Sunday, March 16, 2014

February/March Update

The middle of February we had to take a quick (or so we though) trip home, we were only supposed to be home for 3 days, then this happened...




Beautiful, yes...






Any other time...



We ended up with over 6 inches and delaying our trip back to Florida by 2 days.








Oh well, when life gives you snow...



We had a small break in the weather, so we made a break for it!


Going over the mountains in North Carolina.


We had beautiful weather when we made it to the Eagle Hammock Campground on the Naval Submarine base in Kings Bay, Georgia.  This is one of our favorites, big sites, great clubhouse and free laundry, among other great amenities.


Bird watching from the couch...


We took a trip to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island and had a great long walk on the beach.


We took off for a couple of days and went down to Daytona Beach to hang out with our good friends from home Jan and Jerry.

We had some great weather, so off we went... to the Canaveral National Seashore, it's a 58,000 acre park located on a barrier island. It was created by an act of Congress in 1975 and is home to more than 1,000 plant and 310 bird species.  


This armadillo couldn't have cared less about us.


The park has 24 miles of beaches which is the longest stretch of undeveloped beach on the east coast of Florida. 


We rode our bikes from the visitor's center to this beach at the end of the road and back, 12 miles total.





From there we went to the Smyrna Dunes Park.



Perched on 250 acres of pristine land at the northern tip of the New Smyrna Beach peninsula, the area is surrounded by water on three sides.  Waters from the Indian River flow through Ponce Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean providing a variety of fishing or swimming venues of park goers.

The park also provides a unique opportunity to see a wide variety of animals, birds, reptiles, marine life and vegetation in their natural habitat.  This little guy is a gopher turtle.



To protect the sensitive sand dunes from foot traffic, two miles of elevated walkways, picnic areas, pavilions and an observation tower were built, allowing visitors to travel through the park in a natural environment.





It was a beautiful day!!



A Mexican stand-off...




Some great landscaping ideas!



This was for Stu...


It's been a really cold and wet winter, even here in sunny Florida (still better than being at home...) but we have a few nice days.  One of those day we rode our bikes on the Jacksonville-Mayport ferry over to Fort George Island.


Fort George Island State Cultural Site - Native Americans feasted here, colonists built a fort, and the Smart set of the 1920s came for vacations.  A site of human occupation for over 5,000 years, Fort George Island was named for a 1736 fort built to defend the southern flank of Georgia when it was a colony.  A key attraction is the restored Ribault Club.  Once an exclusive resort, it is now a visitor center.  The park has a beautiful 4 mile bike loop with a printable map and numbered stops along the way.


This peacock passed us on the trail...


He couldn't have cared less about us too, he just kept on trucking.


It was a really nice trail.


Point Isabella - During the plantation era of the 18th and 19th centuries, Point Isabella may have served as the plantation’s wharfing facility. A Kingsley family name, Isabella 
was also used to designate a variety of grape developed on the island. 
Point Isabella can be reached on bicycle or foot along the 6th fairway, cleared in 1928 as part of Ribault Club’s nine-hole Scottish-style golf course. In the 1960s, nine additional fairways were cleared to create an 18-hole course. The last effort to maintain a golf course on Fort George Island ended in 1991. 


The concrete seawall visible today was part of a marina development proposed by Admiral Victor Blue. 



Kingsley Plantation - Operated by the National Park Service as part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Kingsley Plantation offers an excellent opportunity to learn more about Sea 
Island plantation life in the mid-19th century. You can tour the grounds, which include the oldest standing plantation house in Florida, the barn and kitchen. 



These are the remnants of 23 tabby (a concrete made from lime, sand and oyster shells) slave quarters.


Huguenot Memorial Park, that's the Naval Base across the way.


A beautiful day for a picnic lunch.  This is the campground, nice, but really windy (it's basically on a sand bar) and no hook-ups.



On the ferry going back to Mayport.



Back at "The Roost", a cruise ship sailing by.


I think Stu spent about 5 days cleaning and waxing the bus, with help from our neighbors...


We left Mayport on Thursday and spent 2 night at Grassy Pond Recreational Area just south of Valdosta, Georgia.  It's a nice campground, for passing through.  The have a clubhouse, that doesn't get used much, two washer and two dryers, not free (we have been spoiled).  They do have picnic tables and a community fire pit.  We had a problem on the way there, when we had the tune-up in Jax the guy forgot to tighten one of the nuts on the fuel pump for injector lines, meaning we dumped a bunch of diesel on the truck, bikes and half of Florida...  So we spend that and the next day cleaning diesel of everything. Crisis averted...

We left there yesterday morning and arrived at the NSA Panama City Campground and Marina. Yesterday was nice, but a storm has rolled in and we have been getting flood warning for this afternoon.


Forgetting about the time zone change (1 hour behind) we left early for lunch...  so we took the scenic tour of historic St Andrews. 


Oaks by the Bay Park...Beautiful!


Pindo Palm - This is a rare four headed palm, the only one of it's kind know in the world...Awesome!




Breakfast at Uncle Ernie's.



Pelicans, pretty cool!

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