Exploring St Augustine

We had a nice sunny day today, but very cool. High temp at 58. We drove into St Augustine and walked around the fort and the old town district. Lots of sight seeing, history and people watching in this place. There were tall ships in the harbor and we walked along the waterfront to see them.
This is the oldest city in the United States, dating back to the 1500's. That must explain why they have so many ghosts here. The ghost tours are advertised everywhere and are very popular.

 

The old historic marketplace. Now lined with restaurants, boutiques, and gift shops. 

Liquid Sunshine Lately.

We have made a couple of moves since I last posted, and we are having a hard time getting internet reception. When we left Highland Hammock State Park near Sebring we drove north and set up camp at Juniper Springs Recreation Area at Ocala National Park. We were very near to the Leesburg area where Goodfallows spent their winters these past years. Juniper Springs is a natural spring that puts out 65 million gallons of water each day. There are three other large springs in this area and numerous smaller springs that release crystal clear water year round at 72 degrees.
After a few days at Ocala N.P. we moved northeast to St. Augustine on the eastern seaboard. We are at Anastasia State Park for a week. When we got here it was pouring rain and we backed the camper into our campsite and didn't even bother unhooking from the truck the first day as it poured all day. On Monday the rain stopped and we were able to get set up and dry out. Tuesday was nicer still and we even managed to spend the afternoon on the beach. Today the liquid sunshine returned and we have had rain steadily since 10am this morning.
We have four more days here and hope to explore the town and get some more beach time in. Afte that we move to the Florida panhandle and the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico. Hoping for warmer weather.
I'll post some pictures when I can get better internet reception.
Hope every one is well.
Maple City is up to 223 inches of snowfall! (None here).

Sunny and warm

We have spent the past three days at Highland Hammock State Park near Sebring, Florida. We are north of Lake Okeechobee and southeast of Lakeland. The weather has been beautiful for the past few days and we have been riding the trails and walking here at the park. This is a great place for biking with paved and dirt trails that go in different directions and are all level and smooth.
We are camping with Rick and Jan Bolling again and have spent the evenings with them playing games and cards and enjoying their company.
Ah, the life of leisure!

The boardwalk at Cypress Swamp.

With Rick and Jan.

Turtles all in a row.

Happy Valentines Day (yesterday)

Well, we are over a month in on our winter getaway and two more to go! We are enjoying being out of the nasty northern Michigan winter and in the relatively warm Florida sunshine. Here we get spells of warm sunny weather and then a rain storm will come through and cool the days down into the sixties for a couple of days. I know Michigan would love to see sixty degree weather, but sixty and breezy is cold for the beach!

We spent three nights at Myakka River State Park, this is one of our favorites from past Florida camping trips, and did a lot of biking and walking. They have airboat rides on Myakka Lake, viewing platforms for birding and alligator watching, a canopy walk in the tree tops, and miles of trails through the meadows and woods. Lots of shorebirds and gators here and people love to watch them.
We moved back to Oscar Scherer State Park yesterday and spent the night before going on to Sebring, and Highland Hammock State Park this afternoon. The park is hosting a 5 and 10K run this morning and there is a lot of activity and many, many, energetic people running.

Yesterday we spent some time back on the beach at Casper Key and then went to Pelican Alley restaurant for a drink and appetizers before going back and grilling grouper fillets for dinner. We had cheesecake for desert and called Elizabeth to wish her a happy birthday. Life is good.

We also got the cell phone working again after it would not light up for two days in spite of being charged and lots of poking and prodding to get it to turn on. Finally, being the electronics technician that I am, I opened it up and took the battery out, put it back in, and closed the case back up and lo and behold, it worked!!

Roseate Spoonbills in the backcountry at Oscar Scherer State Park. Pretty in pink!

The beach at Casper Key, Nokomis, Florida.

All the folks enjoying the sun.

These are skimmers. The lower beak is longer than the upper beak. They skim the waters surface for food.

I don't know what these are, I dubbed them "bad haircut" gulls.

This is the beach bum bird, also known as the snowbird.

Bob and Donna at the Venice Jetty. We had fun visiting with them while in the Port Charlotte area.

This guy caught a bonnet head shark on the Venice Pier. (hardly a man-eater)

This is what Siesta Key looks like on a cool winter day. On a warm winter day it is packed!

An egret stealing onion rings at the Pelican Alley restaurant.

All is Well

Day to day here in sunny Florida. The weather keeps going back and forth, from high seventies to cloudy and sixties. We went to Siesta Key on Saturday and had no trouble parking in the nearly empty public beach parking lot. The breeze off of the gulf was very cool and kept the sunbathers away.
Likewise yesterday at the beach near the campground. We were able to sit on the beach with t-shirts and bathing suits, but after an hour with the 65 degree wind blowing on us we had to leave. What a bunch of whusses we are getting to be!!
Hoping for warmer weather.

Sunny Florida

Having a great time in the Venice area. We were at the beach on Casper Key twice and yesterday took a ride to Port Charlotte and visited with brother Bob and Donna. They have a very nice place in their resort and have been doing a lot of adding on, decorating and landscaping. It is really nice and they now have a Florida retreat that they can come to any time of the year.
We have been enjoying our park and today we watched as some of the local residents and campers put on a jam session and played guitars, banjos, and various stringed instruments. It was obvious some of them were performers in the past and some just liked playing an instrument. We watched for a couple of hours as they played songs from their individual repertoires.
The weather continues to be superb if not a little muggy. Highs in the high seventies ands sixties at night.

A big gator at Bear Island Conservation Area. This one was along a bike trail we were riding on.

Our last canoe ride at Everglades City. We paddled through the mangrove forest.

One pair of unfortunate paddlers had to be rescued when their boat capsized.

Casper Key and the beach. What a wonderful day!

 

Our campground in the jungle. Oscar Scherer State Park north of Venice, Florida.

 

Finally Catching Up With Pictures!!

I have an opportunity to catch up with posting pictures since we have a good Wi-Fi signal here at Oscar Scheres State Park in Osprey, Florida. We are between Venice and Sarasota for those that want to find us on the map.

This is Bear Creek at Flamingo, Florida in the Everglades. This is the southern tip of the Florida mainland.

This is one of the only places in the world where crocodiles and alligators co-mingle. This is a twelve foot croc sunning itself. The one in the bottom of the picture is only about eight feet long.

Here we are canoeing on Nine Mile Pond in Everglades National park. The park offers guided trips and supplies all the necessary equipment.

They have Burmese Pythons in the Everglades too! This is a skin from one that was captured recently.

Lots of wildlife at Royal Palm boardwalk. This is an Anhinga giving itself a pain in the neck. These are diving, fish eating birds. We saw one swallow an eight inch catfish whole!

A white egret looking for a meal.

A green heron near the pond.

Turtles sunning on a log.

The great blue heron.

A purple gallinule. It has wide feet and walks on the lily pads.

And of course, alligators!!