredibly massive it is - the primary loop is 2.5 miles long and the infield section in the middle is 180-acres!! It also includes a 29-acre lake, Lake Lloyd, which was created by Florida's high water table when the earth was removed to create the famous 31 degree angle banking on the track...
Good stuff. Then we went to Daytona Beach where you can actually drive on the beach! It was Michael's 'first time' and he was just a bit excited...
Every good urban explorer knows to check that the abandoned hotel you are trying to visit hasn't been demolished already...roh roh...
As we were driving away we flagged down an ice cream truck. He gave us all of the details about the demise of Treasure Island Inn. I thought he was making it up as he was going along. Mike believed him despite the fact that he was missing half of his teeth and I don't think it was caused by too many waffle cones...
Just five minutes later we ran into the very much undemolished Treasure Island Inn! Mike said: "that's the last time I trust the word of an ice cream man with "meth mouth""
Here's what it looked like in 2004 prior to hurricane Charley...
The hotel was never repaired after it sustained over $75 million of damage during the storm and the owners filed bankruptcy in 2008. Due to a tangled legal dispute over ownership it has not yet been destroyed and has remained empty ever since. Here's what it looks like now...
Check out that green pool!
And the beach bar...
It was difficult to tell what damage had been caused by the storm 7 years ago vs. vandalism. Regardless, it was fascinating to poke around the spooky place although none of us dared go inside for fear of who may be living there now...
We had heard about the local Drive-In Christian Church where the services are conducted outside and people can stay in the comfort of their vehicles...;)
We rounded off the day with a trip to the tourist attraction formerly known as Bongoland! Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens was originally the home of sugar mill plantation ruins destroyed by the Seminole Indians in the early 1830s.
In the 1950s several attempts were made to create a more viable tourist attraction at the location. With the addition of a baboon named 'Bongo' and several replicas of dinosaurs, Bongoland was created...I know...you can't make this stuff up...
Anyway, it didn't work and so that's why there are several dilapidated concrete dinosaurs in the woods...
It was a great day to round off a year that has been quite an adventure for us with a new job, new home, new school and a new town! I wonder what 2012 will bring...? We're excited ;) Happy New Year to our wonderful family and friends!!
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