Farewell to Florida

81 days in the tent! What I liked: being outside just about all the time, the sound of owls at night and songbirds in the morning, temps over 50 degrees, meeting folks from all over, campfires, & the sound of surf in the background.

Seeing gators made me smile (from a distance).

Wood Storks in flight.

Florida color!

Blue Springs manatees were a highlight.

Good pie was hard to find but this Key Lime was pretty good. I hope to do better in Georgia :-)

We ended our Florida adventure on Amelia Island. This marina is where our boat Miss Minn was built and launched.

Fountain of Youth

The location/existence of the Fountain of Youth is in dispute but we thought we'd check out De Leon Springs State Park.

We actually came for the pancakes...the site of an old sugar mill has become a cook your own pancake restaurant...mmmmm.

After that breakfast we needed some exercise....Reed thought 65 degrees was too cool for swimming but the water was a lovely 73...plus I told him he would definitely feel like an OLD fuddyduddy if he didn't take the plunge.

We decided to re-visit our youth and made a stop at Daytona Beach....I couldn't recognize a thing except the beach which is still beautiful. For a pristine beach experience Anastasia State Park at St Augustine has 4 miles of gorgeous uninterrupted beach and sheltered campsites - possibly my new favorite Florida State Park

Most of St Augustine looks like any American city but crossing the bridge into the old town area it feels a little like another country.

beautiful old buildings....

great courtyards for people watching....

and plenty of places to stop for a snack :-)

Heading up the Atlantic Coast

Jonathan Dickinson State Park is just inland from Jupiter, Fl. Nearly 12,000 acres of pine flats and the wild & scenic Loxahatchee River.

There were some interesting signs.....would this work at Quarry Hill? OK, maybe not, since I did keep walking in spite of the ominous warning - but not too far :-)

How would you "entice" an alligator...hey big fella I've got some chicken back at my tent........?

There were several ospreys and at least two nests were being readied.

Blue Spring State Park is north of Orlando, west of Daytona Beach, and home to as many as 300 manatees during the winter months.

Manatees can be as much as 10 feet long and weigh up to nearly a ton. At Blue Spring there were many young manatees and moms with babies.

Manatees cannot tolerate water much cooler than 60 degrees and come to Blue Spring for the 73 degree water of the spring. The white marks on this mother are scars from boat propeller wounds. The baby had one too :-(

These folks were counting manatees - they estimated about 200 where in the spring this day. The younger manatees seemed really curious about the canoe. The dark shadows along the shore are manatees too.

The babies weigh about 60 lbs. at birth and stay with mom for 2 years.

An altogether charming animal.

South Florida Sights

I sure enjoyed the gulf coast & keys but there's lots more to see so here are some last looks at South Florida.
Stormy weather left lots of shells on the beach in Fort Myers.

Cormorant in Fort Myers Beach

Matlache - home of artists and great ice cream.

Sanibel Island

Giant Bald Cypress in Fakahatchee Strand (central Everglades). These trees are hundreds of years old and the preferred nest sites for the endangered Wood Stork.

Wood Storks have personality-plus! They fly with their neck & legs extended - pretty cool looking.

Sunset at 10,000 Islands National Preserve (western Everglades)

Corkscrew Audubon Sanctuary - home to 400 year old cypress trees and nesting Wood Storks.

Long Key State Park - the view from our campsite was never dull.

Long Key

The gorgeous colors of the Florida Keys

A New Year

New Year's in Key West sounded like fun so that's where we went and what's more fun than a parade.....

"Walking in a Wiener Wonderland" - the Key West dachshund parade seemed like a memorable way to finish out 2010. (Caution - this blog entry contains lots of doggie pictures - cat lovers may want to skip it.)

There were more dachshunds than you could shake (or throw) a stick at.

The herd of dachshunds called for special traffic control.

What were you expecting - it is Key West after all.

Parrot-head dachshunds.....

Pirate dachshunds .........

Little dogs......

and big dogs........

Rosco and Daisy were made honorary dachshunds for the parade.

All that parading & sniffing was exhausting! Hope you had a great start to 2011 - however you celebrated!