Amtrak Auto Train!

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

That’s right, we’re taking the Amtrak Auto Train! Yes, we are a bit nuts. Who leaves Florida (The Sunshine State) to go north into where record-breaking Winter Storm Jonah just dumped all it’s fury? We do. It will be fine. The storm is over and the cleanup has begun. We are on our way to see our kids in Connecticut and in New Hampshire for a few days and have had our tickets for some time. The storm had caused Amtrak to cancel the daily Auto Train service for the last four days. Our tickets were for Monday, which is the 4th day cancelled. But a call to Amtrak got our reservation moved over to Tuesday, so here we go.

This is a new adventure for us. Last year around this time we took a multi-day day Amtrak passenger train from Benson, Arizona, to Boston, Massachusetts, and back; and we loved that. This time we have the opportunity to put our car on the train and take it with us! How cool is that? This Auto Train is the only one in the United States, and if you include the car carriers it is the longest passenger train in the world at about 3/4 of a mile in length.

Amtrak Auto Train#52 Auto Train leaves Sanford FL on Tuesday at 4:00PM, and arrives in Lorton VA at 9:00AM Wednesday. It takes 17 hours and will knock 900 miles off our drive. We will be in a sleeper car so will have our own private bedroom for the overnight trip. Dinner and breakfast are included.

After visiting the kids for a few days we will return to Florida, but have no reservations yet.

 

Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Homosassa Springs

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

It was cold this morning, it very nearly froze last night. And the forecast for tonight is to get as low as 29 degrees, so it WILL freeze. Once it warmed up a bit we grabbed our jackets and drove about 30 miles west of where we are to see if we could find some Manatee.

Behind the main Visitor Center is a boat dock where we boarded a tour boat which took us about a mile down the very scenic Pepper Creek to the West Entrance to the Wildlife Park.

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Pepper Creek

Behind the West Visitor Center is the Wildlife Walk and paved trails for wildlife viewing. This used to be a private operation with zoo animals. Now the State of Florida owns it and made it a State Park. They decided to relocate all animals that are not native to Florida and it is now more of a preserve, sanctuary, and rescue facility.

There is one exception to that. Lu (Lucifer), the hippopotamus, is the only remaining non-native resident here.  The local community launched a “Save Lucifer” campaign and the Governor of Florida said he could stay. Lucifer’s birthday is next week, he will be 56 years old, and a birthday party is planned.

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Lu (Lucifer) the Hippopotamus 

Manatee like the warm natural spring waters here especially in the winter when the weather cools off. There have been as many as 80 manatee in the pond here. We saw several today, but could not count them.

Manatee

 There Are Lots of Manatee in There

The Fish Bowl underwater observatory floats in the main spring and allows an underwater view of the spring and the fish and manatees. No Manatees were seen by us here but we saw thousands of fish!

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The Fish Bowl Underwater Observatory


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Fish All Around!

There were lots of other animals and birds to see as well as a reptile room. There were North American River Otters too, but they were too quick for me to get a picture! Here are some pics of what we saw. Clicking on a picture will make the image larger.

It was Cold!
American Alligator
Gray Fox
Whooping Cranes
Ugly
Pellicans
Bald Eagle
Black Bear
Florida Panther
Pink Flamingos
Splatter Zone
Rattlesnake

 

  • Admission:  $26 ($13 each)
  • Parking:  free
Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Webster Flea Market

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

The Webster Flea Market is only a few miles from where we are staying. It is open only on Mondays. Today is Monday so we had to hit it. This place is huge! There are about 300 indoor vendors as well as 600 outdoor vendors, a couple of restaurants and several other food vendors.

The sun came out today and it warmed up over 60. And today is a holiday..Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so school is out and banks and government offices are closed.  Maybe that’s why there were so many people there! It was packed.

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Webster Indoor/Outdoor Flea Market

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Farmers Market

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Several Indoor Vendors

There was SO MUCH stuff there. And some rather unique items. Here are a few of my favorites:

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Trump for President, Hillary for Prison !

Trump for President, Hillary for Prison !

 

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Jesus Peddler

  • Parking:  $2
Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Florida RV Supershow

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

This was the first day of the 13th annual Florida RV Supershow at the Florida State Fairgrounds at Tampa. It showcases the new 2016 models of all kinds of recreational vehicles.  We figured today might be the best day to attend even though it was cool and cloudy. It could rain in the next day or two and we thought perhaps the weekend would be more crowded.

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Florida RV Supershow

Several roaming entertainment included musicians, clowns, human statues, jugglers and more.

More RV’s than we could count.

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RV Supershow

Some unique features. Here’s a slide within a slide. I have seen this before, but it’s a really rare thing.

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SlideSlideOut

Here’s a new one for me. It’s called a Cricket. The top (orange part) is a canvas pop-up.

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Cricket Trailer

Here’s how you tow your big heavy new 5th wheel and still have a little car to drive.

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Take Your Smartcar With You

There were several park-models on display too.

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Park Models at the Florida RV Supershow

It’s like being in the commercial building at the Minnesota State Fair..packed with vendors and people. There were two large buildings with exhibits.

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Supplier Building

The special RV’s are inside. Lot’s of Airstreams here.

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Airstream

And the PREVOST !  Wow, only in my dreams. These are the expensive ones. You can go inside and look but you have to remove your shoes or they won’t let you in.

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Prevost

You can step up to get a view inside the front windows of some of them.

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Prevost

Only $2,376,180 for this one!  ….Maybe, if I win the Powerball drawing tonight!

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Prevost

We were there for four hours and our feet hurt. And, no, we did not buy a new one.

When we got home these two Sandhill Cranes were there to greet us again.  Nice.

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Sandhill Cranes

  • Parking:        $6
  • Admission: $18
  • Gasoline:     $23 @ $1.84/gallon
Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Walk in the Park

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

It very nearly froze last night. And then the sun came out today. Nice to see it. Although it stayed cool all day long.   We went for a walk in the RV park and looked for those Sandhill Cranes we saw yesterday. They were nowhere to be found, but we did see a few other things.

The Escapees RV Club is a total support network for RVers. One of the services they offer is to weigh your RV if you need that done. Sumter RV Park, where we are, has a scale here for that purpose. It’s on Cow Patty Rd, 🙂

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Weigh Scale on Cow Patty Rd

We had hoped to see some wildlife but all we saw was some cows in the pasture to the south of the park, donkeys to the north, and these big elephant ears growing behind the park.

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Bernie in the Elephant Ears

A cypress swamp lives behind the park. We were told there were a pair of otters. Did not see them, only some birds.

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Cypress Swamp

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Birds

So that was our day today, exciting, huh? Oh, we did make a trip to the grocery store and I just HAD to buy a Powerball ticket, which I haven’t done in years. The prize is up to over $1.5 BILLION dollars and I would love a piece of that. I know, I know, my chances are greater of getting smashed by a meteorite than by winning this, but you CAN’T win if you don’t play! I have just as much chance as the next person. We’ll know tomorrow night.

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Powerball

Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Move to Sumter Oaks

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

Yesterday we drove out to Grand Oaks Resort & Carriage Museum. This is a huge equine facility with special events, competitions, weddings & banquets, RV park, cabins, horse stalls, riding trails, a lot more. We came to see the Grand Oaks Carriage Museum. This is one of the world’s largest private collections of carriages and equine artifacts. There are over 160 European and American Carriages here. Way more interesting than I expected it to be.

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The Grand Oaks Resort & Museum

The main attraction at the museum is this beautiful 1850 Armbruster Dress Chariot once owned by Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph, and his wife, Elizabeth.

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1850 Armbruster Dress Chariot from Austria

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Prairie Schooner Wagon, Circa 1800

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The Concord Coach and Roy Rogers!

And my favorite, a Gypsy Wagon! And many many more.

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Bow-Top

After that we took a drive around “The Villages”, a fast growing active retirement community unlike any we’ve seen before. Currently there are well over 114,000 people who live here. In addition to different kinds of housing there is a lot of shopping. Cars and golf carts share the roads. This gang was at Dunkin’ Donuts:

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At The Villages

Today we moved about 60 miles south, to Sumter Oaks RV Park in Bushnell, Florida. This is an Escapees RV Club Rainbow Park. We will be here for about two weeks. Then we will put the RV in storage while we take the Amtrak Auto Train up north for a short family visit.

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Sumter Oaks RV Park

We were promptly greeted by a Sandhill Crane! Actually, a pair of them. They walked by our front window. Cool.

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Sandhill Crane

  • Admission to Carriage Museum:  $30
Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Greenway Hike

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

In the 1960’s the state began building a deep water canal across central Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Johns River which would allow ships and barges to get to the Atlantic Ocean without having to go all the way around the peninsula. It was stopped because of environmental concerns. The 110-mile corridor was eventually turned into hiking trails and recreation areas.

The RV park we are staying in just happens to be adjacent to this 110 mile corridor now named the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. We walked a short trail loop behind the RV park which took us by a pretty little section of the Ocklawaha River.

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Greenway Trail behind RV Park

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Ocklawaha River

We wanted to see more of the trail so we drove a few miles away to the Marshall Swamp Trailhead section of the Greenway and walked about two miles of that.

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A Greenway Trailhead

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The Greenway Trail

It was kinda like walking through a jungle. Humid, but was only 70 degrees. We did not see any wildlife. Flat, because you know there are no hills in Florida.

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Greenway Trail

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Marshall Swamp

After the walk we went home, just in time, as it began to rain when we got there.

Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Glass Bottom Boat

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

It was another gloomy morning, 100% humidity. At least it was not in the 80’s, rather a more comfortable 60-something. We waited until almost noon before we went to see Silver Springs State Park. By then a little sunshine was peeking through the clouds.

I was here way back in 1977 and I remember this being a big deal. But things have changed a lot since then. Of course I was here in the summertime and it’s winter now.  This is the largest limestone artesian spring formation in the world and Florida’s oldest attraction. This used to be a private enterprise, but a couple of years ago the Florida State Parks system took it over. When we arrived at noon the parking lot had only about 15 cars in it.

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Florida Silver Springs

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Home of the World Famous Glass Bottom Boats

There is some construction/renovation happening here. A carousel was closed and fenced off and half the reception area was closed too. A cafe, ice cream shop, and museum were open.

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Silver Springs

The main event here is the World Famous Glass Bottom Boats, and that’s what we came here for. We got our tickets for that and waited quite a while past our 12:30 boarding time for enough passengers to fill the boat before we started.

The tour lasted about 30 minutes. The captain guided the glass bottom boat over the natural springs areas and explained some of the features and the history of the area. It was pretty cool. Hollywood has made several movies here including six of the original Tarzan movies and The Creature From the Black Lagoon, as well as the TV series Sea Hunt.

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Glass Bottom Boats

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The Glass Bottom Boat

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Wreck of a Spanish Ship

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Natural Springs

We also saw a few turtles and some fish as well as one alligator, but no Manatee. There are Rhesus monkeys around, but none were seen today. The captain said the monkeys go wherever they want to go and he thought they were further down the river than where we went.

After the tour we walked around the grounds. One point of interest is the “lucky palm” that grew in a circle. If you stand in the center of it you will have good luck. Maybe we should buy some lottery tickets!

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Lucky Palm

We continued our walk through the gardens and along a cement walkway. There used to be animals here, like giraffes and bears, but they’re gone now.

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The Gardens at Silver Springs

A few roses were still blooming and then we spotted this one splash of color.

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Silver Springs Gardens

After that we took a drive through the Silver Springs campground. Half the campsites were closed, they are currently upgrading, adding sewer hookups and adding onto the city water and sewer system. The other half we could see. Wonderful, level, well groomed, very large pull-thru and back-in sites. Even so, they were only about half full. We’ll remember this for next time!

AND! We have reservations to take the Auto Train north on January 25. More about that later.

  • State Park Admission:  $7
  • Glass Bottom Boat Tour:  $21
Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Silver Springs FL

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

As much as we loved Manatee State Park and watching the Manatee there I have a hard time living without decent TV signal, internet, and cell phone service. We couldn’t extend our stay any longer anyway because they did not have any available sites for our size rig and we had to leave.

So now we are about 68 miles east of where we were and treating ourselves to some civilization. We’re in Wilderness RV Resort by Silver Springs FL and will be here for five nights, leaving on Monday, the 11th. We’re enjoying full hookups, cable TV, good cell service and free wi-fi. And to top it off, there is a candy store here! Sweet!

Don’t know what we will see or do while we are here.  Maybe nothing to blog about for a few days so if you don’t hear from me don’t be concerned. I’m probably just watching TV and eating candy.

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Wilderness RV Resort, V-20

Sure am missing that Florida sunshine!

  • Lodging:  $210.60 (Five nights)
Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Manatee Springs State Park FL

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

We have a 3-night stay at Manatee Springs State Park here in Florida. This is one of my favorite parks and is our third visit here. I get no internet signal here at all, and just one bar of cellular service.  Free wi-fi is available at the snack bar, so that’s where I am writing this. Wednesday we will move on to a regular RV resort for a few days.

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Manatee Spring State Park FL, #9

The natural spring here is a popular spot for swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving. The spring water is a constant 72 degrees which draws the manatee here to the warmer waters in the winter months.

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Manatee Springs

A boardwalk winds along the creek, through the cypress swamp, to the near-by Suwanee River.

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Boardwalk at Manatee Springs

The park offers pontoon tours daily as well as renting out canoes and kayaks.

It was a peaceful day yesterday, although cloudy and cold. The water was so still, it made for some good photos.

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Suwanee River

We did see some Manatee! These two were headed towards the natural spring.

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Manatee!

Today the sun came out! But the water wasn’t as smooth as it was yesterday, making it a little harder to see the Manatee. We were able to see about 10 Manatee hanging out by the end of the boardwalk, they were there all day. They mostly looked like gray blobs in the water until they would come up for a breath of air.

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Manatee

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Manatee

 

Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Falling Waters State Park, FL

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Marsha Brecht

We left Big Lagoon State Park by Pensacola FL this morning and headed east on I-10 through the Florida panhandle about 130 miles.

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Interstate 10 in Florida

We arrived at Falling Waters State Park after noon. There are only 24 campsites in the campground and they are booked full. Our gravel site was not level and had some deep ruts in it from the recent rains. But since we’re only here for one night it will do.

The campground sits on one of the highest hills in the whole state of Florida at 324 feet above sea level.

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Falling Waters State Park, #11

The sun did not make an appearance today and it is cool and damp. After getting the RV parked and set up we went to see the park. There is a small pond with a beach and swimming area.

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Falling Waters State Park Swimming Area

And a boardwalk takes you by and around a system of sinkholes, a natural feature in this park.

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Sinkholes

The most notable sinkhole is Falling Waters Sink, 100 feet deep, into which a waterfall plunges and disappears into an underground channel.

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Falling Waters Sink

We saw some kids who left the boardwalk and climbed into the restricted area to get a closer look at the inside of the sinkholes while mom took pictures.

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Shake My Head

The only wildlife we saw was a squirrel. Different coloring than we’re used to in Minnesota.

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Squirrel

  • Lodging:                $18
  • Transaction Fee: $6.70
  • Taxes:                     $1.80   (Total     $26.50)
Posted in Daily Post, Florida, January | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

New Years Eve

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

It’s been raining a lot lately and flood warnings are all over the place. The temperature has dropped about 20 degrees and the humidity is in a more comfortable range. And no rain today!

We met Lois and Klea for lunch at the Shrimp Basket for, of course, shrimp lunch. And then the four of us went to The Wharf at Orange Beach, Alabama. This is a condo resort, marina, retail, dining, and entertainment establishment and is where a big New Year celebration will be tonight. The first thing we saw when we drove in is an Ice Rink. It is unexpected to see that so far south, but kinda cool that they can ice skate too, although it is only temporary, going away on January 10.

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Ice Rink at The Wharf

Bernie caught another fish! And so did I!

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The Wharf

The street is already blocked off to traffic and vendors were beginning to set up for the big event.

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The Wharf

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Driftwood Pelican

The main reason we went to The Wharf today was to get a picture of the Marlin that will drop at midnight to announce the new year.

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Marlin Drop

Some of the other nearby communities will be dropping things too. Pensacola FL will drop a giant illuminated pelican. Mobile AL will drop a giant electronic replica of a MoonPie. Biloxi MS will have their first annual giant Oyster Ball drop. And Brewton AL will drop a cluster of blueberries.

Our reservation is up at Big Lagoon State Park and we will be moving east tomorrow so we went to Lois’s condo for a goodbye visit. It’s been a fun time but time to go.

One last look at the beach before we go. All those Portuguese Man-o’-War are gone now and the storms and the rain have left the beach pretty clean.

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Perdido Key Beach

Posted in Alabama, Daily Post, December, Florida | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

After the Storms

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

Storms passed through yesterday, some severe. But we are ok. There were tornado warnings out in the morning. Being in a camper is never a good idea when that happens so we went to nearby Walmart and did a little shopping. The power went out for a bit while we were there, but came back on quickly. Lois invited us to ride out the weather with her in her condo so we went over there for a few hours. It remained dark gloomy most of the day, and there were tornadoes north and west of here, but they missed us.

But this morning! Nice sunshine. We walked some of the boardwalk at Big Lagoon Campground again and took some pictures.

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Long Pond

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Big Lagoon

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Jellyfish

Across the Big Lagoon to the south is a long spit of sand on the other side of Big Lagoon and on the Gulf of Mexico that is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

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Gulf Islands National Seashore, Perdido Key Area

There is one road. Parking is along side the road for most of the length. You can see Big Lagoon on the left in the picture here and the Gulf of Mexico is on the right.

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Gulf Islands National Seashore, Perdido Key Area

The Gulf was still churning from the stormy weather this area has had the last few days. The sun was out but clouds began rolling in again. There were people out walking on the beach, some fishing. There were only a few of those Portuguese Man-o’-War here, but other than that the beach was pretty clean.

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Gulf Islands National Seashore, Perdido Key Area

This crane was patiently watching the fishermen.

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Gulf Islands National Seashore, Perdido Key Area

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Gulf of Mexico

Across the road, on the Big Lagoon side, the water is calm. A partially submerged sailboat sits close to shore. Looks like it has been there a long time.

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Big Lagoon

On the way home we drove by replicas of the Nina and the Pinta that are docked at the Perdido Key Oyster Bar Restaurant & Marina.  Might have to visit them another time.

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The Nina & The Pinta

Our Latest Toy

We got ourselves a Trail Camera just for kicks. Lately we have seen evidence a critter has been crawling into outside spaces in the motor home. We set the Trail Cam up underneath one of the slides and captured an ear!

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A Furry Ear

Of course we knew it was a raccoon, but now we have a picture of it.

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Raccoon

We’re new to the Trail Cam thing. I need to tweak the setup a bit to get better shots. I’ll post whenever we get lucky.

  • Admission to National Seashore:  free with Bernie’s National Sr Pass

 

Posted in Daily Post, December, Florida | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Worship on the Water

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

Yes! a Bar Church! Seriously. Located on the beach at the border of Florida and Alabama is the Flora-Bama Lounge, Package, & Oyster Bar, a unique place in itself, but on Sunday worshipers gather in a big tent by the beach for a casual Sunday service that lasts one hour and includes some good live music.

Come Worship in the Ultimate “No Judgement Zone”

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Worship on the Water

I had to look up what a “package” store is. It is a liquor store that sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages – typically in bottles – intended to be consumed off the premises. In Minnesota it is referred to as “off sale liquors”. Consider me educated.

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Flora-Bama Lounge, Package, and Oyster Bar

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Worship on the Water

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Worship on the Water

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Worship on the Water

Of course a Honky Tonk Hymnal is in order.

Honky Tonk Hymnal
Worship on the Water

Central Christian Church is all about planting churches in unlikely places and this is one of them. Many of the people here today were from several other states and their first time here, such as us. We enjoyed it.

Posted in Daily Post, December, Florida | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Fish and Fun

Posted on December 26, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

Joe Patti’s is a Pensacola Florida destination not to be missed. If you are looking for fresh local seafood to take home and cook yourself this is the place. They have everything here, if it swims they have it. Lois and Klea and Bernie and I went to see it today.

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Joe Patti’s Seafood Market

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Joe Patti’s Seafood Market

It was a busy place but they had enough workers to keep up and we did not have to wait long for our turn. I bought a grouper fillet and some Royal Red Shrimp (peeled/deveined). Lois and Klea made some purchases too.

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Joe Patti’s Seafood Market

Bernie caught another big fish!

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Big Mouth Billy Bass!

Not too far from there is the weekly Palofax Market so, naturally, we had to stop and see that too.

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Palofax Market

And then it was back to Klea’s condo to finish up the leftovers from yesterday’s Christmas dinner.

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A Friendly Visitor

And then another walk on the beach. It’s still a warm, very humid day, but there was a breeze on the beach which helped.

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Gulf of Mexico

 

Posted in Daily Post, December, Florida | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Christmas Day 2015

Posted on December 25, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

Merry Christmas to everyone, and to our family in the northern states of Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.  Friends Lois and Klea invited us to join them for Christmas dinner. It was a fun day.

It’s still very warm and muggy. Upper 70’s and 100% humidity again. This could be seen on our short drive from the campground to Klea’s condo on the beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Perdido Key, FL

After dinner we all went for another walk on the beach.  The water is still rough because of the recent storms and the winds and surf have washed thousands of Portugese Man-o’-War up onto the beach. These can still sting you, causing much pain and unpleasantness, so do not touch them!

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Portuguese Man-o’-War

As we walked along we saw some of the handiwork of the other people that were out on the beach today. We were surprised to see that anyone would pick up the Man-o’-War to use as decorations. There were also a few people playing in the water and trying to surf the waves. Not sure that was a good idea, but what do we Yankees know?

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Sand Christmas Tree

And this cool Christmas greeting, also decorated with MOW tree decorations.

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Merry Christmas 2015

And a snowman! Of course! The sand is white as snow here.

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Snowman

And Happy New Year everyone!

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A Walk on the Beach

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

It’s been raining. There were tornado warnings out this morning near us, but missed us! We just had some warm and humid and windy weather. A good time to do something indoors. So this morning we picked up Lois and Klea and went to see the new Star Wars movie, lunch at Cracker Barrel, and then a walk on the beach before it got dark. Here are some pictures from the walk:

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The Beach at Perdido Key FL

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Gulf of Mexico

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Crab

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The Portuguese man o’ war

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The Portuguese man o’ war

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The Portuguese man o’ war

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Horseshoe Crab

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Crab Hole

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Beach Creature

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Gulf of Mexico

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Fisherman

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Gulf of Mexico

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The Beach at Perdido Key FL

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Fishing on Perdido Key FL

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The Beach at Perdido Key FL

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The Portuguese man o’ war

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The Beach at Perdido Key FL

 

Posted in Daily Post, December, Florida | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Big Lagoon State Park, Day 3

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

Today was another beautiful day, in the 60’s and sunny. The forecast for the rest of the week could be rain and storms so we wanted to get some hiking in today. The main thing we wanted to see was the observation tower that looks out over the Big Lagoon. Here are a few pictures from today’s walk.

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Picnic Shelter on Grand Lagoon

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Boardwalk at Big Lagoon State Park

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One Branch of the Trail Under Construction

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Boardwalk out to Observation Tower

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Observation Tower

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View from Tower at Big Lagoon State Park

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View from Tower at Big Lagoon State Park

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Big Lagoon State Park, Day 2

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

FROST on the car this morning! But then the sun came out at warmed everything up. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.

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Frost!

Downtown Pensacola has an awesome farmers market and craft show. We grabbed our jackets and went to town.

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Palafox Market, Pensacola FL

Santa was there!

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Santa!

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Lots of local fresh produce

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Live Music

Among other things we bought some plastic fish to hang inside the window of our RV. It makes that big window look like a fish tank!

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Fish Tank

On the way home we saw where we could buy some Jumbo Boiled Peanuts, a popular item in the southern states. I never developed a taste for these.

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Get Your Boiled Peanuts!

Once back at Big Lagoon State Park we went for a walk on one of the trails.

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Alligator, No Swimming

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Long Pond

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The Big Lagoon

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Big Lagoon State Park

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Big Lagoon State Park

Later in the evening we joined friends Lois and Klea at The Point Restaurant on Innerarity Road for some food and entertainment.

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The Point

I had the Royal Red Shrimp. These are supposed to be the best tasting shrimp, some think they taste more like lobster. I don’t usually like to peel my own shrimp but I had to see how good they were.  They were very good. And the hush puppies were the best hush puppies I have had in a long time.

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Royal Red Shrimp

The entertainment was a local Blue Grass band, Bubba-n-Them. We enjoyed that very much.

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Bubba-n-Them

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Move to Big Lagoon State Park FL

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Marsha Brecht

Even though we were enjoying our stay at Gulf State Park in Alabama it was time for us to move on. You know how hard it is for us to stay put for any length of time. We had been there 11 days, time to go.

But we didn’t go far..only 19 miles east, into Florida, to Big Lagoon State Park, southwest of Pensacola. This park has only 75 campsites with water, electricity, picnic table and a fire ring; and most of them are empty tonight. We will be here for 9 days which will get us to Christmas and the weekend after.

Big Lagoon State Park FL

Big Lagoon State Park FL, #51

After getting set up in our new location we went for a walk around the campground. There are streams, with bridges and boardwalks. There are about 5 miles of hiking trails here, we will check them out later.

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Big Lagoon State Park FL

Can you believe this? There’s a FREEZE WARNING out for tonight!

  • Lodging:             $180.00   (9 days)
  • Reservation Fee:    6.70
  • Taxes:                      20.70
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