Heading Home from Florida

We had planned to spend another day in Largo, but the weather didn’t look like it was improving, so we decided to leave and head north, which had a better forecast. Sure enough, as we approached Gainesville, the sky cleared and the mercury rose. Once we got away from Tampa’s urban sprawl, traffic lightened and we were treated to a pleasant landscape of rolling hills dotted with big, old oak trees and horse and cattle ranches.

We got to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park around noon. Neptune took one look at all the trees and expansive woods around our campsite and demanded a walk. Vegetation under the oaks was sparse, so it was easy for him to walk and to see a long way off. He took off without a backward glance. This is why he’s not allowed off his leash when we’re camping. As usual, the cautious one was content to peek out from the safety of the trailer.

The park has a number of trails you can bike on, so we we set off biking, first on the Lake Trail, which was sandy and difficult to bike on, where we saw a gopher tortoise. 

Then we went on the 8-mile roundtrip Cole’s Dike trail. It started out rooty and rough and then was mostly soft grass and quite exhausting to bike on. We saw some wild horses, two sandhill cranes 

and a couple deer, but the bison were nowhere to be seen. I made it about 3 miles, then had to turn around. David biked another mile to the end and easily caught up with me. 

Instead of the Lake Trail, we took another trail back to the campground, but it too had patches of sand and also some long, deep wet areas. Although I probably only biked around 10 miles, it felt like an endurance test. 

In the morning we went to the visitor’s center, looked at the exhibits, watched an excellent video about the preserve and walked to the observation tower (still no bison). I saw two running deer and several flying sandhill cranes. David said the park had a good feel to it. He liked the big oak trees, the Spanish moss and the palmettos. 

In contrast, our next campground at O’Leno State Park, which was only an hour away, was mostly loblolly pine forest and looked quite different, although it too was nice. However, this day turned out to be cold and rainy. We probably would have kept on going if I hadn’t already made reservations. Since this was our last real vacation day, we bundled up and walked over to look at the Santa Fe River. We walked the 1.5-mile River Trail across the CCC suspension bridge, along the river, past big sink holes and past the Santa Fe River sink where the river descends beneath the earth and doesn’t emerge again for 3 miles downstream at the river rise. It rained the whole time, otherwise it would have been quite nice. We didn’t see alligators, although there were lots of signs warning of their presence. O’Leno used to be a town, and one of the buildings had an exhibit explaining the history. When we returned to the campsite, a pool of water had collected around our door. It rained hard the rest of the day.

We left the next day at 9:30 after dumping the tanks at the dump station. It turned into a warm, clear day, but windy. Nevertheless, we made good time and decided to continue past our original stopping place and push on. At 5:45 we arrived at our campground near the NC border. It was only two hours from home. If we weren’t towing the trailer, we would have continued on home, but we didn’t want to have to deal with the trailer in the dark.

The final day was a short, easy drive with almost constant meowing by Neptune. He seemed to know we were close to home and got more and more excited. Well, we’re all safe at home now, and it’s back to work for now.

The Sunshine State

We stayed at Manatee Springs State Park for two days. We arrived at the campground mid-day, set up camp, had lunch and got the bikes ready. Then we drove to the Chiefland trailhead for the Nature Coast Trail, one of several state multi-use trails. David had partially unassembled the bikes to fit them in the truck bed, (which was full of other stuff). At the trailhead, he reassembled them, and we took off. David rode to the end, turned around and returned to the truck while I biked one-way. It was a straight, paved trail that went through woods beside modest neighborhoods--mobile homes, dilapidated houses, junk-strewn yards. I heard a lot of shooting in the nearby wilderness preserve, so I took off my green jacket so my bright orange shirt would stand out and let hunters know I wasn’t a deer. I heard a gunshot up ahead on my right where the homes were, then passed a man standing in his yard holding a high-powered rifle with scope. Wonder what he was shooting at. Didn’t see any animals except vultures and other birds. It was interesting but not my favorite trail. The highlight was the historic train trestle spanning the Suwannee River. I stopped when I got to the historic bridge and gazed at the river and surrounding swamp. A woman that I had said hello to returned and started talking to me. She was from Toronto and had a vacation home in Florida with her husband. She was happy to have escaped the snow in Toronto but was surprised how cold it had been in the area the last few days. When I got to our meeting place, I waited about 10 minutes before David picked me up. He was very tired, having had to go twice as far and twice as fast as I and then drive about 20 miles to pick me up. Also, one of his bike tires had started to go flat the last few miles. We got back to the trailer after dark. One of the latches on the locker doors broke. David has started a list of things that need to be fixed on the trailer.

In the morning, David put the bikes back together and changed his flat tire. Then we went to see the park springs. 

A boardwalk leads along a creek to the Suwannee River. We saw a few manatees sleeping or swimming slowly underwater but nothing like the frisky ones at Wakulla Springs. 

At the end of the boardwalk and close to it were dozens of black vultures roosting in trees. I liked the sound of their wings’ flapping as they flew around. 

We noticed scuba divers on our way back. There are underwater caves, and one leads from the springs to a sink hole. We walked over to the sink hole, which was covered with duck weed. Other divers were getting ready. 

We walked the 1-mile Sink Hole trail, which leads past several muddy sink holes. Some loud construction noise permeated the park, marring the natural ambiance. The Florida peninsula is made of limestone, and, over time, water weakens the structure leading to numerous sink holes. When we were driving here, we saw billboard after billboard of lawyers offering to represent people with sink hole issues. 

In the afternoon we drove about 30 miles to the small coastal fishing and artist town of Cedar Key. This small, picturesque community reminded us of Beaufort and Ocracoke on a smaller scale. 

We stopped to have some recommended clam chowder at Tony’s. It was good, but rich and a bit salty. 

Then we walked around the town and over to the pier where people were fishing. Pelicans waited patiently for handouts, presumably from fishermen cleaning their fish. 

Then we headed to the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. It was warm but very foggy. We drove to the end and looked at the river. People were fishing. You could hear but not see lots of noisy birds out on the water. We couldn’t hear any sounds of civilization other than people talking. 

shell mound

We walked along the Shell Mound trail and looked at the huge mound comprised of shells that native people had piled up over a period of 3,500 years. 

From there we connected to another trail, which had a boardwalk over a marsh. I stopped and watched the fiddler crabs slowly creep out of their holes and go about their business. They fed themselves with their small claw and also used it to roll up tiny sand balls. Their bigger claws, which the males use for courtship and fighting, seemed more of a hindrance. I even saw one crab use his small claw to move his big claw out of the way. They all seemed to be male. When I waved my hand, they scurried back for cover. They didn’t mind my talking, but movement signaled danger. It was a nice walk through hammocks, swamps and marshes. From there we drove to another section of the NWR and drove the 9-mile nature trail but didn’t see any wildlife. 

Then we drove a short distance to another section and walked the 1-mile trail partly along a boardwalk to the Suwannee river. 

We spent the next two days at a private campground in Largo and explored the St. Petersburg area. We took the painfully slow highway 19 from Chiefland past ugly, endless strip malls. So much traffic, so many traffic lights. It seemed like we hit them all. When we finally got to the RV park, they were full but recommended another one. I entered the address in the GPS, and when we arrived, there was no RV park in sight. I found their number and called to get directions. When we got there, a man directed us to a space and proceeded to “help” David back into the space by giving him confusing directions that would have had him run over the sewage discharge. He finally got in the space, and it started to rain lightly so we nixed our plans to go on a bike ride. After lunch we headed out to see something of the area, but it began raining hard. Since all the activities I had planned involved being outside, we turned around. We stopped at WalMart to get some superglue for the broken locker hinge. We also bought some nice, inexpensive citrus fruit and got back to the campground at 4:30. It was still raining. We’ve seen lots of RV and mobile home parks in this area where people are packed in close together. Many cater to 55 or older. Lots of retirees either live here year round or spend the winter down here. The wifi didn’t work at our site.

The next day was misty and drizzly all day and a bit cold, so we again decided not to bike. Our first stop was the Florida Botanical Gardens and Heritage Village, both in Pinewood Cultural Park in Largo. The botanical garden was quite nice and extensive with a wetlands/aquatic area, palms, herb garden, fruit trees and various other sections, also bridges, mosaics and benches. Some flowers were blooming, but I imagine in warmer seasons the gardens would be even more impressive. They were in the process of removing lights from the plants and structures that had made up their annual holiday light show. We’re sorry to have missed that. 

sock-making machine

Nearby, as part of the same complex, the Heritage Village showcases over 20 historic buildings that had been moved from other areas. Some buildings had interpreters. A doctor had lived in one place, and there were all kinds of instruments on display. Another house had a quilt display. There was a grocery and garage. David was amazed at the simplicity of a model-T truck (I think) engine. We looked in a log cabin and one or two buildings and left. It would have taken an hour or two more to see it all. We went out for lunch at the Crab Shack where I had the worst crabcake sandwich I’ve ever had. It was basically some kind of breading with crab flavoring. Fortunately David’s fried fish sandwich was okay. 

After that we went to the nearby Weedon Island Preserve and walked on two of their boardwalk trails through mangroves. It was so nice to step out of the busy, crowded city and into such a secluded, natural setting with ponds and wading birds. From an observation tower, we could see St. Petersburg in the distance. We spent a few minutes in the visitor’s center, which had interactive exhibits mostly geared toward kids. A family of raccoons ambled by when we returned to the truck. 

The Pier with its "Pyramid"

Next we went to downtown St. Petersburg, driving through brick streets in the historic Northeast section where each old house has distinctive, charming architecture and a nicely-landscaped yard. We looked at The Pier, which extends into huge Tampa Bay and 

then walked around Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum, a small, underwhelming but pleasant park along the shore. Downtown St. Petersburg is upscale with numerous shops and restaurants, nice houses and apartment buildings and a pink hotel/golf resort. It’s much more pleasant and less crowded then the endless sprawl surrounding it, but not stellar, from what we saw of it. We bought a bag of Florida pink grapefruit on our way back to the campground. After all, this is the “Sunshine State”, or so they say.

Where the Manatees Are

It was cold when we got to Florida but warmed up. You may think, like I did, that you have only to cross the border into Florida to find warm, sunny weather. We learned a number of years ago on the boat that you have to get at least to mid-Florida before it starts feeling warm in winter. Still, it was warmer than farther north and wasn’t raining. We drove past acres of pecan orchards in Georgia and arrived in Tallahassee mid-day.  Actually we were a bit out of town but our campsite had a lovely view of Lake Talquin. After setting up, we set off to see some sights. 

First we visited Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park, which has an extensive collection of camellias (that were in bloom), small ponds and paths that wind among big, old oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. We were lucky that the price was $6 per vehicle because in a few days, after January 1st, it was going up to $6 per person, which we would have considered too steep.

After that we visited Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park where a trail through the woods takes you past a couple Indian mounds. There is some basic information about the culture who built them. The mounds look like small, unremarkable hills. They were built around 1100-1200 AD for ceremonial or religious reasons. That night we ate our only dinner out at Barnacle Bills. Our dinners were good not great, although lots of people seemed to be enjoying huge mounds of oysters. Tallahassee seems big and busy.

The following day I had planned a bike ride, but it was too cold. So we set off to see more sights. First we visited Mission San Luis, which has an okay museum in a modern building and other historic mission buildings positioned about the grounds. We shivered as we watched the blacksmith make an iron nail. We quickly saw everything outside,

then headed to the Museum of Florida History where we spent a couple hours viewing the extensive exhibits. You could spend all day learning the history of Florida. It was interesting, but after awhile we were saturated. 

Our last visit that day was to Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park, which was disappointing and not worth the $3 fee. There was a monument and a few plaques about the battle and nothing much to look at, although it was neat to see a gnome’s home behind the fence (not on state property).

On our third and final day in Tallahassee, once again it was too cold in the morning to go biking, so we visited the 22-story Florida State Capitol. There wasn’t a guided tour, but we read the brochure, which described the building and some of the rooms. On the 22nd floor, you can see a great view of Tallahassee and some exhibits. 

The paintings by Christopher Still, who also painted murals in the Senate, were especially nice. 

Warm weather arrived in the afternoon, and we went to Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park. The springs themselves are warm (69^o), year round, so in winter, manatees arrive to enjoy the warmth. Manatees also flock to other locations with warm water in winter in Florida. We saw at least eight manatees swimming around, playing or sleeping in the idyllic setting. You could see them very clearly in the water, and they came close to the viewing platforms. I also saw a large gar and a school of fish that looked like catfish. We looked in the lodge, which has a smallish lobby with a painted ceiling. 

Then we took the park’s 45-minute, 3-mile river boat tour with Capt’n Bob, who did a great job explaining the ecology and history of the area. We saw lots of small alligators and birds in the cypress swamp. 

Some grass had gotten caught in the boat’s prop, and when we returned to the springs, a manatee came up and nibbled on it. 

After that we had a late picnic at San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park in St. Marks. There was a short interpretive trail through the park, which had been a fort on the St. Marks River. From there we drove to the end of St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge to look at the Gulf of Mexico and St. Marks lighthouse. 

Along the way vast saltwater marshes were dotted with lots of birds and alligators.