Ft DeSoto

We've been at this georgeous park since Monday and we love it. The weather has been up and down. Warm and sunny the beginning of the week and then the heavens opened up with a downpour and lots of wind. It turned cold (40-50) and now the wind has died down, the sun is out and the temps are getting back to the low 60's. The news is saying this winter in Florida is the coldest on record. And we had to be here!!!!

BUT, we're making the best of it and still having a good time. We met up with Jim and Barb Mencin (at campground with us. We've also met with Denny and Shara (from St. Louis) who had recently bought a 38' Beneteau and are living on it off and on this winter. Our dear friend from MN if also living down here and we spent the day with her (Lindsay) yesterday and will go to her place for dinner Sunday.

Barb and I took a walk on the beach in the rain with the dog. We had umbrellas, the dog got a bath. They have great biking paths here all around the park. We're making good us of them.

The Mexican Train Domino tournament is on. We're 2 nights into it so no clear winner is emerging yet. We've had lots of discussions as to how we were going to eventually decare a winner. We finally decided on using Regatta points for each game. One game equals one race. The person with the lesat amount of points at the end of 12 games (races)will take home the homemade trophy. No throw out games. I'll post a picture of trophy at a later time.

I think you can tell we're having a good time. Tonight is happy hour and dinner at a waterfront restaurant to celebrate my 59th birthday!

Here are some pictures.I'll need to publish pics of the park at a later date.

Moving Day

We're haeding to Ft Desotos today and looking forward to being with friends and the water. Our campsite is right on the water! We spent our last evening with Don and Cathy and a group their Canadians friends. We watched the USA beat the Canadian team in hockey. You have to know there were only 4 Americans in the group........YES!

Posts will be awhile coming this week cue to the fact that the park does not have internet.

Lakeland

The weather is nice this weekend. Temps in the 70's. We've had dinner with our friends, Don and Cathy Becker. They have a beautiful home here in a lovely gated community with a golf course. Going back on Sunday for a "wine and dessert" party with a group of their friends.

Today is clean up the Lambertghini and get a haircut. We've been laying low this week, watching the Olympics and doing minimal sightseeing.

Tuesday we leave here to go to Ft. We meet up with our St. Louis sailing friends (Barb and Jim Mencin. We won't have access to the computer like we do here so the posts will be very minimal.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Florida Southern College in Lakeland is the home to the single-site collection of Wright's architecture in the world. We walked around the Western side of the campus and viewed these historic and beautiful buildingshe. There are 8 in all and a wonderful round fountain called the Water Dome completed in 1948 and fully restored in 2007. It's a perfect circle, 160 feet across controlled by a computerized fountain system that propells water 45 feet in the air creating a "dome". All of the builders were contructed between 1939 - 1958.

FSC was founded by the United Methodist Church in 1883 which makes it Florida's oldest private college. Enrollment is approximately 1850 students, with a 12:1 student-faculy ratio. How'd you like to pay this tuition? It's located on the shores of scenic Lake Hollingsworth.

Enjoy the pictures.

"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.