For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved maps.
I remember a chain of diners in Illinois that set the tables with paper placemats showing Route 66. My pancakes would go cold while I traced the black line that began at a dot in Chicago and ended at a dot in Santa Monica, California.
Maps drive daydreams, stir fantasies, push planning and encourage exploration.
Maps helped Americans travel 2,448 miles across the western half of the United States on Route 66 and they help us on our journey from Anna Maria’s Bean Point to Bradenton Beach’s Coquina Beach.
“Where is Tuna Street?” The Islander’s publisher asks in the paper’s table of contents whenever the streetmap is in print.
The question refers readers to the map printed across the newspaper’s center spread, and I suspect more than a few people have turned to the map to find Tuna Street at A2 and then looked at the street names in the Anna Maria neighborhood.
I turn and find Spruce.
And Cypress.
Coconut isn’t far.
Are there coconut trees on Coconut?
Maps, with their street listings, place names and wayfinding tools, lead us to think about nature and anything that leads us to think about nature is good for the environment.
Noted at the top of The Islander map — in the A1 corner — is Bean Point. I see from the map that Bean Point is a must-visit destination, where I can look west from Bean Point to the Gulf of Mexico and look east across Tampa Bay.
The map doesn’t show what’s north from Bean Point but a map enthusiast can imagine.
And south of Bean Point? An explorer will find Anna Maria’s “garden district,” with streets named for the rose, poinsettia, gladiolus and hibiscus.
Following the map from Anna Maria into Holmes Beach, I see streets named Sunrise and Peacock and, of course, Manatee Avenue, which makes me think of a parade of sea cows.
On the bayside north of Manatee Avenue, the map shows Harbor Lane, Harbor Drive and Palm Harbor, and I’m reminded to ask at the newspaper office if a harbor ever existed at the location.
The map — with Gulf Drive, Bayview and Bay Drive — indicates that when in Bradenton Beach, one is never far from the Gulf or the bay.
Leffis Key Nature Park, the name printed in green type, entices.
Coquina Public Beach beckons.
And “bridge to Longboat Key” creates some mystery.
Where will you go today?
Take your newspaper, check the MCAT app and hop on a trolley to adventure.
This column was published in The Islander newspaper.
Archives for The Islander are online here.