In the Everglades. . . .

Bill has been singing a song for days (my poor ears!) that goes "In the Everglades there's a way of life. . . . .no stress or strife". His little song is true; it was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. We are glad to be back in communication with the world, however. The photo above was taken on a boat trip through the everglades.
We are now in Ft. Myers, Fl and will stay here for a week. Yesterday we arrived and did some housekeeping chores, found a supermarket, etc. This morning we went to worship service at a church near our RV Park. We were welcomed and uplifted by the music and inspired by the sermon.
Tomorrow we plan to spend the day exploring Sanibel Island.

I told you. . . .

Yep, it says I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK. This marker is located in the cemetery on Key West. It was one part of that island that we toured yesterday. We saw the southermost point in the US and all the Key West sights as we toured on a trolley.

Today has been a houskeeping day with a trip to do laundry, paying bills, etc. Tomorrow we leave the Keys and go to the Everglades National Park. We will spend 2 nights there and see the hightlights of the area. We will have no electricity in the campground-so no internet posting until we move back to civilization on Saturday.

Life in the Keys

We started Sunday morning by attending a Sunrise Service here in the park that was sponsored by a local church. The service was uplifting on its own and ended with the baptism of 10 people in the water at the beach. Later in the day we travelled south along the keys a way. The photo above was taken along side the highway at a pullover. The colors in the water are fantastic.
Today we picked up forwarded mail at the Key Largo Post Office and spent the afternoon taking a glass bottomed boat trip out to the Molasses Reef. The coral of the reef was beautiful and the area was filled with many colorful fish, large and small. It has been an exciting couple of days.
Tomorrow we plan to drive all the way south to Key West for the day.

Get out of my space

This guy lives in a hole in the palm tree in the prior photo. He seems to have a lady and some children. Last night we grilled some burgers on our picnic table and Mr Lizard was trying to show us that he is boss and we were in his territory. This guy is different from the ones we saw in GA. The lizard population in this area is very large. We see them anytime we get off the beaten path.

John Pennkamp State Park

We are now on the island of Key Largo, the northernmost island in the Florida Keys. The coconut palm above is on our campsite. We plan to explore the keys and the everglades from here. The weather is great and the area is beautiful. We are so tan that we do not look like our northern winter selves at all. Retirement-the 'R' word is great!

Two Mile Hike Nets 6 inch Owl

This afternoon Bill and I hike a couple of miles in search of the tiny burrowing owl. We were successful as you can see in the photo above. These owls make holes in the sandy soil and that is where they nest. We were pointed in the right direction and after finding many started burrows we finally found an owl and his burrow. This little guy is approximately 6 inches high and he uses a bowing motion to indicate discomfort. He is just one more unique animal here on the prairie.

More campground visitors

These turkeys were visiting our campground. The wildlife here is abundant. Bill has been chasing birds with a camera ever since we got here. Today he took a hike in search of photos carrying so much photo equipment he looked like a pack mule. Tomorrow he has plans for another search for opportunity. This park is so beautiful in a subdued way. Our time here is passing too quickly.

WILDLIFE IN THE SHOWER!

We are now at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in FL. The little guy above and a friend greeted me last night as I entered the shower here in the campground. His brother/cousin was in the men's room in Bill's shower. He is approximately the size of my thumbnail.
At first glance this area seems desolate but is teeming with wildlife-right now a deer is grazing outside the window of our RV as I type this entry. We saw an endangered gopher tortoise and an endangered Caracara bird as we entered the park yesterday. This morning Bill took many photos of meadowlarks as I watched the bird's beautiful yellow chest and neck.
This is certainly not FL as we have known it before. We travelled thru cattle ranches and orange groves as we arrived. Park info tells us that the nearest gas station is 12 miles from the park entrance-and the campground is 5 miles of gravel from the entrance. It is beautiful: wildlife, long vistas, birds, wildflowers and dark sky filled with bright stars. What a treat!

Ah youth!

Look closely at this two old folks drinking from Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth. As I do this posting the gray hair is disappearing and the wrinkles are smoothing. High school tomorrow, elementary the next day. We did enjoy our tour of the Fountain of Youth!

Tomorrow we say goodby to St. Augustine and travel south to Kissimmee Prairie State Preserve Park. We will spend 4 nights there. We don't know what we may find there-the park is 5 miles off the paved road-but we expect to find more adventures and get close to nature.

St. Augustine

I hope you like my new friend. I found him in front of the Old Jail in St. Augustine. Isn't he handsome?
We've spent part of 3 days touring the Old City of St. Augustine on the Old Town Trolley. We saw lots of historical buildings and learned a lot of history. We now know that Ponce de Leon was only 4'11" and we know lots of information about Henry Flagler. He's the millionaire who built large hotels in St. Augustine and a railroad to Key West many years ago. We enjoyed the tours.
Bill is still actively pursuing that ultimate photo at the Alligator Farm. He has many gigabits of bird photos. You might want to think twice before letting him show you his vacation pictures.
Tomorrow's plans include the life changing event of a visit to the fountain of youth. A drink of that water and we'll be headed into high school, I'm sure.

Life in the slow lane

Here's a picture of Bill at yesterday's main event. This is how we both got potential sunburns and it was worth every red spot! A bit later he managed to take a nap stretched out on the sand. And a nap was a good thing since we were back on the same beach at 2:38 AM when the space shuttle launched 100 miles to our south. We saw the burst of fire as the rocket took off, unfortunately there were too many clouds for us to watch as the rocket went into outer space. Today we spent most of the day touring St. Augustine's Old City. We rode a tour tram throughout the city and listened as the guide told where places were and about historical events. We toured the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and found the ice cream shop in the shopping area. Tomorrow we'll return to town and tour more historic buildings.

A GREAT WEEKEND

I promised one of Bill's bird photo so here is a roseate spoonbill from the Alligator Farm Rookery nearby. This is one of the many he's taken this weekend. He has enjoyed hours of bird photography this weekend.

Our other weekend activities included a farmers' market, an art & craft fair and just some down time. From the Farmers' Market we came home with fresh strawberries, tomatoes and corn on the cob. Also some great pecan pie!

We went to an uplifting church service on Saturday evening. Great way to avoid the shock of the time change on Sunday morning.

Rain Rain Go Away

Today has been a rainy one. There have been storms and several toronados in the area. We have been safe and dry. We spent the day taking a driving tour of the area and spending some quality time and money at the new Camping World here in St. Augustine. Tomorrow is predicted to be sunny and cooler. Bill purchased his Photographer's Pass for the Alligator Farm today. He is planning to get many photos of the birds that frequent the farm. Stay tuned-we'll post a sample.

Goodbye Stephen Foster, Hello Anastasia

The little guy shown above was on a tree beside a trail we walked yesterday. He was working really hard to impress someone!
We spent our last day at Stephen Foster just looking at the area and all the animals there. We had some problems last night with internet connections so we waited until today to post but we wanted everyone to see this guy.
Today we traveled south to Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine , FL. This is a beautiful park with a great campground. We will explore the area tomorrow. Anastasia will be our home for 10 nights. Lots of time for beach and town.

Gator!

Yesterday was a beautiful day at Stephen Foster. We hiked a couple of miles thru the swamp area and in the afternoon took a boat trip. The gator above was not too happy with our being so close to him. As he left in a hurry I was splashed with mud and water by his departure. We learned that Okefenokee means trembling earth and we saw why the name fits. The peat floats on top the water until it forms an earthlike area (Mr Gator was sunning on an area of peat). Gators & sometimes people walk on the floating area and with each footfall the earth tembles.

We began today with predictions of severe thunderstorms that never really happened. We did have some rain. We planned indoor activities based on the weather forcast. We toured the interpretative center and museum, visited a nearby town, read, napped and generally had a lazy day.

Stephen Foster State Park, GA

Yesterday morning at 5 AM we left our home in PA after clearing fresh snow from our camper and we traveled all day-stopping for more than an hour at 2 different accidents, many rest stops and meals. Last night we stayed at a Wal-mart near Columbia, SC. It was restful night except for the eggs thrown on the RV and truck overnight. Bill removed the evidence early this morning and we were on the move again. After traveling through more of South Carolina and some of Georgia we are now camped in Stephen Foster State Park which is located in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The temperature today was near 80 and is still pleasant as the sun sets. We have been entertained by Pileated Woodpeckers, butterflies and a squirrel since our arrival at our campsite. What a difference a day and 900+ miles make. Here is a photo of our home away from home.