Flora & Fauna (?) Florida style!

First - - - heeeere's JADE!! We sent Mardi Gras masks and beads from New Orleans to our granddaughters at home and in Othello, and Jade sent me this . . . thank you, honey! Miss you! 

Okay, so Hi again!  We left Carrabelle on Monday and have been working our way towards Miami to pick up Lindy and Maren.  Did I mention already that two of our granddaughters are flying down for a week and going with us to Key West?  Can't wait to see them!

Of course we've been finding amazing places to explore along the way. Passed through Apalachicola National Park and inadvertently stumbled upon an indescribably beautiful tropical paradise, Econfina River State Park, tucked away in a corner of untouched wilderness!

The Econfina River

Then, more great scenery all along the drive  . . .

Virginia Live Oak dripping with Spanish moss . . .

We stayed one night at the Keel & Curley Winery in Plant City near Tampa.

K&C makes delicious fruit and fusion wines and serves them up in a fancy tasting room.  We bought just three bottles:   Blueberry, Key West Key Lime and a Peachy Chardonnay - each with a taste true to its name and very drinkable!

Then came Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary & Blair Audubon Center near Naples.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words - I'll just let them do the talking . . 

Cypress knees everywhere - lizards, too!

Cypress grove

Anole lizard showing his red "pouch"

Tree hugger!!

The Strangler Fig grows on the cypress . . .
(but it doesn't really "strangle" anything)

This part of the boardwalk is elevated
and lets you look out over the top of the marsh.

Another cypress with Strangler Fig

We watched this Anhinga fishing . . .

. . and then he "posed" like this to dry his wings!

lots of Ibis and egrets

and this interesting red lichen

Cypress knees

Little Blue Heron

My first close-up of a gator in the wild!

Our next drive took us on the old Tamiami Trail - down through Naples - OMG!  SO MANY people, cars, resorts, upscale shopping - this place is dripping with $$$$ - opulence and extravagance to the MAX!!   

But then things got real and comfortable for us again on reaching our day's destination, Collier-Seminole State Park. The park lies in the giant mangrove swamp of southern Florida, one of the largest mangrove swamps in the world, and is home to majestic royal palm trees.  

We did have one little scare on arrival.  Harold and I were at the park office checking in when someone outside shouted - "There's a dog loose!"  We knew it couldn't be Trixie as we had left her in the RV, wearing her harness and on a leash attached to the RV - inside! But the office door opened and in dashed Trixie!  There ensued quite a discussion on how little dogs make good alligator bait!  Back out to the RV, this is what we found:

Alligator bait???

Next on the agenda was a scooter ride exploring Fakahatchee Strand Preserve. That'll sound familiar if you've read The Orchid Thief.  Well, we didn't get to see the ghost orchid - or any orchids, for that matter - as the orchids bloom in winter. 

But we saw lots of wildlife and I actually ventured, accidentally, closer to a very large alligator than I ever want to be again!  After that, I stayed ON my scooter, and I stuck to the MIDDLE of the road.  It was definitely tense, but the ride was fun.  But I was definitely relieved when we got back to the truck! 

The Preserve brochure says it's the world's largest cypress and royal palm forest.  Here are some pics from our scoot . . . 

all over - these huge rocks with tons of fossils!

Cottonmouth winding his way . . .

A congregation of Ibis & Egrets!!

My guy with Royal Palms

This is the little pool where I got too close to a big gator!  Scary!

We also took a drive down to Everglades City and Chockoloskee in an area known as 10,000 Islands.  Had a much needed espresso and key lime pie at the Habana Cafe . . .

Trixie seems to enjoy all the sight-seeing!

. . .  then headed for Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk for more sight-seeing - amazing trees and, yes, more alligators!!

Very large air fern - with blooms!

More Strangler Fig along the boardwalk

Another alligator in a very green pond!

One last alligator shot!!

OK - so now I think I've seen enough alligators to last a lifetime!!

Well, it's Saturday night and here we are at the Miami Airport. We'll collect Lindy and Maren in the morning and head down to Key West!  This should be FUN!!!  

The Shores of the Gulf Coast

St. Pat's Day - left Bayou Segnette State Park near New Orleans and before the day was done we'd been in four states!

But before I get into this day - here are my pictures of an alligator we saw "on the Bayou."  We saw more than a few, but it turns out it's pretty hard to get a good picture because they are apparently quite shy!  Anyway, this is the best I could do  . . .

I know you can't see him, but he's there just left of center! 

. . . then he came over closer to where we were standing on a bridge -
 he was stalking a bird!

Anyway, our route first took us up and over the Mississippi River bridge going through New Orleans - - -

Crossing the Mississippi

On the road again!  That thin blue line on the horizon
is Lake Ponchatrain!

Despite our aversion for the Interstate, we decided we needed to cover some miles since we'd stayed a day longer in New Orleans than planned.  So we zipped through Mississippi and Alabama and here we are in the Florida panhandle.  The drive was actually very pretty because even the Interstate roughly parallels the Gulf Coast and crosses many rivers, bayous and other inlets - because this is a very watery place - swamps, lakes, estuaries, every kind of waterway you can think of.  

"Welcome to Mississippi"

The scenery in Mississippi was uninspiring and we both felt like we were falling asleep.  But moving into Alabama, the land grew more hilly and the deep, tall pine woods on both sides of the highway were vibrant green in the sunshine . . .

"Welcome to Alabama"

Coming into Mobile - rush hour!

"Welcome to Florida"

Here we are once again, saying nighty-night at a Camp Wal-Mart, this one in Pensacola.  Tomorrow - we start to explore the Florida Panhandle coastline!

Friday - We're heading for Panama City Beach today, but first we're going to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum here in Pensacola.

First aircraft to cross the Atlantic (1919) - it's huge!

To Loren Hoffman - look familiar to you??

. . . .even a Japanese Zero

Bill Harvey - you probably recognize this one!

This (ME262) was one of the first operational jets

 and a personal favoriteof Christian, Paul & Tony's

 grampa Ray White!!  He flew it!

This is the most amazing collection of pristine restored aircraft and there's so many of them and the displays are fabulous!  Too much to go into here.  If you're interested, you should look 'em up on the web - National Naval Aviation Museum.

So then, after Harold (barely) had his fill of airplanes, it was time for another truly incredible drive today -

So we crossed from Pensacola over the bridge to Gulf Breeze:

. . . and then we were rolling along the Gulf Islands National Seashore! 

This is a long, skinny barrier island and when you drive along you see the big bay out to your left and the blue and aqua water of the Gulf on the right and nothing in between except the road and the gleaming white sand - what a sight!

the view from the navigator's chair

Oh, and here's the navigator!
Just had to get my feet in that gorgeous sand and surf!

Friday night - Panama City Beach + spring break = sheer madness!!  We had our sights set on Camp WalMart here, and we made it - but only after fighting some unbelievable gridlock - all definitely spring break related.  It was a ZOO!  Once safely settled in the parking lot, it was VERY NOISY but kinda fun to watch and listen to all those young folks having a wild time ALL OVER PANAMA CITY BEACH and right outside our windows!  I will say, we didn't get all that much sleep!

Saturday, Mar 19th - up and on the road out of the craziness of Panama City Beach.  We enjoyed a delightful scenic drive along Big Bend Scenic Highway, still hugging the Gulf coast, piney woods all along the way - lots of WATER, big bridges, plantation style homes sharing the coastline with humble and sometimes crumbling shacks.

Near Port St. Joe

Stopped in the picturesque town of St. Joe to buy shrimp at the Piggly Wiggly where they cook it up fresh for you, and enjoyed a delicious shrimp salad in the RV at Constitution Convention State Park.

And here we are tonight at the Ho-Hum RV Park in Carabelle on the St. George Sound. 

Had an excellent view of the awesome "perigee moon", the biggest in 20 years!  It looked big and close and orange over the water . . . .

Sunday March 20th dawned sunny and warm.  Looked out at the sound and spotted a pod or two of dolphins just off shore - and lots of pelicans.  Fun!  A little later, scooters ready to roll, plopped Trixie into her scooter basket, and off we went to explore Carrabelle.  Not too touristy here as the main attraction is the nearby island of St. George - and that is just fine with us!  

We found Carrabelle to be a delightful, quaint, historic old fishing town with at least one very friendly fisherman, Bob Lee.  He was cleaning his morning catch when we met him along the marina.  We had a really pleasant visit with him, learned a bit about the area, fishing, the local economy and real estate - and more! 

As Bob cleaned his fish & tossed the innards into the
river, the pelicans flew in for their catch.

Lots of wisteria growing on trees around here

Scootin' along the St. George Sound

Well, I just love it here, so we started looking!!!!!

The market is so depressed!  Should we buy a condo?

 Or maybe just check out this place!

Just sitting at the end of the pier - me & my dog!

And here's the view from out on the pier, looking back at the
RV park - that's our rig, just to the right of the pier.

Kiwi & Blondie - back from the day's outing . . .

This was a way-too-short stay in a charming and picturesque fishing community.

I'm not really ready to say good-bye, but tomorrow, Monday, we're on the move again as our adventure takes us inland a bit before we slowly wind our way down to the tip of Florida.

By the way, I'm very, very happy to say we haven't seen a speck of evidence on any of the beaches along our way of that nasty oil disaster!  The economy may be in the tank, but Mother Nature has worked her wonders here.

Hope you're enjoying the blog!  Bye for now . . . .