We hope you had a wonderful Christmas time with family and friends and that you got all the gifts you wanted. We had a very relaxed Christmas with some gifts we collected along the way from family. It was very nice to celebrate the holiday in 75 degree temps instead of the the usual Oregon weather. We could get used to this!

On Christmas we took a 4.5 mile bike trail through the Florida scrub lands in the backcountry of the park. Very interesting to see what early settlers had to travel through and we saw two Alligators in a hole next to the trail. We also took a boardwalk at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve on December 21. This walk goes deep into a Cyprus forest and we saw many birds - including a breeding pair of Bald Eagles, alligators and turtles. As in many other places in Florida the Cyprus forests were heavily cut and animal habitat was lost causing decline or extinction of the animal population so these small preserves are very critical to bringing back native plants and animals.

 That evening we had some of the worst weather of the trip as a strong cold front moved through. We were under tornado, thunderstorms, and flood warnings. It produced a lot of wind and rain but the worst weather stayed to our north. We were debating if our little trailer had much of a chance in a high-wind situation and decided the truck might fair better… 

On December 22 we explored Collier-Seminole State park where we are camping. They have preserved a ‘Walking Dredge’ that was used to build the road though the swamp between Tampa and Miami. It was steam powered and unique in that could pickup and move its ‘feet’ to pull itself through the swamp. We also took the Royal Palm Hammock nature walk. A hammock is a raised dry area in the swamp that has hardwood trees and dry land for the animals, and early native people, to live on and get dry.

 We then visited Marco Island where Mark’s parents lived for many years. We did a lot of shelling. Due to the storm the day before you could not pick up all the shells waiting on the beach. We went past Mark’s parents old house, saw lots of the island, and had dinner at a local restaurant we used to go to a lot.

 On the 23rd we went to Everglades City wanting to take a boat ride called the Thousand Island Boat tour. But thanks to the wonderful government shutdown we found the whole area had been locked up and no-one was around. After some investigation we found the ticket office across the street and had a wonderful ride through the mangrove islands and hammocks that make up the thousand islands in southwest Florida. The high point of the trip was seeing dolphins swimming around our boat and lots of White Pelicans that winter here.

We heard about a small restaurant in Chokoloskee and had a great dinner of Carlos Garlic Shrimp … delicious!!

 On December 26 we moved to Midway Campground in Big Cypress National Preserve just west of Everglades National Park. We were unsure if our reservations were good because of the government shutdown. It appears that no one is running the campground and the bathrooms are closed, but we have our spot and it is nice. We explored the Preserve on Wednesday. Yesterday bright and early, we drove east to the Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park and rode our bikes 15 miles on the hike/bike/tram loop. The weather was lovely, but very windy. We saw lots of gators and beautiful birds! It was a great ride.

 Today, Friday, we are heading to the main area of Everglades National Park where we will be staying at Flamingo Campground in the extreme southern part of the park. We hope to see many more birds and wildlife down there!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

December 20 - Moving South

December 20 - Moving South 

Our camp is at Myakka River State Park on December 7 - 12. This lovely park is quite literally in the middle of nowhere but has the peace and quiet of an out of the way place. The birding here is the best we have had so far and we added several to our bird list - (From the top right corner clockwise to center) ) - Ibis, Roseate Spoon Bill, Bald Eagle, Red Shouldered Hawk, Wood Stork, Black Crowned Night Heron, Anhinga, Sand Hill Cranes, Black Vulture, Great Egret and Pileated Woodpecker. We also saw White Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Cattle Egret and hundreds of vultures overhead. 

This park also has many hiking and biking trails that we took advantage of - a  tree canopy walk with an elevated walk way; 

nature walk with lots of air plants and resurrection ferns that look dead until it rains then, in minutes, they spring back to green and healthy; 

and a bike trail that takes you into the ‘scrub lands’ or natural prairie that used to be all over Florida. 

We also took a boat tour of the Myakka Lake and saw our first alligator! Because it is the dry season the lake is only around three feet deep so the boat was limited where it can go but we were close enough to the shore to see many birds and alligators.

We visited Sarasota and the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. This is a beautiful garden internationally known for its living orchid collection and its dried specimen library from all over the world and their green houses show off many of their amazing orchids as well as tropical and subtropical plants. Since there were no children around we got to enjoyed the Children’s Rain Forest Garden teaching about the importance of rain forests. This area has hanging bridges, swings, musical instrument and many exhibits.

On December 12 we headed further south to Koreshan State Historical Park just south of Fort Myers for a week-long stay. This park was originally home of a sect of people who called themselves Koreshans and the park still has many original buildings  from the settlement  when set up a utopian society in the late 19th century. Some of their beliefs were quite strange - the earth is hollow and we live on the inside with the sun in the center -  but in other ways like equality of women, education for all, and fine arts - they were quite ahead of the times. Very strange to see exhibits  about this commune but a lovey camping park.

While in the area we walked the 2.5 mile elevated boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. This swamp is home to the only old growth Bald Cypress Trees in the country - Cypress Trees were heavily forested  because it is rot resistant quality - and we saw huge 500 year old trees, Painted Buntings, Barred Owl, otters, turtles, and alligators. We also walked on the 1.2 mile boardwalk at  Six Mile Cypress Slough and saw birds and a Cottonmouth Snake. 

Painted Bunting

We finished the day walking at Bonita Beach enjoying the warm Gulf water and picking up lots of shells.

On December 15 we ventured into Fort Myers and visited the Edison-Ford Winter Estates. These were the winter homes of these very successful men and where Edison worked on many of his inventions but was primarily working on a source for raw rubber that would grow in the US. The homes, gardens, grounds, and laboratory was very interesting. 

In the afternoon we visited Manatee Park. The Manatees like to hang out in the heated water from the generating plant here in the winter months to stay warm. We saw a lot on Manatees and even a mother and calf. 

On Sunday we went to Lover’s Key State Park. We rode our bikes on the 4.5 mile bike trails where we saw three Gopher Tortoises and spent 3 hours on the beach enjoying the sun and shelling. 

We have been hauling our inflatable kayak in the back of the truck the entire trip and mark was able to get it out and paddled around the lagoons at the park.

On December 17 we visited Sanibel Island home of J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. After hitting the visitors center we rode our bikes on the 4 miles through the refuge on a paved road. It was a very nice easy ride and we saw many birds tidal wetlands. We rode back back to the parking lot stopping at Bowman Beach Park half way for a break. Sanibel is known for the shelling and it lived up to the reputation. We could not believe all the shells we had to choose from for our new ‘shell collection’. On the way home we stopped to see the Sanibel lighthouse and it unusual tower.

We are now camping at Collier-Seminole State near Marco Island. Mark’s parents lived here for many years so we will spend time at many old haunts on the island. More to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!!

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Charleston to Florida

Charleston has one of the last lighthouses built in the country at Sullivan Island. Built in 1962, it is quite unattractive in its modern style but has an elevator and air conditioning so the light keeper did not have to climb all those stairs. The other lighthouse nearby is the Morris Island Lighthouse located on Folly Island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor.

Morris Island Lighthouse

Sullivan Island Lighthouse

 Our camp was at James Island County Park which is the location for their holiday lights festival with fantastic light display along a 3 mile drive through the park. We are also finding campers go to the trouble of putting lights around their camp and campers and many have the laser projectors that shine green and red beams into the trees. All very pretty and we were intimidated to buy a few lights and hand them on the rig. Really gets one into the spirit.

 On our way south found a lovely campground at Edisto Beach State Park in South Carolina. They asked if we would mind a site by the beach and our camp was about 10 feet from the beach walk and 30 yards to the water. We could hear the ocean all night. We were fortunate to have great weather, lots of shells on the beach, and many walks on the beach - very delightful.

 We arrived in Savannah on November 30 and visited Fort Pulaski National Monument built to protect Savannah Harbor. It is a fairly large and one of the few forts we have seen with moats and a draw bridge. We hiked here to see the Cockspur Island lighthouse and drove to the Tybee Island lighthouse. We walked for three hours along the Savannah riverfront and around the city with its huge, old, stately homes and beautiful parks throughout. The weather turned worst on us and we had heavy rain and even a tornado watch but nothing developed. We had never spent any time in the Savannah area when we lived on the east coast and enjoyed spending time in this beautiful city.

Fort Pulaski

Fort Pulaski

Savannah River Front

St. John the Baptist Catherdal

Forsyth Park 

 After 91 days on the road and 9600+ miles on the truck (still trying to figure how it is 3400 miles from home to Florida and that many miles on the truck? … all those side trips I guess!) we crossed the Florida State line and into the Sunshine State stopping at the Florida Welcome Center for information and orange juice. Unfortunately it isn’t the fresh squeezed variety I remember from trips in my youth but still a Florida welcome. We will be traveling around the state through early February.

Our first stop in Florida was Saint Augustine - the first and oldest continually occupied city in the North America. We camped at Anastasia State Park. We first drove to Fort Matanza that was built by the Spanish to protect the southern approach to the city. It is quite small as forts go but persuaded many British and French ships from entering.

We also visited Castillo de San Marco which was the main fortress for the city. It has been nicely restored and made out of local limestone called Coquina that would absorb the canon shots so it was never taken by force.

 We walked around St. Augustine to see the many 500 year old buildings and several hotels from the 1870’s to entice visitors from the north. I wonder if they regret that now?!?

Flagler Hotel now Flagler College

Flagler Hotel now Flagler College

The city is decorated for the holidays in white lights on all the building and bridges so we drove around that night and it is indeed very beautiful. We also lucked into the St. Augustine Maritimer Museum’s Luminary Night that is a once-a-year open house at night to visit the grounds and climb the light house tower. This lighthouse was built in 1874 replacing the shorter tower built in 1842 and is located on the site of Spanish beacons in the 1500’s. We climbed up the 14 story tower and could see all the lights around St. Augustine. We could also watch the light beams like spokes on a wheel.

We are now camped at Myakka State Park east of Sarasota. Lots of birds and great hiking and biking trails. More to come.