Life is a Journey, not a Destination: See You Again Soon, Florida!

Florida is definitely different than Pennsylvania. Besides the abundance of long-legged, long-beaked water birds, here are a few other things I love:

The beach.

Orange groves.

Pirates!

And Banyan Trees! Ok, so this tree is NOT native to Florida. It comes from East India. But this particular giant came to reside here when Thomas Edison decided to include it as part of his estate. At first, the area was his family’s summer home, but eventually they lived here year-round, and so did the family of his friend, Henry Ford.

They had a great big house, a great big yard with lots of trees, and ocean less than a minute’s walk away.

I was reminded of Thailand while walking through the estate, not just because of the beachfront, but because of the different varieties of plants and fruit trees: bamboo, lychee, avocado, mango, longan, and…

kumquat! It's like a tiny orange, but oblong, and you eat the whole thing – peel and all!

Speaking of kumquat, one time in Thailand, I ate them as a chaser to tequila shots. It was a great combo! And speaking of tequila, I even found an agave plant (from Mexico), which is where tequila comes from!

Of course, Thomas Edison had a laboratory as well, which he later shared with Henry Ford.

These two masterminds must have spent 1000s of hours here, experimenting, inventing and discovering.

Ford has gone down in history for inventing the automobile (which he called the quadricycle because it was originally made with four bicycle tires), and Edison for inventing the lightbulb. But Edison had many more inventions, such as batteries, high chairs, cement, mimeograph and the first talking doll.

History and perfect weather. And then lunch at the Banyan Cafe!

This self-proclaimed "street food" style cafe on wheels is temporarily parked on the Edison & Ford Estate grounds while their regular cafe is undergoing renovations.

There's a nice sitting area, under the shade of a banyan and other trees. Besides burgers and other meat options, I was happy to see that there was one vegetarian option and one vegan option! Everything was made right there on the spot, so it took a few minutes, but was well worth it! I got a wrap with grilled portabello mushrooms, fresh spinach and sun dried tomato pesto - a great combo of flavors that was nice and tasty!