Leaving South Carolina

Well, tonight is our last night here on Hunting Island (only 6 day stay here). It's actually been a nice spot - nicer than I probably thought it was going to be. So to catch up... after our Friday trip to Charleston, we decided to just stay in the park on Saturday (by the way, this is the inside of the "church" bar I mentioned in my last post). Anyway, I went on a nice hike from the camping area to the lighthouse area, but the cut-off to the lighthouse was closed due to flooding so I just turned around and hiked back. But the trail was much nicer than I expected it to be. Dave did some biking and threw a line in one of the "creeks" during high tide, but didn't have any luck of course (his fishing has been really down this year). On Sunday it was supposed to be cooler with a possibility for rain, so we just took a day trip down to Hilton Head. It's not really our type of place but we thought we should at least check it out since we're so close. And, yep, it is definitely NOT our type of place. It is probably VERY nice if you're looking for a resort, with golf courses, condos, lots of shops and restaurants and very limited beach access! But to us it was just a nightmare - WAY too crowded and too commercial. We had brought our bikes along but the bike paths just didn't really appeal to us, plus it had gotten windy and cooler so we just drove around the island and came right back home - but at least now we can say we visited Hilton Head! On our way back we made our third stop at this cute bar/restaurant that's just before the bridge that crosses onto Hunting Island (there's nothing actually on the island itself). It's called the Johnson Creek Tavern and it's pretty neat - it's basically a house that was made over to a restaurant in the 1970's - and it's one of those fun places that has dollar bills stuck all over the walls and the ceilings and basically on every inch of available surface. People write on the dollars, sign them, date them, draw pictures on them, whatever.

So today was our last full day here, and it was gorgeous out - probably 80 or very close (which I understand is about the same temp as at home!). Anyway, I took the hike again and this time just walked on the road to get to the lighthouse. It was pretty cool, plus you could climb up to the top for $2, so of course I did - it actually wasn't too bad - 167 steps. The view was wonderful and definitely worth the climb. When I came back down I asked the volunteer if I could get back to the campground by walking the shoreline and he assured me I could, since it was low tide. (I tried it on Saturday and couldn't do it, so it must have been high tide.) It was a beautiful walk back along the shoreline - we are still kind of amazed at the whole "tide" thing - it's unreal how far out the tide goes and how much "stuff" is exposed during the low tide. When I got back I took my beach chair and went down to the beach for a couple of hours and Dave took a long bike ride along the shore, which he really enjoys doing.

So tonight we'll put things away and tomorrow morning we'll leave. We decided against going over the mountains - instead we're backtracking just a little ways down to Savannah and then heading up toward Atlanta via US16. I reserved just two nights at a Georgia state park, called High Falls S.P., slightly north of Macon. This'll get us a nice chunk of the way home plus it looks like a really pretty place. If we like it, we'll add a couple more days on; otherwise, we'll head further north. Either way, we are definitely on our way home!

Park #16-Hunting Island State Park

Well, we are now at our last "planned" park - we were supposed to have one more (Edisto Beach) but we've decided to cancel that one and gradually begin moving back toward home. Right now we are at Hunting Island State Park, which is in South Carolina, maybe 50 miles or so north of Savannah, Georgia. It is right on the ocean, slightly to the east of Beaufort, S.C. The park itself is "ok" but, to be honest, we were kind of spoiled on Jekyll Island. There is a nice enough campground, although it is pretty old and the bathrooms are kind of scary. The whole park is maybe 5 miles long, but you have to go out onto the road and drive down to each separate section. After the campground, you drive another mile or so and go into the middle section of the park - this is primarily the visitors' center, a pretty cool lighthouse (which I plan to visit tomorrow) and a lot of parking for day use of the beach. This whole section is THICK jungle-type brush, with very narrow, old roads running through it, so it's not really nice for biking, plus we'd have to go out onto the road which has no shoulder and is surprisingly busy - apparently the Island is the entry point to the very last island (called Fripp Island) which is actually a gated community with only this road for getting on and off the island, so there is a LOT of traffic. The final section of the park is the fishing pier and a small nature center. We drove through the whole thing on Wednesday when we got here and will be spending tomorrow (Saturday) in the park.
This is really different terrain - the area in general is referred to as the "low country" and it's primarily miles and miles and MILES of tidal salt marshes - when the tide is out it just looks like lot and lot of mud, and when the tide is in it looks like lots of grassy marsh areas. It's interesting to us, but we've decided this is not our favorite type of environment - we probably won't make a point to return to this area again. Once is probably enough.
Our next park (Edisto Beach) is just a few miles up the coast as the crow flies, but about 80 miles by road (!) and we decided that it is probably going to be almost identical to this park, so we are changing our plans and next Tuesday will begin moving upward through South Carolina, eventually getting to Knoxville, Tenn, and we plan to just take our time coming back. We're a little anxious because we've never driven over the Appalachians before - we've been in the foothills (i.e. Chattanooga) a number of times, but we're a little nervous about driving the RV across the top of the mountains, especially pulling the car. So we decided we'd rather start a few days early and not feel any pressure about covering any specific number of miles per day.
So - anyway - we got here on Wednesday and just settled in. On Thursday we went into Beaufort - there is an AVA walk there so we did our "bike and walk" routine - Dave rode his bike around town, while I did my AVA walk, and we agreed to met at a specified time down on the riverfront - there is a great riverwalk area right on the water so it seemed like a great spot to meet. Well - Beaufort is VERY nice - it's a smaller city (pop. 13,000) but it's very pretty. There are lots of old historic buildings, some dating back to the 1700's! There is a very interesting old National Cemetery, with hundreds (thousands??) of identical white grave markers - according to the plaque the majority of the graves are Union soldiers who died during the Civil War! But I saw lots of Vietnam and other graves also. The walk was very nice, and Dave enjoyed his bike ride, and we met up at a really cute bar right on the river. The riverwalk area was very attractive with lots of swings set up for people to just sit along the edge of the river and swing - very cool. (I can't believe I didn't take ANY pictures, but I didn't! Normally, the longer the trip goes the less pictures I take - I've noticed this in previous years too.)
And then today we made a trip up to Charleston. Everybody has told us "if you like Savannah, you'll love Charleston." And Charleston IS very nice - the historic area seems to be a lot bigger than Savannah and there are a LOT of beautiful antebellum mansions - beautiful three and four story homes with gorgeous porches running all along the length of the house, and on each story - so a three story home has three huge porches. Very beautiful (but no pictures!!!). The harbor (or maybe it's called the wharf) area is also very VERY nice. A few blocks from the wharf area is where the bars and restaurants are - and there's a big market area that runs for a number of blocks. But, to tell the truth, Charleston is almost TOO big (pop. 96,000). We actually like Savannah better - the historic area is more "friendly" - it's smaller and easier to walk - plus, one of the most beautiful things in Savannah are the squares - there are probably 25 or more squares, located about every 3 or 4 blocks, and they are just SO pretty. Charleston doesn't have the same "feel". We are glad we went there (and, of course, I did an AVA walk while Dave biked) but we don't think we'll be returning. We DID have a drink at a very cute bar after my walk - Dave had found it, about a block away from the market area - and it is an OLD church! Very different! According to the waitress, the church dates back to the early 1800's and there is a "ghost story" attached to it - apparently the pastor's wife killed him in the church, in front of the whole congregation! Ultimately it became a chapel for seafarers, and then in 1964 it was "deconsegrated" - and now it is a bar/tavern/resaurant. Weird - there are still stained glass windows and everything - I DID actually take a picture of this. Very unusual!
Actually, we may have a slightly negative attitude toward Charleston because we had a HORRIBLE time getting in and out. Apparently tomorrow (Saturday) is some big 10K run - we read that 40,000 people come in for it! - and I think they were ALL downtown. The traffic was an absolute gridlock - with dozens and dozens of frazzled-looking police directing traffic at virtually every intersection. We were trying to get to the Visitors' Center and simply could NOT get to it - we kept getting sent down different streets. People were laying on their horns and it was absolutely INSANE. We finally parked about 10 blocks outside of the historic district (NOT a very nice neighborhood! I definitely woudl NOT have parked there without Dave!) and then we got our bikes off the car and rode them to the Visitors' Center where we got maps and were told that the "bar and restaurant" area was the Market place. So we rode our bikes there and then I locked up my bike and started my AVA walk from there. The actual historic area was very easy to move around in - there was almost no traffic at all, because it was ALL being directed away from the area. Then, when we were done with our day, we rode our bikes back to the car and fought our way through the traffic to get back to the highway - by now it was about 4:00 and there were still a jillion cops and the traffic was just as snarled up as it had been when we came in. Our fault - we had NO idea the run would create this type of a mess. But we were pretty stressed on both the drive in and out. But we made it home ok - thank God - we were exhausted! - and now we're sitting here watching the last of the Elite Eight March Madness games. Tomorrow we are STAYING HERE! Geez!

Savannah

So - we've been on the Island most of the this week, but on Friday we took a day trip into Savannah. We were there two years ago, so we already knew that we really liked the city. It proclaims itself to be one of the most walker-friendly cities in the U.S., and we totally agree. The downtown historic area dates back to the late 1700's and has wonderful old buildings on the river, with canals running parallel to the riverfront (...these are where the cotton barges used to come through so buyers could bid on the cotton). There are beautiful old houses dating back to the 1800's, and every few blocks there is another "square" - there are probably more than 20 of the little square throughout the historic district. The streets are primarily all one-way and there are just dozens and dozens of tour buses and stuff, along with hundreds of pedestrians, so traffic moves very slowly and carefully. We got into town about noon or so and parked at the visitors' center which is on the outskirts of the historic district - very easy to reach by car. I stopped at the visitors' center and picked up the map for the AVA walk that is set here in the downtown Savannah area. Then we unloaded our bicycles and rode into the heart of the historic area, right down to the river - and at that point we locked my bike up and I took off on the 10K AVA walk - I had to "find myself" on the walk instructions and start at that point, but since the walks are always a loop, I just ended up returning to my starting point. I walked for about two-and-a-quarter hours - and it was absolutely fantastic. SUCH a beautiful city. Dave, in the meanwhile, rode his bike all over the place (he loves doing that!) and stopped at the City Market for a couple beers and some people-watching. Then he met me back by my locked-up bike and we rode for a while, then we went down to the river area and had dinner at the Shrimp Factory (very good!). We spent some time walking along the Riverwalk and then rode our bikes back to the visitors center (which took about 5 minutes!). We loaded our bikes onto the car and then walked across the parking lot and picked up the "Ghost Tour" trolley for our 7:00 tour. It was ok - but we really enjoy hearing the narrator talk about the history of the city, and this was more just ghost stories about various houses and stuff. They were kind of interesting stories, but not exactly what we most enjoy - next time we'll definitely focus more on the historical tours. The best thing about this one was the fact that it got dark during the tour and it was really fun to see the squares and the houses after dark, with all the lights and stuff. We got done about 8:30 and were back on the Island about 10:00 or so - what a great day! What a great place to visit!

Park #15 Jekyll Island

What a great place this is. For anyone who's not familiar with Jekyll Island, it is about 30 miles north of the Florida/Georgia state line, right off the coast of Brunswick. The island is about 10 miles long and around 3 miles wide (maybe not even that). In the late 1800's through the early 1940's this was the site of an "enclave" of the very wealthy. The island was owned by The Jekyll Island Club, which include J.P. Morgan, the Goodyears, the Rockefellers, the Pulitzers, etc. There is a gorgeous old "club house", and a number of "cottages" (if you can possibly call them that - I've attached some pictures to this and the next posting). There were 53 members, plus of course their families and all of their servants. They came here from December through April and then closed it up for the rest of the year. In the early 1940's it fell into disrepair, primarily due to the advent of World War II, and the state of Georgia bought it for $675,000 and turned it into a state park. There are a large number of smaller residential houses on the island along with a number of motels (but nothing really "fancy" other than the old Clubhouse). There are only two main roads that go around the island with a number of shorter roads that serve the residential area in the middle of the island. At one end there really isn't anything much other than a water park that's open in the summer; at the other end is a great fishing pier and the campground where we are staying. There are beautiful beaches all the way around the island and about 20 miles of terrific bike paths. There are a number of small bars and restaurants, but overall it's pretty low key here on the island. We love it! We will definitely come back here for a longer stay next time. We've only left the island once, and that was for a daytrip to Savannah (...more on that in a second). Tomorrow is our last full day here and we've just really enjoyed our time - we've biked a number of times, spent time in the historic district (that's where the beautiful old cottages are), I spent one afternoon out on the beach, we've biked on the beach itself (which is really fun to do) and Dave has done a little fishing. Just very relaxing and nice (plus, of course, since it's a private campground we have cable which has been nice for watching the March Madness basketball games at night). I'm going to throw some pix onto this posting and then do a separate one regarding our trip to Savannah....

Oops - Time to Catch Up!

Gee, I guess with being here for two whole weeks I've gotten a little lazy about keeping my blog up to date. And now, here we are, with only one full day left before we move again. It has been really nice to be here for two weeks - I'm definitely planning slightly longer stays for next year's trip. It's been nice to feel that we have the time to do whatever we want, with no rush or feeling like we "have" to get everything squeezed in. And now, having said that, I can't think of a lot of "big" things that we've done over the past 5 or 6 days. I'm still getting in my AVA walks - I did the one here at Fort Clinch, which was very nice, plus I did the one in the town of Fernandina Beach. It's a nice walk, but basically I had already covered all this ground between this trip and when we were here two years ago. But it would be a great walk for someone new to the area. And I also did the St. Mary's (Georgia) walk today. This is the first one that's actually been kind of a bore - there just isn't anything that spectacular - it's a nice old town, but there isn't really a big historic district with "grand" old houses or anything. On the other hand, this walk was my number TEN, so I get to send in my record book for my first "award" recognition - I'm SO very excited. Actually, it's been a lot of fun doing these walks. I think the next "level" is walks number 11 through 30, and then 31 through 50. I had a couple questions about how to submit my book and get a new one, so I talked to a nice person in Texas today. She said they have LOTS of snowbirds who do the AVA walks; in fact, she said they have a lot of people who actually plan their winter trips around the walks! It would be easy to do, with over 1800 year-round events!
On Friday, Dave and I drove into downtown Jacksonville because there are three separate walks that start at the Omni Hotel downtown, so I wanted to kind of check out the area. It is kind of a neat downtown - as with much cities on a major river, there is a well-developed riverwalk area with lots of bars and restaurants, and some pretty neat looking bridges going over the river. I planned to come back on Sunday and do one of the three walks, but at the last minute decided I'd feel safer walking downtown during the week, when all the buildings are full - when we left Friday evening, it looked like right after 5:00 it gets a little deserted downtown, especially if you go more than a couple blocks from the heart of the city. It's too bad you have to consider things like this, but I want to be sure that I only do walks that I feel safe and comfortable with - so I guess I'll safe these until our next trip through the area.
We DID get to St. Augustine, and, yes, it is really nice! We walked around in the old section for quite a while - Dave actually did fairly well with his bum knee! - and we went through the old "Castile" fort - VERY cool - probably the biggest (and oldest) of the various forts we've visited. We also checked out Anastasia State Park, which everyone kind of raves about, but to tell the truth we weren't overly impressed with the park - the camping lots are really small, and other than its proximity to St Augustine (which is great - it's less than two miles) there isn't a lot else to rave about. I imagine the beach is quite nice - we didn't actually go down to it - but there are a LOT of campgrounds along the Atlantic coast. So we probably won't make a point to try to get into this park next year.
So - let's see - what else have we done? We've gotten in some nice bike rides, some great hiking, and a little bit of kayaking (it's been pretty windy most of the time, and even on the harbor that means whitecaps). There's a cute little bar right outside the park called Sandy Bottoms and we've stopped in there a few times. We've had two nice bonfires. We walked out on the great fishing pier - although we actually haven't seen anyone fishing - we estimated it to be the length of about four football fields - really long! We've done lots of little "errand" type things - watched quite a few movies, caught up with the laundry, etc., etc., And, of course, now that I've started another Davenport class I've spent a fair amount of time doing homework online - but it's been fairly painless so far and I'm already on week #3 (out of 7) so I think I'll make it!
All in all, I guess I haven't done a lot of updating because we've just been doing a lot of "hanging out" - but it's been great. We're hoping to get in one last kayak ride tomorrow if the wind dies down - it's supposed to - and if not, I'll probably find another AVA walk (...have I mentioned I love these?). And then - time to pack up and move up into Georgia. The next park is actually a private campground (as opposed to a state park) - it's on Jekyll Island, which is a really cool place (we were there two years ago for just a day visit and really liked it) so we're kind of looking forward to spending a week on the island. I'll have lots of pictures from there. And, of course, Thursday starts off MARCH MADNESS - and I still have to fill in my brackets, so gotta go! Next update we'll be done with Florida and into Georgia (and only three weeks left in our trip!)...

Jacksonville Beaches

First things first - yesterday was my mother's 82nd birthday - happy birthday, Mom! - and although I wasn't there to share the day in person, Gary and Dolores took her out to dinner and sent me the attached picture - quite a "babe" for 82, huh? And, I tell you, when I'm that age I hope I'm half as alive and vibrant as my mother is! She works four days a week in a Sparta first grade classroom and on the other day she volunteers at Radio Bible Class. Way to go, Mom!

So, meanwhile, we're still down here, doing nothing with any social significance but having a ball nevertheless! On Monday, we did go back over to the beach area - I did another of the AVA walks (the Neptune Beach walk, as opposed to the Atlantic Beach walk that I did last Friday). Dave brought his bike along and rode it all over the place for almost three hours - he loved it! He rode on the beach for a couple miles, which he loves doing, and spent the rest of the time riding up and down the streets that are along the beach front - checking out the beach houses, the bars and restaurants, and no doubt the girls on spring break (but that's ok!). The area is really cool - there are basically three beach areas strung together - Atlantic to the north, then Naptune, then the Jacksonville Beach, which looks like the most popular for vacationers. There are a ton of bars and restaurants, lots and lots of hotels, a great fishing pier from which you can watch all the surfers, etc. My walk was 11K, a little longer than the normal 10K walks, but it was very nice - lots to look at. About the time I was at my further point out (i.e. away from the car) I suddenly heard this voice and, of course, it was Dave - I was amazed that he found me. We were in the middle of Jax Beach (that's what they call it here!) so I took a break from my walk and we went into this really neat bar called Sneakers. It was a really big bar, and it had 3 of the biggest TV screens I've ever seen - almost the size of movie theater screens. Plus it had a big outside patio area so that's where we sat. (I only had a Coke because I didn't want to be sluggish on the remaining three miles of my walk!) I had to do the last two miles walking on the beach and it was just beautiful - the long foamy swells coming in from the ocean were gorgeous, the sun was shining, people were out walking and playing on the beach - it was great. When I got back to the car Dave was just putting his bike on the rack, and then we stopped at this neat little place right on the beach called The Lemon Bar - it was on Lemon Street. I had this wonderful frozen ice cream drink called (of course) the Lemon Bar - it was lemony, but not too tart, and creamy and tasted wonderful after walking 6.5 miles!

Tuesday was supposed to be in the 70's again, but it was overcast so didn't seem quite as nice. We spent the afternoon on a kayak ride right off the beach of the campground. Because we are on the far side of the peninsula, instead of right on the ocean, it was a nice kayak paddle. We paddled up the shore line past some shrimp boats, past the public boat ramp, and then up a large creek and past the marina. Dave has already been out here two or three times and tells me that he's seen dolphins and lots of jelly fish swimming past him, but I didn't spot anything on this trip. But it was fun to change the pace and get out on the water for a few hours.

Today we're going to finally go to St. Augustine, which everybody has told us is a "must." I'm up early doing this post because I needed to get onto the reservation system at 8:00 on the button to make my reservations for our stay starting on Feb 10 next year (you can make reservations for periods starting 11 months from today). The problem is that's the START date, and the person making the reservation then locks up that site for up to the next 14 days. When I went out yesterday to look at the park I was interested in, there were only THREE sites that were opening up for reservations on March 10. So I set the alarm and when my computer clock said 8:00 I hit enter - and I got my spot. After I finalized my reservation with my credit car and stuff I went back to check the other two that had been available and they were already taken - and this was at 8:05AM! Unreal. But I've finally realized this is what you have to do if you want to get into the state parks on the ocean - sounds ridiculous, but you have to do the same thing back home if you want to get into Ludington, so you just plan accordinging (...and set the alarm!).

I'll let you know how we liked St. Augustine...

Park #14 Fort Clinch State Park

Well, we are now at Fort Clinch State Park, on Amelia Island (which is maybe 20 miles north of downtown Jacksonville). The park is just outside of Fernandina Beach, which is a great old town dating back to the early 1800's (maybe earlier???). Anyway - I'm told it's sort of a MINI St. Augustine (which we still haven't visited - but will during this stay). We were here at Fort Clinch two years ago, and really liked it, so we reserved two weeks this time - and I'm really glad we did! It's nice to know we aren't already leaving on Wednesday! The park is exceptionally nice - the sites are ok, not totally great, but the amenities of the park are terrific. There is a great old fort which has "period costume" staff members on weekends - they shoot off the cannon and all that good stuff, and once a month they have a candlelight tour of the fort with just torches and stuff for lighting. We did that two years ago and it was great - not sure we'll be here for one of those during this trip. They also have an ocean-side beach and campground and a huge long fishing pier - it was closed for reconstruction when we were here last, but now it's open and is really cool. On the other side of the park (which is kind of on a peninsula) is the more wooded campground - that's where we are - with another beach area, but not as nice of course as the ocean side. There are miles of trails - they say they are for hiking and biking, but you really have to be into mountain biking to ride them - they are all twisty and turny and have lots of little up-and-down hills and stuff - GREAT for walking on! And there's a nice nature trail that goes around some alligator-type ponds. Just a little bit of everything. Plus it's only a 1.5 mile bike ride into the town, which is very quaint and has some great bars and restaurants. (Of course, it's a 3 mile ride just to get OUT of the park, but still - you can be in town with about 5 miles of biking.)
So - what have we done so far? Well, as usual the weather started off less than great - it was pretty cool (low 50's) on Thursday - so we went into Jacksonville and went to the Zoo. Overall it's a very nice zoo - not the biggest we've ever been to, but very nice - we like how the exhibits are pretty big and "natural" and the visitors sort of go around and over a lot of the exhibits on miles of boardwalks. Plus it was very clean and nicely landscaped and just attractive.
On Friday, I did another of my AVA walks (I'm totally in LOVE with these walks). This time I drove to the southern Jax area and went over to an area called the Atlantic Beach. The walk started at a coffee shop in the town center (which was WAY too cute) and went to the north through some great beach front residential areas and then away from the beach into a beautiful older residential section, with narrow winding roads and lots of old trees - it was really pretty - then it took me back down to the beach itself and I returned to the starting point by walking about two miles of gorgeous beach right on the ocean - VERY nice! Plus, the other cool thing is - there are actually two separate AVA walks that start at the same coffee shop - the other one is Neptune Beach and heads south instead of north from the town center. So tomorrow (Monday) I'm taking Dave there and he's going to ride his bike around while I do the second walk. Dave spent Friday afternoon in the kayak and seemed to enjoy his day even though he didn't catch any fish. He was pretty amazed at how strong the current was along the ocean shoreline and how much he could feel the pull of the receding tide.
So - on Saturday we did the bike ride into Fernandina, which we really enjoy. We rode into town and then just leisurely rode up and down the streets, stopping to watch the boats going in and out. We stopped at the Palace Saloon (which was established in 1878!) for a cold one, and then on the way back to the park we stopped at a little farmer's market that was set up in one of the little city parks along the main road. When we got back by the park entrance Dave wanted to show me a little bar that he had stumbled across on Friday, so we stopped in there for a little while. It's a nice little place, with a great deck looking out over the ocean. It was too cool to sit outside but we plan to return during the week because we are SUPPOSED to be coming up on a warming up spell (...right!). Anyway, when we got back to the park it was really chilly, but we went for a walk along the beach by our campground. We followed the beach around a point and were surprised to see that we were really close to the town - can't quite figure that one out! - and there was a really nice marina and boat ramp - really close to the edge of the state park. We stood out there until it was almost sunset and then realized we'd better hustle back to the park or we'd get caught out walking in the dark (there are no street lights in state parks!). It was a really nice day.
Today (Sunday) was supposed to be warmer, and I guess it was - a little - might have hit 60 degrees. Based on the (incorrect) forecast, Dave had decided to spend the whole afternoon out fishing - which he did, but with no luck (although he had dolphins swimming by him part of the time). I did the AVA walk here at the park - I had picked up the map but waited until today to do the whole 10K walk. It was a little intense - it started out with maybe a mile and a half or two of the hike/bike trails, then around the nature trail loop, then on a paved road over to the ocean-side beach, and then all around the end of the peninsula (on the beach) back to the fort and our campground. It was pretty easy walking on the ocean side because the beach sand is kind of packed down, but on the far side the sand was much softer and I sunk into it a little with each step - and I had a LONG way to walk like that - so it was a little harder than some of my other walks - but I did it and now I get my stamp!!! (Did I mention that I love these AVA walks?)
Tomorrow is supposed to actually be in the low 70's and I'm taking Dave over to the Atlantic Beach area so he can ride and I can do the second walk (I might have already mentioned that) and later this week we are FINALLY going to go to St. Augustine. We are having a really good time and can't believe we are down to only four weeks left. More later!

(PS - that ugly thing is a big old jelly fish - there are dozens of them washed up on the beach - they're almost a foot in diameter and are very rubbery and slimy -yes, I had to touch one. Gross!)

Blue Springs

Well, today is our last day at Blue Springs. It seems like this week (along with many of the previous weeks) has gone by way TOO fast. For the last three years we've kind of followed a protocol of spending one week at a time in a state park and then moving on to the next. People sometimes react as though it must be a lot of hassle to move so often, but in reality it isn't at all - we can set up our site in about 15 minutes and we can be packed up and ready to move out in less than 30 minutes. However, having said that, we have decided that, on future trips, we'll probably stay a little longer - a week-and-a-half or two weeks at each location. It's not the "hassle factor" - it's that we're realizing we simply don't have enough time at each park to enjoy it sufficiently. This park is a great example. I only got out on my kayak one time. I did the very nice bike trail here twice. We never did make it over to the ocean, even though Daytona is really close. We just run out of time! So - for the next trip - longer stays!

OK, having said that, we have enjoyed the rest of our time here. I know I gushed on and on about the kayaking with the manatees thing - and it was GREAT! But the next day my sister Dolores and her husband Gary were stopping in for a visit - they are down here for one week - and I definitely wanted to spend time with them. So Dave and I went on the bike trail for a morning ride (about 8 or 9 miles, I would guess) and then I sent him out onto the lake for some fishing - and when he got back he told me he actually touched one of the manatees - apparently it came up out of the water right next to him, and he simply reached his hand out and stroked its back. How cool! Dolores and Gary came a little later in the afternoon and we took them down to see the manatees in the springs area - they both really enjoyed seeing the manatees and all the fish and were amazed at how clearly everything could be seen through the crystal clear spring water. (I'm attaching a pictures, but it doesn't really convey how clearly you can see the manatees - a camera just doesn't capture it!) Gary and Dolores were flying home on Tuesday, so didn't spend too much time but it was great to have visitors - our only ones for the whole trip, so thanks, guys, for stopping in!

Today was supposed to be rainy, so we just planned on doing little things - we wanted to check out DeLand a little more and find our way around Lake Beresford, plus we had a coupon for McDonalds (which we always want to use, of course!), so we just goofed off all day. Tomorrow we pack up and leave. We feel kind of bad about leaving in one regard - there's been a little black kitten with white paws hanging around (I named him "NIKE" because he looks like he's wearing little white sneakers). We've been putting out cat food for him every day - he looks like he's maybe two or three months old. At first I felt terrible for him - poor little stray - but I think we've seen his momma around here - plus he looks pretty good, not at all skinny, so I think campers probably feed him on a pretty regular basis! There would have been no way to try to catch him anyway - the second he hears us move he scampers. But it's been fun to watch him this week. Probably a good thing we COULDN'T catch him, because I would definitely have wanted to take him home!

Anyway, tomorrow we move up to Amelia Island, just north of Jacksonville. We're looking forward to that, because we've been there before and really love it, and we're staying for two whole weeks - yay!