Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

Our last stop in Florida this year was at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, located in Santa Rosa Beach, ten miles east of Destin on the Panhandle.

This guy, the man who loves water and a shoreline,

had done his research well. Topsail is a beautiful park with a fantastic campground

with a short bike ride or convenient tram ride to a beautiful stretch of beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

We stayed there four nights. Paul wanted to try some shore fishing.

That's him out there throwing a cast. I took the picture with my phone. I, of course, was very supportive, as usual, and cheered him on in his efforts.

Actually, I'm knitting while in that chair. I did glance up occasionally to be certain he hadn't been taken under by a shark. It was the least I could do.

We found a great seafood market and so continued with our promise to each other to eat seafood daily while we were still on the coast.

Shrimp on the grill

is our obvious favorite.

Amberjack was available during our stay there. Excellent.

It was so good, we grilled some again the next night!

I could continue on this seafood diet. Even Paul, who loves his steak, didn't miss red meat.

The weather was perfect during our time there with moderate temperatures and light breezes. Our plants were happy with their new location.

We enjoyed our "Florida campfires" each evening.

Thanks for finding this place, Paul!

I'll come back and stay here anytime! Good bye, Florida! It's been a great winter.

St. George Island State Park

We moved from O'Leno State Park to St. George Island State Park on April 3rd. Paul has wanted to stay at this park since we discovered it four years ago on our first return trip home.

St. George is a barrier island off the Florida Panhandle near Apalachicola and is connected to the mainland by a four mile long bridge.

The state park occupies nine miles on the east end of the island, providing miles of undeveloped beaches.

We had a great camping spot for our five night stay.

Our goals for our stay here included spending time on the beach

while doing a little shore fishing

and enjoying the solitude

while watching the birds, both small

and large.

The Apalachicola area is known for its shrimp boats and oyster boats. We promised ourselves we would eat seafood every day. And, we did!

Nothing fancy involved, just a little olive oil and a little seasoning and onto the grill it went.

This is grouper.

Sometimes we sautéed our shrimp,

and sometimes we grilled them.

I even convinced Paul to try sautéed oysters and he really liked them!

We did have to try red snapper and one more piece of grouper before we left.

It was all so good. We found two fish markets we really liked, one in Eastpoint and one in Apalachicola. We'll be back again, trust me!

This past week was exactly what we would talk about doing together as we planned our retirement: travel in our camper, see the country and shop locally to enjoy the foods of the region.

I'll talk to you soon.

O'Leno State Park - High Springs, Florida

O'Leno State Park was our first stop on our return home after pulling up stakes in Venice.

We love Camp Venice Retreat, but we were happy to get back to "real Florida" and stay in a state park.

The back seat of the truck is dedicated to plants as we try to bring home our collection of plants accumulated during the last three months spent in southwestern Florida. We had a lovely campsite looking out into the woods. At night, there were so many fireflies it appeared as if someone had strung Christmas lights throughout the park. We didn't have the right camera equipment to capture the sight. Bummer, because it was really amazing.

We spent one full day and two nights in the park. Yesterday morning was occupied with problems back home with the house. Thankfully, Tom and Jayne came to our rescue and helped us through the situation. Let's just say, "you never miss the water 'til the well runs dry." We'll have some repair work to do when we get home, but everything is safe until our return. Thank heavens for family!!!

After we spent the morning on the phone, we went for a hike. There is a swing bridge that crosses the Santa Fe River, which runs through the park.

Most of the structures in the park were built by the CCC. There used to be a town where the park is located. The town was originally named Keno, after the popular gambling game.

In the 1800's, "ecclesiastical influences" pressured the town to change the name from Keno to Leno. Clever. Then, in the late 1800's the railroad passed the town by and it died away. Over time, the spot became known as "Old Leno."  As the southern dialect is known to elide their consonants, old Leno became "O'Leno" and therefore the park bears that name. I love that kind of stuff. 

And, we love our hikes in the woods. And, a beautiful hike it was.

The trail followed the river.

Hiking in state parks gives us an idea of the original native habitat. Okay, so we're tree huggers.

We did a swamp walk in the Everglades, but there is no way I would stick a toe in the water here!

Can you see the big turtles on the log in the following picture? I've never seen so many in one hike.

What is probably of most significance in the park is that the Sante Fe River drops into a "sink" and disappears underground for three miles.

This is the spot. Behind this pond, no water.

I expected a tumbling waterfall into the ground like Devil's Kettle on the North Shore.

But, Paul reminded me there is very little elevation change in the entire state.

Even if there were no rapids, it was still beautiful!

Except for one thing, it was unbelievably warm yesterday. I look forward to wearing a sweatshirt!

We're now on the Florida Panhandle for ten days. Main goal? Seafood consumption. 

We'll talk to you soon. 

The Caravan Heads North

Tomorrow we leave Venice and start our adventure back to Minnesota.
Gas prices have risen since we got down here. Paul won't let me drive when we are towing Bauxite Betsy.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.

It's going to be slow, but we'll get there. Talk to you soon.

Marching Along

Another week or two have slipped away and we have managed to keep busy, you know, doing stuff.

Although, we didn't capture EVERYTHING in pictures, we did catch a few things, such as our rib meal we cooked up here at the campsite.

We went out on a canoe trip with people from our campground on the Myakka River, which is adjacent to this piece of property we call home.

It's a lazy river and we meandered for 3 1/2 miles and then back again.

We slid quietly past a few alligators that day.

One day, we bopped around Venice with Beth and Gary. We also celebrated Gary's completion of radiation treatments with a great party at their house. (No pictures, sorry!)

We went to a Twins game

at the Rays' stadium in Port Charlotte.

  We love spring training games. Paul likes being able to be so close to the action.

And, I like the Philly Cheese Steaks!

We were there with the McDougall clan when Keith and Lu were in town. It was so fun to visit with them!!!

We went to the Englewood Music Festival with Jim and Mary and had a really fun time watching people and listening to music. Here's Jim and me catching the view right by the stage.

The last act was a Motown review and we knew all the words!

Most nights, you'll find Paul and me sitting around our Florida "campfire."

We're enjoying our time, but we are talking about our trip home. It will be here before we know it! I suppose we'd better think about those taxes!