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02-13 to 02-18-2014 Five Days in Fort De Soto

Current Location: Fort De Soto Campground 67 degrees F and sunny

The front door is wide open to the dappled sun coming through the trees here in our campground. It feels very much like some kind of tropical jungle, with lots of palms and thick vegetation surrounding the campsites. The temperatures are cool but the sun is absolutely brilliant.

My muscles feel like jelly in that good way that happens when they are getting properly used. Mo is reading and napping in the back of the rig while I process photos and try to condense our days into something readable. Mark Johnson, over at the Box Canyon Blog, is lately one of my favorite writers. Last night he wrote about how so many of us, RV bloggers specifically, talk about all the wonders of this lifestyle and none of the downside. Problem is, I can’t at the moment find a downside. I think it might be like labor…when it is over, you forget. Especially when the sun is shining.

Because of the mix-up in our original reservation, we had to move after our first night here, and tomorrow will have to move again to another campsite. It isn’t a big problem, though, and we like the new spot we are moving to as much as the first one. This site, 147, is huge and is one of the few pull through’s in this part of the park. Even though it is also private, it is so big that it feels a bit like a road and we are just plopped down in the middle of it. Still, the shade on this warmish sunny afternoon is lovely.

Fort De Soto is actually a Pinellas County Park, south of St Petersburg. It consists of five offshore keys, or islands, lying to the city’s south-southwest: Madelaine Key, St. Jean Key, St. Christopher Key, Bonne Fortune Key and the main island, Mullet Key. All are connected by either bridge or causeway to each other. The island group is accessible by a toll road from the mainland. Water everywhere! Many of the campsites are waterfront, and half the park is dog friendly. Campsites become available six months before your intended booking date, and when I attempted to book our sites, I had a bit of difficulty getting one, much less a waterfront site. I keep forgetting about little things like holiday weekends.

It is a truly beautiful park, with gorgeous white sand beaches, calm bayous for kayaking, mangrove swamps and sea oats on sugar sand. The campground is thick with palms and life oaks that hang over the roadways, with warning signs saying to watch for low hanging branches, yet I have seen many very large rigs parked in the private, spacious campsites. It is a bit spendy. I keep forgetting what we paid for this park, maybe on purpose…maybe because it was prepaid six months ago. With taxes and such, I think it was a bit over $40 per night, probably will qualify as our spendiest camp for the entire three months.

It is worth every single penny. As I said, water everywhere, even a large off leash dog beach and a huge doggie park with a cooling wash station for hot summer days or getting out the salt water after doggie swims.

A paved bicycle trail runs the entire length of the key from end to end and past the campground with workout stations placed here and there and an occasional sign naming trees or plants in the area.

The park is named for Fort De Soto, located at the point where Mullet Key intercepts the channel into Tampa Bay. It was first surveyed in 1849 and Union troops were stationed here during the Civil War to aid in the blockade of Tampa Bay. It wasn’t until the Spanish-American war however, that the fort was built. It operated as a strategic defense from 1898 to 1910 and was decommissioned after that time.There are a few cannon and some ramparts to view at the site of the fort, but the most interesting exhibit are one bunker with old photos of the history of the fort and old maps of the surrounding keys.

I don’t think many people come here to see the fort, however. This place is all about the water, with a large boat launch area to the north, and countless spots where a kayak can launch. On one of the blustery days when we explored North Beach, we saw kite surfers doing their thing on the wild water. The winds were over 10 mph and watching those guys fly across the water was almost as impressive as watching them fall. Neither of us could figure out how someone would go about learning this crazy sport.

Wildlife is everywhere, the small variety, especially raccoons. They are so dang cute, and of course they raid the garbage cans and campsites. Signs everywhere proclaim, don’t feed the wildlife!. And the birds! There are birds everywhere, especially shore and water birds. Mo keeps saying…oh another egret? How many photos of egrets and herons can you take? Egrets here seem a bit like robins in the north country in springtime.

We have so enjoyed our time here. With good weather most of the time and several days to enjoy it, we have biked the trail, walked the beaches, kayaked the bayous and taken Abby to the dog beach. I do not remember when we did what at all, everything is running together. I think that is how it is supposed to be when relaxing at a great camp, right?

All the spacious restrooms are an open design with round buildings and open drains around the inside edge. Interesting and functional. At each restroom there is a washer and dryer for a buck each outside on the breezeway. There are also a great number of garbage cans, almost a pair for every few sites, and it seems they are emptied quite often. There is a boat launch, and a small camp store. Getting back to town for any kind of shopping requires a bit of driving and two bridge tolls of less than a dollar each, so it is better to come here with all that is needed for your stay.

What I do remember is early yesterday morning, rising before sunrise to get over to Pass a Grille Beach south of St Pete Beach for my little ceremony for Bel. I had promised her I would take her to the beach, so after almost a year since her passing, I finally was able to keep that promise. Bel was honored with a setting full moon over the gulf as the sun rose in the east over the bay.

Pass a Grille is a tiny treasure, a peninsula less than a mile wide south along the gulf with a long lovely beach. Unlike much of the Florida coastline, here the houses are less than two stories and are on the other side of the road from the beach walk and access to the beach is completely public. Much of the town is on the National Historic Register. No dogs again, but that wasn’t a problem for us on this early morning since we left Abby back at the MoHo to keep Jeremy company.

Afterward, Mo and I decided that a good breakfast was in order and driving north past the gorgeous Don Cesar Hotel toward St Pete Beach, we found a funky little place called the Toasted Monkey. With friendly down home waitresses in shorts, mimosa’s on the breakfast menu, and several menu items with gravy, we had a great breakfast. One shared plate was plenty for the two of us. We even got a touch of TV. I think there were at least a dozen in the restaurant and we could see 4 or so from our table. Maybe it was a sports bar. We did get to see the US hocky team playing Russia and were glad to hear that they won.

We then tried to find somewhere to buy our traditional Sees chocolates, with the official Sees website stating that a kiosk was available in St Petersburg. Suddenly we were in Florida hell, the Florida that all the westerners cite when they say they would never come to Florida because it is too full of people and traffic. It was nasty. I kept thinking about how awful it would be to actually live here.

I found the Sees at Dillards, my favorite department store, but I wasn’t in the least bit of a mood for shopping and got out of there fast…in time to get back on a busy road and try to find our way across a busy town back to our idyllic little island campground. Whew!

More excitement came on Saturday as we waited for the month’s mail to arrive USPS Express. With a guaranteed Saturday delivery, we were a bit anxious when nothing had arrived at the campground by 4 pm. Finally the desk help, and old southern boy, said, “Well, I don’t think anyone went to get the mail today.” Seems as though the mail is delivered in a box on the other side of the bridge and the post office refuses to come out to the island. (Sure wish they had told us that when they insisted we should have our mail sent directly to the campground!)

The help decided they could make the 15 minute run to the Post Office to pick up mail after all, and after another half an hour I returned to the office to find that the expected packet of mail did NOT come with the Saturday delivery. UhOh. There is a lot of stuff in that packet, including a big refund check for our Michelin tires and all our income tax papers. Sheesh. With the holiday I was in a panic thinking we would have to figure out a way to wait around until Tuesday afternoon for the mail to be delivered.

Home to the rig to check the tracking number which said the packet was out for delivery on Saturday at 10 AM. ??? I went back up to the office, where the old southern boy sheepishly held up our packet saying, “I guess someone delivered it this morning and it was on the desk. No one thought to look on the desk”. Ok Then. All is well that ends well and we got our mail. I am glad we only have to do this one more time on this trip and hopefully the mid March mail delivery will be without incident.

I used the crock pot again to make some carnitas beef and as it was cooking, instead of those wonderful smells wafting through the MoHo we kept thinking, “What IS that smell?!” I had purchased a carnitas spicy sauce slow cooking packet at Whole Foods, one of my few luxury purchases. After several hours it was so bad that I had to put the crock pot outside and turn on the fan. I can’t even give the meat to the animals because it is too spicy. I have no idea what the weird flavor in that sauce was, but I hope I never encounter it again.

See, Mark Johnson? All isn’t perfect in the RV world.

Tomorrow the forecast is for even warmer temperatures, clear skies and no wind. That calls for another kayak, another walk on the dog beach, another bike ride and hopefully something tasty for supper. Tonight it will be tasty cheese quesadillas, with lots of jalapenos and no meat.

01-12-2014 Micanopy and Silver Springs State Park

Current Location: Fort De Soto Campground Tierra Verde, Florida

Weather today: Highs in the mid 60s and Sunny

Visiting northern Florida can be a step back in time, enjoying what they call in the state park brochures, “The Old Florida”. I think that is what is most appealing to me about this part of the state, and there is no better example of the old Florida than the little town of Micanopy.

We had a short drive on this day, just a little over 60 miles from Manatee Springs State Park to Ocala. An additional 20 miles or so led us through Micanopy, a place I wanted to share with Mo. It was a damp, rainy morning when we embarked on the big move for the day.

Once we arrived in Micanopy, there was plenty of parking, with few people on the streets and most stores not opening until 11AM. (It was just 10:45 when we got there). Mo was impressed with the long streetside parking available for large rigs in such a small town. We walked Abby around a bit to explore and then let her keep Jeremy company in the rig while we visited the Micanopy Café for some hot chocolate and some of their great homemade soup. Of course, only on Thursdays does the owner make chicken and dumplings, but her chickens were cooking in the big roaster with lots of herbs and broth and smelled wonderful.

Next door to the café was a great art gallery that drew us in. Earlier we visited the local coop gallery as well but managed to get out of there without buying something. It was a different story at this place and we emerged with some beautiful watercolor card prints and one amazing framed collage, 3 dimensional, of great egrets. At less than half price, it became our “Florida Purchase”. I am tickled pink.

Micanopy was originally founded in 1821 and on a local street information sign, claimed to be the oldest inland town in Florida. Named for Chief Micanopy of the Seminole Nation and immortalized by Michael J. Fox in the movie “Doc Hollywood”, it still feels like a slow, southern small town, where you could sit and sip sweet tea on a porch and enjoy the beautiful curtains of Spanish moss on the incredibly huge old oaks.

hanging out in Micanopy One of the stores, The Shop, wasn’t open, but the website gives an idea of what kinds of gracious southern living goodies can be found there. I oohed and aahed through the windows. Antiques seem to the the most plentiful with several shops in historic buildings that are a delight.

Another piece of old Florida that is going through many changes is Silver Springs. Once an original Florida theme park attraction, the park is now part of the Silver Springs State Park, formerly known as Silver River State Park. The history is well worth reading if you are so inclined. Here is an interesting link. Silver Springs (The Historical Theme Park)

Silver Springs was Florida’s first tourist attraction, dating back to the 1870’s With much complexity, the state acquired several thousand acres of land around the spring. In 1993, the state acquired the spring as well, though it was still privately run. With profits dwindling, the company released control of Silver Springs and it was merged with the Sliver River State park to now become Silver Springs State Park.

I am here in Ocala to take Bel’s ashes (my friend who passed almost a year ago) to her chosen resting place, and Bel’s parents lived in Ocala for several decades. Bel had wonderful memories of visiting Silver Springs as a child, and we would often go there when I visited. The park was very commercial, with a bear exhibit, birds and alligators, a jeep ride through the “jungle” with animals from around the world. There were busy shops, restaurants, a huge Christmas boat parade and light show, a ferris wheel.

It was all great fun, but getting to be more and more expensive. The last time I visited Bel we declined visiting Silver Springs. I was a bit sad about the change, but reading in depth about the contamination of the springs with run-off from development and the animal exhibits, I felt much better about the state take-over. Bel’s sister Iris isn’t quite so happy about it. Silver Springs remains in her youthful memories as it once was.

Florida’s natural fresh water springs are a national treasure and should be protected and honored as the sacred gifts that they are. I hope that the state park will take care of the springs while keeping some of the local history of Silver Springs as an original Florida attraction. The glass bottom boats are still there and rides down the river and over the springs are still allowed. They will continue in the future as one of the historic parts of the springs to be retained. We heard that they also had the Christmas light show last December, minus the boat parade, and that Willie Nelson performed there recently.

I chose not to make reservations at Silver Springs State Park, assuming it wouldn’t be full on a rainy, cool mid-week day. It wasn’t, but it was definitely more popular than I expected. Once settled into our site 32 in the Fort King Loop could see why. This campground is gorgeous! With huge wide open sites that are well spaced, completely level shell/limestone aggregate pads with enough room for a big rig, a big table, a car and who know what else.

The evening we arrived, a huge storm was brewing, with a red line of thunderstorms coming our way fast. I never took any photos of that great site. There is the river to kayak, with new launch areas near the headwaters of the Silver River at the old parking lot of Silver Springs. There are miles of dog friendly trails and biking paths. There is a replica Cracker Village and a nice small museum. In addition, with a camping permit, there is free access to the old Silver Springs Theme Park….now in the process of restoration and reconstruction.

Of course, Ocala has anything one might need in the way of shopping and entertainment, and the Ocala National Forest with its beautiful springs and byways is nearby. I love Ocala. I would have been happy to stay here a week at least. But one night was on the schedule, with time to meet Iris, and enjoy a great dinner at Horse and Hounds, a lovely pub type restaurant that was just a mile or so from the campground.

Mo enjoyed meeting Iris, and listened patiently while Iris and I did a lot of reminiscing about Bel. It was a nice time and the rain was irrelevant. Our campsite was so big and open, and while it was surrounded with beautiful trees, there were no overhanging branches or limbs over the site, so the high winds weren’t scary. Early the next morning, I took advantage of the dark hour to use the one set of laundry machines at our loop restroom, and take a nice hot shower.

My thoughts regarding staying a week in Ocala very nearly came true. I made our reservations for Fort De Soto Campground the minute they came available 180 days before our planned arrival. Fort De Soto is a Pinellas County Park, and extremely popular. Most everything was already filled within minutes of the campground website accepting reservations, but I snagged a decent site in what I thought was the dog-friendly part of the campground.

The morning of our departure from Ocala, as I was reviewing the documentation, I realized that my reservation was not in the pet-friendly area. Knowing how hard it was to get a reservation, I didn’t panic, I just thought, “Well, if we have to stay in Ocala, so be it.”

With a phone call to the park, all was resolved without too much difficulty. We were reassigned a new site, actually three new sites, and we will have to move from our first site to a second site for three days, and the last day of our stay will be at a third site. All in the dog friendly area. The park staff was extremely kind and very accommodating, in spite of our stay through the upcoming holiday weekend.

On our way to the Tampa Bay area, we decided it was time to purchase a Florida SunPass card. Bridges and toll roads are everywhere in this part of Florida, and most of them cost money. Purchasing the mini sticker transponder for the windshield was easy, we found one at a Publix grocery store. The activation, however, was a bit more complex, and I decided to call rather than attempting to do it online with the iPad in a grocery store parking lot.

The agent was great, very deliberate and clear with her instructions, and she suggested that we possibly buy two transponders so the the baby car would also register through the gates. However, the sensors usually catch all four of the axles in the rig and the toad, and we were unsure how this would work if we had two separate transponders. The only problem with only having one, however, is that they are inactivated if removed from the windshield, so if we cross bridges on day trips in the baby car, we will have to pay as usual.

Daughter Deanna (the trucker who plies Florida highways quite often) suggested the Sun Pass card because there are some bridges in Florida that don’t take cash. They simply photo your license plate and send you a bill. With our mail coming to Oregon and only sent along every month or so, we could easily become delinquent with the bill. According to the agent, you have about 28 days to pay. Instead, we need to check the website to see if we were charged for 2 or 4 axles, and tada…all 4 showed up right away on our crossing of the Pinellas Bayway on our way to this park.

The activation is set up with an initial amount using a credit card, and you can choose to add additional funds automatically in specific amounts if your account drops below $10. When you leave the state you can apply for a refund of any excess funds. It was great fun just flying through the Sun Pass lanes for the first time in the 13 years I have been visiting and driving in Florida. Success, and Thank You, Deanna!!

We are now settled in, the sun has risen and it’s time for some breakfast! Happy Valentine’s Day. Among the plans for the day is a trip to the See’s candy store in St Petersburg for some traditional chocolates> Yippee!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

02-09-2014 To Manatee Springs

Current Location: Fort DeSoto Campground Tierra Verde, Florida

Weather today: Highs in the mid 60s and Sunny

Yes, once again it is 3am and I am awake. I saw the huge moon filtering into the campsite and stepped outside into the bright light. Talk about a dark park! The moon is the only light around. Our site here at Fort Desoto is so incredibly long and we are tucked so far back into the jungle-like forest that we didn’t close the blinds or put up any windshield covers last night. But that is another blog post…

We entered the Forgotten Coast at the little town of Port St Joe on our way to St Joseph Peninsula. I have no idea how someone decided the boundaries of these coastal areas of Florida, but I think somewhere between Apalachee Bay and Cedar Key, the coast is no longer forgotten and becomes the Nature Coast. Who knows.

As we approached Tampa yesterday we also saw signs for the Sun Coast, which begins somewhere north of Clearwater and who knows how far south it goes. yah yah, I know…go look it up. Sometimes I just want a general idea and don’t want to have to go find all the details….Good thing I have a Verizon signal at the moment, here is someone who already predicted my dilemma and wrote about the Coastal Areas of Florida.

With only a short driving day of 150 miles or so, we took our time leaving St Joseph Peninsula campground. The kayaking trip the day before had been so delightful, I thought we might like to try some more kayaking on the way to Manatee Springs. Somehow, however, I didn’t properly estimate the actual driving time and it is a good thing we were not tempted by the short 1/4 mile channel between Indian Pass and St Vincent Island.

I crossed this channel a few years ago in a rented canoe. Bel and I camped in a cabin at Indian Pass on one of my many visits to Florida and I had nice memories of the wildness of the island preserve and wanted Mo to see it as well. Once again, however, since the island IS a wildlife preserve, there are no dogs allowed.

Such was not the case on the beach at Indian Pass, however, and we enjoyed walking the beach and campground. We knew there was a strong current in the channel, but a couple of kayakers seemed to have no trouble getting across and around the tip of the island to the Gulf side where they disappeared from sight.

Indian Pass is a great little funky place, and the Indian Pass Trading Post seems to be doing quite well, at least it looks a lot better than it did when I last passed this place. Maybe not quite as picturesque, but from what I hear from fellow bloggers there is great craft beer and oysters now. We didn’t find out, since it was still closed when we visited.

Within a few short miles from Indian Pass, we reached the charming coastal town of Apalachicola. I love saying that name; emphasis on the “lach”. Very nearly the entire town is on the National Historic Register with more than 900 homes and businesses listed. We didn’t have time to explore much more than the downtown area and the waterfront, but with the brilliant sunshine and warmer temperatures walking around was a nice break. Oh…yes…we had only driven about 30 miles or so since leaving the campground. Still a nice break, and a good cappucino and some rather incredible chocolate made a nice addition to our simple breakfast.

There were some rather incredible shops to explore, and neither of us could figure out why shops in a tourist town like this one wouldn’t be open on Sunday. Some were open, but I still managed to get out of town without buying anything but coffee and chocolate.

The town was once a major cotton port, at one time one of the most important cotton ports in the United States. But with the coming of the railroad, the Apalachicola River lost its importance as a shipping channel and the town had to reinvent itself around timber, and then oysters. The river, like many others, is endangered from development and we saw signs proclaiming, “Save Our River”. A sad story that seems to be repeated in many places throughout the world.

Leaving town, we hugged the coastline with beautiful St George Island visible across the bay to the west. I have been to St George as well, but it seemed a bit much to drive the 4 miles causeway and back since the day was getting away from us. Mo will have to see St George the next time I get her to Florida. A blogger mentioned in a previous comment that the beach at St George is dog friendly. I had no idea. When I picked places to stay, I knew that I really wanted to kayak the bay at Cape San Blas, and to stay in Manatee Springs. I would need another month or two in Florida to take in all the wonderful state parks and beaches and rivers, and by then the no seeums would be out!

We didn’t arrive at the park until just before closing time, thanking our lucky stars that we had decided to skip the morning kayak. Somehow the drive took longer than I had estimated, who knows why. Of course, losing that hour to “real” Eastern time had something to do with it as well. At St Joseph, there is no way to know what time it really is. The time lines shift at Port St Joe and are not vertical with the planet. The phone and iPad had a terrible time knowing what time it was, so I finally turned off the auto time feature on both.

I am glad I didn’t need to rely on blogs or reviews to decide on Manatee Springs as a destination worthy of three nights. I visited the park from Ocala for day trips, and looked longingly at the campgrounds, wishing for more time to camp there. I love this spring, love this park, love the quiet, simple, rustic feeling of the campground.

Our site was in the loop adjacent to the spring trail, with the sites fairly open but roomy enough. The other loops do have a bit more privacy, with taller trees, but the accessibility to the spring for repeated checking on the manatees was nice.

First entering the campground, however, can be deceiving with the sandy road all lumpy and bumpy. It looks quite primitive, but the sites are actually level, and with our 30 amp rig, the power was fine. I did see more big rigs in the other loop so perhaps they have 50 amp there. As with other Florida State Parks, you have to log in to Reserve America to see the amenities and the campground map.

Manatee Springs was the perfect place to do exactly what I wanted. Maybe kayak a little bit, read a little bit and sit around doing nothing. Even with three nights and 2 full days, we never really managed the “doing nothing” part. I imagined kayaking the short but lovely spring run, neglecting to pay attention to the fact that the run would be closed during Manatee season.

There is a kayak rental concession at the park, and the proprietor will shuttle folks with their own boats for runs on the Suwannee River for $15. per person. We wanted none of that, however, and found our way to the Usher boat launch, which requires a short drive outside the park south and back toward the river. I found it interesting that the park personnel was very quick to give us the concession information, but much less forthcoming with launch sites to use on our own.

We had no trouble finding the launch, and in spite of my previous misgivings, the wide Suwannee River current wasn’t the least bit daunting. We kayaked upstream for 90 minutes, past the Manatee Springs Run where no watercraft is allowed. The bald cypress are not yet in leaf, and are covered with Spanish moss. With the addition of a large population of both black vultures and turkey vultures, that shoreline looked quite spooky.

About a mile upstream past the run, we saw a very big log on the shoreline, and realized that we were looking at a very very big gator. Let me backtrack a minute…when we left the campground I carefully packed the camera in the Pelican case for the kayak, and carefully left it sitting on the table in the MoHo. No camera. I did have the iPhone, however. Believe me, do NOT depend on an iPhone for a photo of a gator that was more than 10 feet long, at least! Still, I’ll share the photo with you just to prove he was there.

I was fine until that big grandaddy decided to slide into the water toward me. It wasn’t a slow slide, it was incredibly fast, and thank goodness he really wasn’t coming toward me, but was simply slipping into the water with just his nose and eyes exposed so that he knew he was safe from the pesky kayakers. Still, it did take my breath away a bit.

Continuing upriver, we were treated to a truly big mature bald eagle landing in a big cypress surrounded by a flock of ibis, a few great egrets, and a couple of herons. Below the big cypress was a log protruding into the water that was lined up with turtles, a bunch of cormorants, and another gator, not as big as the first one this time. The gator and the turtles and the cormorants were all just sunning themselves within a few feet of each other. Thinking maybe turtle shells were a bit difficult to digest, I was surprised to read later that gators do indeed eat turtles. Everyone seemed to be getting along just fine on this sunny day on the river, however. I have a very fuzzy iPhone photo to prove it. I won’t bother sharing that one with you.

The glide home was faster than we thought, with the current moving along at a fairly good pace. The fisherman was still at the launch site when we returned, and he still hadn’t caught anything.

Of course, Manatee Springs is about the manatees, at least at this time of year, and we were not disappointed. On our first afternoon we saw three at the entrance to the spring run. They were just shadows in the murky water where the river meets the run, but it was still nice to see them.

Later the next day, we walked out the boardwalk in time to see another good sized manatee traveling slowly up the spring run toward the spring, but he also was just a large shadow along the far bank. People get very excited about seeing these big, slow moving, sweet vegetarian animals. I did notice that most folks spoke in low tones, and when walking the boardwalk, if someone had seen a manatee they usually let everyone know where it was.

On our last day at the park, however, we were treated to a special moment on the boardwalk. We thought it might be a bit early to see a manatee, but headed across the park toward the boardwalk. Several folks were walking but none stopped at one of the overlooks, so we wandered out there just in time to see a big sweet manatee slide right toward us under the crystal clear water. We watched him quite some time as he swam purposefully toward the spring, coming over to our side of the run to swim right beneath us.

This time I did have the good camera, and the good lens, but the most important thing when photographing something underwater was sorely missing. I AM going to buy a polarizer for my big lens. I used to use one all the time when photographing skies in B/W but lately with all the editing tools available it seemed an unnecessary expense. Not so, and my beautiful manatee photos show more reflections of beautiful water than the beautiful manatee beneath that water.

I have no idea why “sweet” is the adjective that comes to mind with these animals. Somehow their slow, gentle movements and sweet looking faces trigger all sorts of anthropomorphizing thoughts. No matter, whether they are actually sweet and loving, or just gentle, slow moving creatures who are not predators of anything but veggies, they have a profound gentling effect when you get around them. Or at least that is how they affected me. They aren’t playful like dolphins, or energetic like whales, but they are just slow moving, gentle, “sweet” very big mammals that are very good parents.

Some folks around the springs were poo-poohing the few manatees, saying, “Just go to Homosassa Springs, they are all over the place there”. I haven’t been to Homosassa, and won’t get there on this trip. My concept is of a place much more commercial than this quiet and lovely first magnitude spring that draws a few manatees at a time on a February day.

With tons of deer, squirrels, armadillos, a baby alligator in the pond called Catfish Hotel near our campsite, and a striking pileated woodpecker having lunch above our picnic table, we were quite content with our time at Manatee Springs.

Manatee Springs State Park

01-07 to 01-09-2014 From Emerald to Forgotten

Current:Manatee Springs State Park, Sunny with predicted high temp 70 F

The Emerald Coast of Northwestern Florida has many wonders. The sand is probably the whitest I have seen anywhere and the emerald to turquoise colored waters rival anything I have seen in the Caribbean. It also has high rises, and traffic, and requires some skill to manage with a dog. The cool (can you say cold?) temperatures were not a surprise. Southern Florida is warm in winter. I spent enough time in Ocala to know that winter frosty days are not unusual in Northern Florida. And the “dry season” isn’t always that dry.

Still, unless you want to barrel through the state on interstates, the Emerald Coast through Pensacola, Destin, and toward Panama City is the best way to get to another secret of Florida, The Forgotten Coast. We decided to skip 30A and stayed a bit north to travel highway 98 toward Panama City.

A great resource for dog owners is a website called BringFido.com, with listings of dog friendly resources all around the country. In a state famous for No Dog beaches, with that trusty little website I found a surprise. With the exception of St Joe Peninsula State Park (our destination) most of the beaches in Gulf County are dog friendly! Amazing!

The warm sunshine was glorious when we parked the rig at the Pier at Panama City Beach, in a huge empty parking lot next to Margueritaville. There is a small area west of the pier for a few hundred feet that is not only dog friendly, but no leash required. Abby got a dose of playing in the water and we got another dose of pure white sand, this time accompanied by bright sun and balmy breezes. Almost warm enough to take off the jackets!

Still in the morning hours when we arrived, the touristy town with beach shopping and bright colors was fairly quiet, traffic was minimal, and people were scattered. Looking around, I could only imagine what this place might be like just a little bit later in the season. Spring Break is approaching in another couple of weeks and I don’t think I would want to be here then.

After our relaxed respite on the beach, we continued east along the coast toward Panama City, a town that seemed a bit worn for wear. Best find for us was a rig friendly car wash, where we managed to get the salt and sand washed off the MoHo and the Tracker before heading for another salty, sandy beach camp.

Early afternoon arrival at St Joseph Peninsula State Park was perfect. When making all the crazy reservations I worked on last summer, I decided to skip this park, but last week thought better of it and added two nights using ReserveAmerica. Most of the Florida State Parks that I have reserved seem to use this system. On arrival, we were glad to have a reservation since even in early afternoon the park was nearly full.

Ahhh….now this is why I wanted to come to Florida. No high rises, no traffic, slow roads and quiet beaches, bays filled with birds and calm water. Sunshine. Sunrises and Sunsets on the beach.

Our first afternoon and evening were simple, with walks on the boardwalk and through the campgrounds with Abby, and beach walks for me. No dogs on the beaches here, but there are several trails around that do allow dogs on leashes.

Saturday morning we decided the weather was perfect for a bay kayak, and drove around to explore the peninsula a bit before deciding where to launch. The campgrounds are about half way down the long, narrow curve of Cape San Blas, with the northern end of the cape protected as a wildlife preserve. With a simple free pass obtained at the entry station, we were allowed to drive into the reserve. Thinking that the road (showing up on google maps) went all the way to the end, we were surprised to discover that the road was gated, and it was a 6.5 mile walk to the northern tip of the reserve.

Instead, we parked at the beach access parking lot, and with cool temperatures, clouds, and shade, decided to let Abby wait in the car while we walked across the dunes to see the beach. At 12 years old, Abby seems to finally get the idea that we will return, and we didn’t see any evidence of frantic dog after our 45 minute walk. Even a short walk on the beach with the two of us was nice, since sometimes in places like this we need to take turns. I tend to be more the beach walker and Mo will walk Abby on the roads and trails around the campground.

Mid-afternoon, the sun was out in full force and we decided to launch from the Bay Picnic area. What appeared to be a muddy launching beach turned out to be firm sand with no drop off and a few inches of water. It was probably the easiest launch ever for us!

Kayaking the bay was perfect, with glassy water much of the time, and now and then a slight breeze bringing up a few gorgeous ripples reflecting on the sandy bottom. After a mile or so, we passed the rental cabins in the preserve, and the sand dunes and scrub forest were empty of anything but birds and an occasional hiker. (Judy, this photo is for you! Abby rides in front of Mo and her life jacket is orange, so that is why you may not see her in the photos all the time, but she is there.)

The water was never more than a few feet deep, and several times we saw huge conch shells. At first, thinking it was a great find, I tried to pick the heavy shell up with my paddle. Even with two of us trying to get to the shell, we couldn’t get it up. A bit later, I found another one and managed to pick it up, only to discover a very disgruntled black critter inside. We saw several more, and figured out that it wasn’t worth trying to get one because they were probably all inhabited.

Cape San Blas curves back around St Joseph Bay to the north and east, with the tip of the cape very close to the mainland. We wanted a simple kayak, not a marathon, so we spent about two hours on the water and traveled only halfway toward the end of the cape before turning back.

After supper, I decided to take another walk over the boardwalk to the beach to catch the sunset. I think about half the campground population was out there, many of them with a drink in their hands and their beach chairs, ready to toast the sunset. The previous night had been beautiful as well, but with some clouds and cool winds there hadn’t been nearly as many people.

The night skies were dark and brilliant with stars after the quarter moon went down. There were cardinals and mockingbirds everywhere, egrets and herons in the pond behind our site, pelicans and stilts on the beach, and even a bald eagle just east of the campground. This is the Florida I wanted, the Florida I imagined when I said to Mo, “Let’s spend a winter in Florida!”. I think the sunny day kayaking on St Joseph Bay may have won her over.

There are many many photos in my google photo albums, and in the interest of bandwidth I have only put a few of them here. If you have the time, check them out here

02-06-2014 Cold Rainy Day in Destin

Current temperature 36 F Partly clear and the high to day up to a balmy 53!

I guess 53F is a lot better than 43F which was the high temperature here yesterday. With rain. No sun, not a speck of sunshine. We are leaving today and heading east toward St Joe Peninsula State Park….I think we need to follow the rain. Weatherunderground says that by Sunday the rainy weather will have passed this part of the Emerald Coast with sunshine predicted in Destin and clouds and rain for points farther east.

I guess this is the most frustrating part of traveling with reservations, we just don’t have a lot of flexibility to follow the weather. The whole plan would fall like a stack of dominoes if we decided to try to go somewhere warm and sunny right now. The other problem, of course, is that there isn’t much warm and sunny in this half of the country and we would have to go a couple of thousand miles west. And by the time we got there, Winter Storm Orion might be doing some damage as well even out west.

Right now, Oregon is experiencing some severe winter weather on the west side of the mountains, and I am quite happy to be down here, relatively warm, not shoveling snow and slipping on icy roads. I will not complain one bit more about the cold weather here in Florida. I also know that if I could just get a little bit father south the predictions are for highs in the 80’s at Marathon Key. I need a Star Trek transporter to get us there before some weird weather thing turns it all cold again.

With Florida beaches off limits to dogs, we took Abby to the Four Paws doggy day care for our day on the beach. I would say that was a fairly loosely run business, but we saw where Abby was to spend the day, and it seemed clean enough. There was no outdoor space, but the owner said he walked the dogs every two hours or so. The hours are a bit limited and we had to return by 4PM to pick her up.

On a side note, I would highly recommend reading ALL the reviews for boarding facilities. A kennel recommended by the desk staff at the campground had some rather scary reviews. The kennel owner is threatening to sue the reviewers for slander, but a local vet confirmed that a small dog died from injuries sustained at the facility by a larger dog. If there are terrible reviews and then a bunch of glowing reviews with a later date, pay attention, those later reviews are probably fake.

We started our dog free morning with pastries and coffee at “The Donut Hole”, recommended by several bloggers and a recent commenter on our blog. Thanks, that was a good choice. The coffee was strong, the pastries superb, and the restaurant gave us a place to prepare for venturing out into the cold rain.

I wanted most of all to see Grayton Beach State Park, and had no problem paying the $5. entry fee to explore the campground, check out the dune lakes, and the famous white sands of the beach. Even with the gloomy skies, the pastel turquoise colors of the water and the pure white sands were wonderful.

We walked as long as we could manage in the cold. Even with a yellow flag out, for moderate conditions, the breezes made the 43 degree temperatures bone chilling. Still, I had to put my feet in that crystalline water. The Gulf was doing that gentle Gulf thing that I love, with soft, little waves…can I even call them waves?….lapping the shore and the dark clouds reflecting in the still water. I kept imagining how incredible it would feel to have my kayak out there on the wilderness of silky turquoise water and gray sky in all directions.

From Grayton Beach, there are some tall Florida condominiums visible in the distance, but nothing invasive. The State Park itself is definitely a place to camp for us, with several sites with paths leading directly to the dune lake and plenty of privacy. The newer part of the campground has 50 amp hookups and larger sites, but they are unprotected and open. We liked the older part better, nice thing about having a 30 amp, 26 foot rig.

After freezing at the beach, we jumped back in the Tracker turning the heat on full blast to try to dry out my jeans. Even with the cuffs rolled up I managed to get all wet. Continuing east on 30A, we traveled the short mile and a half from the park to the little storybook town of Seaside, Florida. Years ago, watching the movie “The Truman Show”, I fell in love with this town, as did many other people. Looking it up, I learned it was a planned community, one of the first that used the new Urban Design concept of creating a living space that was pedestrian friendly, with common areas, concentrated housing of varying sizes and types, and the ability to work and play and live all without having to use a car.

I don’t think many people who work in Seaside actually live there, since many of the houses now go for millions. It was still very cold, and by the time we got to Seaside it was also raining. The lovely town square was in the midst of major reconstruction and not quite lovely at this time. One of the local food wagon vendors told us they had trouble with drainage and the square was being redesigned to handle runoff more efficiently. He said it would be gorgeous again by March.

I had Mo take the obligatory photo of me at the tiny post office and then we walked the square a bit.

A store with proclaimed cottage style was rather elegant. I kept picturing all that fancy elegant cottage stuff in our real cottage back in Oregon. Maybe not, but it was luscious to look at, with linen woven slipcovers, big bowls of coffee beans on distressed wood tables, and beautiful linen napkins at $20. a piece. Let’s see…dinner for six and $120. for napkins? I love luxury and good quality, but this was even more than I would do.

The famous Modica Market was a nice stop, with tall shelves of everything imaginable that required library style ladders to stock. Again, even with a small bin of organic produce, this wasn’t exactly your weekly grocery shopping spot. The Seaside Transit Authority tent was worth a double take, however, with bicycles instead of busses as the city transportation system.

Still raining, I convinced Mo to walk at least a couple of blocks through the residential areas, with their white picket fences and porches bigger than my house. Just a short way down the block, we found a public pathway, a truly amazing little treat, that led between back yards, much like an alley, but not for cars. The path led to the main road where we got back in the car, grateful again for warmth.

It seems that March is the beginning of “the season” in Seaside, and many of the charming little boutiques on the beach side of the town square were still closed. Lucky for me, Pickles was open, and I managed an order of fried pickles…something I never tried before but sounded like fun. They were. I can see that Seaside could be a great place to visit on a warm sunny day on a bicycle. With a great bike trail between the town and the state park to the west, the perfect combination of quiet kayaking, beautiful beach, and cute busy town accessible by bike is pretty darn inviting. But not today in the cold rain.

Traveling back 20 miles or so to Destin, we found a WalMart…a tiny version of most WalMarts, hoping for some shelf liner, some propane, and some TUMS. Eating out so much isn’t that good for my tummy. I needed to be armed for the last dog free adventure of the day, hot Irish coffee at McGuire’s Irish Pub back in Destin. I have seen photos of this place on so many blogs recently, and read about how great it is for so long that I decided it was worth a try.

We weren’t disappointed, and Mo finally got fish and chips the way she has been wanting it for a month now. None of that greasy, thick doughy breading, but a nice light crispy coating on flaky light fish. I tried the rueben egg roll appetizers and they were great! McGuire’s is also a small craft brewery, and when I asked if any of their beer was bottled, the head brewmaster came over to our table to have a long conversation about crafted beer. I gave the rest of my Irish coffee to Mo and ordered a Millennial. Excellent beer, not too hoppy, but rich and creamy. In Florida, they do sell growlers of tap beer, but a growler is a gallon! Hard to fit that in a motorhome fridge, so I passed. It would take me a long time to drink a gallon of beer!

It is very nearly impossible to get a photo of the interior of McGuire’s, since the place is mainly lit with dim red lights. The walls and ceiling are covered with dollar bills, all signed and named by folks who have visited. They call it the million dollar ceiling. I remember a ceiling like this along Interstate 90 west of Missoula, Montana somewhere near St Regis, but for the life of me can’t remember the name of the place. Then there was the great little trailer coffee shop on the dirt road track the the Denali Highway in Alaska…covered in dollar bills with pies that were $36 each. That dollar bill ceiling thing isn’t all that uncommon.

When we picked up Abby, she seemed happy and unstressed, so I assume her day was OK. Ours was OK as well, in spite of the rain and cold, and as I fell asleep last night I kept remembering the color of the water, not how cold my hands and feet were while walking on the beach.