"Home is Where You Park It"

I saw this on a sign in front of a huge motor home this morning as the dog and I were taking our walk around the campground. It occurred to me that perhaps some of you would be interested in seeing where we've been parking it the last couple of weeks. If you're not interested, you can close out and wait for a more interesting post. For those of you who are campers, note that our spots have been in Florida State Parks.

Top left is Ochlockonee, going clockwise, next is Paynes Prairie and then Rainbow Springs.

Rainbow Springs

A few miles down the road from Paynes Prairie (just south of Gainesville....enemy territory) is Rainbow Springs. It's about 14 miles southwest of Ocala. Here's where you can really get into the water sports big time. People scuba in the Rainbow River to see fish even though the water is so clear you can see all the fish you want from the shore. They also tube down the river beginning the middle of March when the weather is supposed to be really warm. Once again, the river is was warm and the springs stay at 72 degrees year round. It really is a pretty park and we enjoyed the totally renovated campground: hugh gravel sites, new restrooms, washer and dryer, electric, water and sewer.
We left there this morning, Sat. Feb 15th and are now in Lakeland, FL. We'll be here a week to explore and visit friends from WI (Don and Cathy Becker).

Paynes Prairie State Park

We moved a little farther south in hopes of getting warmer temps, but no such luck. Paynes Prairie is the states first preserve (1971) and is now designated as a National Natural Landmark. The prairie itself is a 15 square mile basin which provides a habitat for many different wildlife including bison, wild horses, alligators and more than 270 species of birds. Again, we had a wonderful campsite (All parks have electric and water hookup. A few have sewer uphook a well.) The restroom facilites are extremely nice and clean. It was at this park that we saw an eagles nest and an eagle as well as woodpeckers, blue herons and sandhill cranes.

We also explored the historic town of Micanopy. It is the first inland town and the first US town in Florida. Due to skirmished with the Seminole Indians, Fort Difiance was built in Micanopy in the 1830's. It was evacuated and burned in 1836. Fort Micanopy was established in 1837, closed in 1843 and reopened off and on until 1856. The town today consists of 38 buildings on the National Register of Historic places. Lots of antique shops, other stores and a great cafe that serves delicious Cuban Sandwiches.

Made it to Florida

We made it to our first state park (Ochlockonee River SP), south of Tallahasse in Sopchoppy, FL. Don't you just love those names? It took me half the week after asking several locals how to pronounce OAK LOCK NEE with the emphasis on the second syllable. What a beautiful park! With no lights in the park, the night skys are spectacular. Great camp sites, pretty walking/biking/birding trails along the river and into the pine forest. I saw several deer, different kinds of birds and luckily no alligators. We ventured to Wakula Springs SP and took a wonderful boat ride on the river where we saw an abundance of gators, herons, egrets etc. The springs are the deepest in the world and have many underwaters caves to explore. The water is 70 degress years round....we still stayed in the boat.

Another adventure was a ride along the Gulf and out to St George's barrier island. Very nice homes throughout the island and another pretty state park. From there we headed further west to Apalachicola. A quaint town with some beautiful large old Florida homes.

We also ventured into Tallahassee one morning to volunteer at the Outreach House. This was prearranged through the "Give a Day, Get A Disney Day" promotion. We spent a couple of hours with very nice, dedicated people preparing to feed 150-200 people lunch. Several organizations, churches and sororities from FSU prepare the food and transport it to the facility. Outreach also buys food as well as plastic utensils, plates, napkins etc. to feed people EVERY day. What a wonderful organization. We worked with one woman who had been out of work for 7 months herself and was going to an interview that afternoon. She said she had her priest bless her twice in the morning for extra good luck. Another worker was from El Salvador. His parents were being persecuted because they openly disagreed with the government. He had been kidnapped by the government, but luckily returned to his partents. They all escaped and came to the USA for a better life. He was a delight to talk to.

Our trip so far

We haven't had any luck with wi this trip due to staying in FL's beautiful state parks. I've also had trouble gettting back into my blog. I've had to make a new one, but for some reason the old blog shows up. Go figure. So is this is somewhat a repeat at the beginning, you'll know why.

Altanta was a great time. We met with dear friends for brunch....Page/Graham and Marge of Marge and Pete. Pete was playing golf with his son. Both Pete and Graham are excellent golfers and have won several big tournaments. Page, Marge and I (for those of you who don't know) spent our last year of high school together in Sandy Springs, GA. I was in Page's wedding and she in mine. We've stayed in touch all these years and none of us has change except for gettting wiser. Hopefully I can post of picture of all of us.

My cousin Dee flew in from NJ to stay with us at my sister's home in McDonough, GA for the week and then a 4th cousin, Peggy came in for the weekend. We had a great visit together. It's the first time all 4 of us have been together in more years that we care to admit. Paul held up well, if case you're wondering. He just let it all happen. No other choice, right?