Park #4 Seminole State Park

Well, today is our last day here - we've decided to leave one day early and move further south. We were supposed to move from this beautiful park (which it is!) to the other side of the lake, which is about 50 miles driving but only 10 miles or so as the crow flies. But we NEED to get to a nicer climate - yesterday was drizzling all day, today is beautiful full sunshine but COLD and very windy. So last night I went onto the internet and found a private campground close to the Manatee Springs area and cancelled our reservation at the Eastbanks campground. That will take us about 180 miles further south. According to the internet, it's still under the same colder weather pattern, but about 5 to 10 degrees warmer. I stopped in at the office today and told the person in the office that we were leaving a day early and she told us that this weather is apparently due to "El Nino" and that the whole winter will probably have periods that will be quite a bit cooler than usual. No big deal - every now and then we're just going to have a cooler winter - but it still beats the heck out of being in Michigan (...right?).

When we leave here tomorrow we have an appointment at the Camping World in Tallahassee - we're finally going to get our TV fixed. I'm amazed at how well we've done without any TV at all, but I admit that it's getting a little "old" to just watch movies and TV episodes. Thank God for th internet - that's how we get our news and weather updates. Dave's been great about no TV for a month, but it would actually be nice for him to be able to watch an occasional sporting event, especially on those days when the weather isn't great. I have a suspicion we're going to find out we need a new antenna - when I made the appointment at Camping World, the gal asked me if we have a digital antenna. I admitted that I don't know, but that when we put in the digital converter box I DID pull in a couple channels. She said that not all channels have converted to digital and now I remember that all I got was a few channels from GVSU, so I bet they were NOT digital. So - we may be looking at having our antenna replaced. Three weeks ago we would have been reluctant to spend the money, but now we're going "just DO it!" Funny how everything is relative, huh?

We do feel bad that we weren't able to get the most out of this park. At least we both got out in the kayaks a few times. It's really pretty how this little "lake" opens into the channel, which then would go down to the main part of Lake Seminole. Upriver from our park is something we haven't seen before - there's a gate all the way across the river that is apparently electrified and is intended to keep the invasive fish species (like those awful Asian carp) from moving further upriver. We paddled up to it and there's a sign that says that boaters should approach the yellow piling and wait for the light to turn green and then advance, without touching anything. WAY too scary for us with our little kayaks, so we both decided that this was probably far enought for us to go!

One of the other things we liked about this park is there were actually TWO (yes, two!) nice little bar/restaurants close by. Both are at landings so they have a marina and a nasty little campground, but the second one, called Pops, also has a VERY upscale houseboat community behind a gated entry - wow! That was a nice little bar/grill - we only got a beer there - but probably a little too stiff for our tastes - they need to make it a little funkier. The other place, Big Jim's, has FUNKY written all over it. It's got it all - the dollar bills stuck up on the walls and ceilings, the stuffed fish on the walls, pictures of fishermen with their catches, old antique crap everywhere... but, BOY, do they put out a good meal. We went there Saturday night and Dave had a pound of steamed shrimp - very good! - and I did the whole fried thing - fried grouper, French fries, hushpuppies (which I absolutely LOVE) and a nice healthy (?) coleslaw - it was all WONDERFUL. And for added local "flavor" the place was packed with duck hunters in their hunting outfits.

So tomorrow morning we pack up, head to Tallahassee and then down to (hopefully) slightly warmer weather. We have really enjoyed our weeks in Georgia - the parks and the water have been beautiful. We would definitely like to come through this way again and get a chance to spend more time enjoying the area. Coming down US 27 was a good idea for us, in spite of the disappointing weather. Now - on to Florida...