http://www.floridastateparks.org/oscarscherer/  (this is a good link to read in detail about what the park has to offer)

Kevin and I decided to take 4 days and go camping before he starts his new job. And since it was a holiday weekend the pickings were slim for a camp site. We found a site at Oscar Scherer and had heard from others that this was a nice place to camp. So after changing around my PTO time from work and all packed, down the road we went; off for a new adventure.

We got to our site and all set up by 2p on Wednesday.  The only complaint I have of the entire time we spent at this charming campground, was our site was way too narrow.  But that is my only complaint. Right away we were welcome by the campground hostess, Julie.  Extremely nice lady and she keep the place in tip top shape. She was also the last person we spoke to when she stop by to bid us goodbye.

On the way in we saw an outfitter called Silent Sports Outfitters. We decided to pay them a visit and see where the good paddling spots were.  Wow, these folks have lots and lots of kayak and paddle boards.  Kevin even found a great deal on a neoprene skirt.  Nice folks, we enjoyed talking to them and got directions to Tuttle beach. Then I asked the most important question of the day, “where is the closes Ice Cream shop”.  This question drew lots of laughter, but we got direction to 3 different Ice Cream shops and decided to try Bob’s, a new shop.  Well let’s just say we fell in love with Bob’s homemade Ice Cream…Yum in our Tums.  We made a visit to Bob’s everyday….of course we tried to work off the calories with all the biking and kayaking we were doing. But I have a feeling that I gained back a few of those pesky 20 lbs that I just lost….(good news, no weight gain…yeah)

Thanks to Hurricane Earl, Wednesday, Thursday and early Friday were nice and dry with very little humidity, the weather was beautiful.  After our visit to the outfitter and Bob’s we got on our bikes and went exploring. We found the nature center, the small lake, called the Osprey Lake. You can swim at this lake, but all around is warning of alligators….yikes. But over the weekend it was a popular spot.  We ran into a fellow who told us about the Legacy Trail, similar to the Pinellas Trail or Rails to Trail. The paved trail takes you to Sarasota or Venice, about 10 miles of trail. We took a short bike ride down the trail and vow to come back on Friday morning for a nice bike ride.

On the way back to camp, we decided to take a short bike ride down the Green Trail as we still had close to an hour of daylight left.  Wow what a good choose on our behalf. We got to see a gopher tortoise, several dragonflies and the beautiful Florida Scrub Jay. This inquisitive little bird is only found in Florida Scrub habitat and the Oscar Scherer State Park has set aside some acres just for these birds. There were two of them and they put on quite a show for us. One had a little twig in her mouth, which gave us the thought that they were getting a nest together. We really enjoyed watching these busy birds and took lots of pictures.  Needless to say we enjoyed this trail so much we vowed to come back Friday and forget about the Legacy trial. And so we did, three miles of Green Trail and several spots where the path was heavily sandy, Peggy does not bike well on sand…lol. And we got started too late so we did not see much wild life, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Thursday morning we hit the waterways. This location is great, you have several waterways to paddle on, creeks, rivers, Intercoastal and the Gulf.  We put our boats in at the boat launch by the ranger station and we were off to Turtle Beach, we had gotten directions from the outfitter the day before.  We headed right and down South Creek. Once we got under the Hwy 41 Bridge, Kevin announced that he forgot the GPS.  Knowing that Kevin sense of direction is not the greatest, I now have to pay attention.  When we came out from under the bridge we notice Channel Markers…great, we can easily find our way back. Our first marker number as 11, we paddled down the creek until we hit the Intercoastal. We immediately saw our next marker 27, we took a right and head 3 miles towards Turtle Beach.  Now we are not positive as to where the beach is, he just told us to look for a beach area, can’t miss it. These are usual the “famous last words”….lol. But we didn’t care; it was a great morning for a paddle.  We had a nice head wind and decent current to paddle against and we loved every stroke.  We paddle past several beautiful homes…I mean expensive beautiful homes.  We finally paddle up around some small mangrove island and saw some folks out paddle boarding, so we thought we catch up to them and ask if they heard of Turtle Beach. We lost sight of them, but looked to our left and saw an area with some boats hanging out.  Hmmm we wonder could this be our beach. Then we saw the paddle boarder, and guess who, the guide for the Outfitter we visited yesterday…lol. So here we all were paddle up to Turtle Beach. 

This was a beautiful beach looking over the Gulf and not that bad of a walk from where we left our yaks on the Intercoastal side.  The water was inviting and I did not hesitate taking a swim, even Kevin waded in.   We hung out enjoying a nice walk on the beach, had a snack and water. We even had a friend join us, a big green beautiful dragonfly. He hung on to Kevin’s finger and we had to coax him to leave go so we could get in our boats…lol. Turtle Beach was beautiful and definitely worth the paddle.  As we started to head back, we realized we had no idea what Channel Marker we were at…so we paddle out and Kevin took a picture so we would be able to find our way back…marker 41.

Our friend Sean and his 15 year son Torin joined us Friday evening and spent the rest for the weekend with us. Dean and Sammie come Saturday morning and spent the day. On Saturday evening we took a paddle before the sun set and saw two horn owl off in the distance sitting in a dead tree and the tree in by them had a big nest. They were just hooting away, but we did not have a camera with a zoom, so no good picture of them.  Sunday morning I got everyone up early and off on the trails before breakfast in order to see the wildlife. Sean and Torran were off looking for the Florida Scrub Jay and I just took a nice hike with hopes of seeing anything. Kev stayed at camp. While on my hike I was heading back towards camp and knew if I found the tree with the big nest then I would find the path back. Well there was the tree with the nest and two big beautiful bald eagles…I was ecstatic.  I just started snapping pictures and I got some great shots. What a wonderful morning.

All in all we had a wonderful time at this park and cannot wait to come back. Here is the list of critters we saw, in no particular order. Florida Scrub Jay, Golpher Tortoise, Rabbits, Armadillo, Sandpiper, Tree Frogs…heard them more than saw them, Horn Owls, Bald Eagles, Flounder, Dragon flies, Woodpeckers, Cardinals, several different types of herrons, white egrets and I cannot forget the bugs, Walking Sticks and the Orb Spider…yikes. These are harmless spiders, but if you now me, I hate spiders. So on Thursday morning we discovered that an Orb Spider spin a web and was hanging around of f our trailer. I promised Kevin I would not kill it and allow it to stay until Sean and his son showed up on Friday.  We knew they would get a kick out of it and move it to a safer area. We named him Bob and left him be. But when we woke up on Friday morning Bob was no longer…not sure if he became breakfast for someone or if he packed up and left.  Needless to say, I was happy to see him gone.

 We were a little surprise on the short sites, but happy that they were wide. The only problem with our site was that the utility posts were almost in the middle of the back of the lot…the trailer could not hide them. I ended up putting our trash can there to try to hide the ugly site, it help some. But we were only there for the weekend, so we can put with it.

 We just about got all set up when Reed, Sandy and their friend stopped by for a quick visit and stated that they were heading to the pool if we wanted to join. But we wanted to get the site set up on passed on the offer…good thing they later told us that the water was like bath water and did not stay long. They threw their boats in for a before dinner paddle instead.

 Kevin and I got the site set up and took off on our bikes for a long bike ride, checking out the campgrounds. It was a nice bike ride and when got back we were a soaking wet from the sweat. The one thing we did not give consideration of was the heat…and dang it was hot. Once we got back from the bike ride, I collected Sammie from Grandpa’s trailer and we headed for the air conditioned trailer and took a little nap.

Around 6pm, I decided the already cooked ribs I brought for dinner could be heated up over the fire. Kevin and Dean got a fire going while I started to prepare dinner. Dinner was wonderful and the evening was beautiful. We did have busy and noisy neighbors…lots of kids…but they settled in early. We had a nice fire, but keep moving our seats away as it was too hot to even enjoy one. Reed, Sandy and Donna stopped by, and Donna sat on the picnic bench right on top of a mosquito coil that I had moved from the ground after dinner.  She did not see it but boy did she feel it. So needless to say this became a joke for the rest of the weekend. I am glad to report there was no injury. We all made plans to meet up for a morning paddle, except Sammie and Grandpa they were going to stay behind.

There are two places to put in you boat, one a couple spots down from where we camp and the main one by the pool. The one by the pool was closer for the other group to put in. Kev and I put in by our campsite and there was a big gator hanging around in the general area, about 20’ feet or so from where we put in. So I grabbed my camera and took aim, snap…huh, no battery, no disk…hmmm. Setting back on my computer desk at home was the battery and disk; so no picture of the kayak trip. So we paddled up to meet the group and that is where we met Paul. Paul was waiting to meet up with a group, Big D, or Don Thompson. We had just talked to Don and he said that he had cancelled the trip since no-one signed up. We told Paul this and he went and called Don who felt terrible that he missed Paul sign up for this trip. So we invited Paul to join us on our paddle. Paul was very new at kayaking and very appreciative of the offer. So with our new friend off we went.

The Hillsborough River is a beautiful river to paddle; with lots of wild life to enjoy and the water was so cool. The water level was up due to lots of rain we have been having and we had a nice current that made the paddle easy but we had to account for the fact that we had to paddle against the current going back. Everyone in the group was newbie at kayaking, except Kev and me so we keep on eye on the rest of the group. We paddled about an hour when we decided we needed to land somewhere take a break and head back. The river was not providing many spots to stop so I paddled a little ahead looking for a landing spot. I looked to my left, about 11o’clock from the bow of my boat was big gator…he was about 10’ away from me and swimming the same direction. He realized that I was there and quickly took off under water, then came back up about 5’ later, swimming in a straight line, so he was still 10’ feet off my bow and to the left, again he realized I was there and shot back down in the water, just to emerge again, he did this about 4 times. I finally hollered over to him to swim elsewhere as he was making me quite nervous. He must have understood me as he did not pop back up…lol. I finally found a decent place to land and we all took about a 40 minute break and stretch. Back to our landing spot, we got out of the yaks and waded knee deep in the cool water, splashing the cold water on our hot bodies to cool down…did I mention how hot it was…dang. On the water we had a nice breeze, but once we stopped the heat hit us.

 All in all we really enjoyed this park and will be back again. The park offers a beautiful river to paddle, a huge pool to swim, lots of trails to hike and bike.

Sammie

Gandy Group

About eight of us decided to get together and go for a paddle.  Gandy was the choosen spot and I was surprise at how many have not paddle the Gandy area. So this was new paddle area for most of the group.

The group consist of:  Judi & Roy, Bob & Sandra, Sue, Dan, Katie & Poochie and myself. Once all boats were unload, cars parked and water guns loaded, we were off for a morning of fun at about 830a. 

Katie and Poochie

The weather was great, we had a nice breeze…which helped to keep the heat off of us. The water was inviting with just a little chop. The plan was just do a morning paddle and head towards and hopefully land on xmas island. I have only been there once, maybe twice. Once for sure from the Weedon Island and I think Kevin, Sean and I landed there from the Gandy side.

We paddled, chatted and occasionally the water guns came out. Everyone was under strict orders to not squirt Poochie, (Katies Yorkie). he just does not appreciate being squirted. The occasional blast of water that made it my way felt good. Everyone was enjoying the nonchalant paddle. We were in no hurry to get anywhere.  We saw about 3 dolphins that were feeding a little distance from us and we followed them for quite some time. Lots of sting rays. Katie and I had one swim between our boats for a few minutes…it was funny, like he was in on the conversation.  Katie saw a shark. And on the way back, I saw a fin just a few feet from her boat. I am still not sure if it was a dolphin or shark. Up in the trees we saw several brown Pelicans just hanging out and we saw quite a few Ospreys fishing for their breakfast.

We went exploring and ended up on part of the Weedon Island trail.  So we took a little break, this means the water guns came back out. Then somehow Judie and Sandra’s rudders locked up. Both trying to paddle different directions and going no where…lol. Katie yelled at me at me to come back and take a picture, but before I could Bob was able to get them apart.

We paddled a little bit further then took about a half hour break in swallow water to get in the water and relaxed. We never made it to xmas Island but noone cared. We headed back to our cars and landed on Gandy Beach about 11:30 and ran into our Sweetwater friend Russel. He was taking someone out for lessons, so it was a quite how ya doing.  We loaded the boats and headed for Kuanas for lunch and cold bowl of water for Poochie. We appreciated the waitress for allowing us to sit at the outside tables with Poochie.

Poochie

A wonderful morning when you have a great bunch of friends, cooperating weather and beautiful water all ingredients for an awesome paddle…the only thing missing to make for a perfect morning was my Kevin.

Kevin

There are several things that are so cool about Fort DeSoto, but my favorite is the wild life. So many different types of birds: woodpeckers, brown pelicans, herrons, ergrets, roseata spoonbills  and in the winter months white pelicans…just to name a few.

When the tide is out, the birds seem to come out in groves. We had two roseata spoonbills right out by our campsite having dinner. They are so beautiful.

When the tide is in different wild life comes out. Saturday morning we had a Manatee swimming and munching on the sea grass right out by our campsite. Several different sitings of Dolphins, the guys had a baby Dolphin swimming by them.  The baby was curious and tried to swim over to their boats and the mommy would not allow it, she intercepted the baby and steered the baby away for the boats….too cool.

Then comes night time…racoons…lol. You have to remember to put away all food or anything that might interest these scavengers. I learned my lesson the hard way.  They left foot prints on Kevin’s kayak, but we did not leave them anything to eat, so they moved on to terriorized others.

Great beaches, biking/walking trails and great camping sites are other great reasons to visit Fort Desoto.

If you want to paddle or canoe a nice river, I would highly recommend the Silver River. There is so much wild life to see, lots of gators, birds of all kinds, monkeys…yes I said monkeys, wild hogs and since the river is beautiful and clear, you will see lots of fish.  This river is too beautiful to miss.

Here is a link to more information and directions.

http://www.clubkayak.com/cfkt/trips/silver_river.html

If the statement “lots of gators’ makes you a bit nervous, I would recommend Homosassa River. Not so many gators, at least I have not seen them in the area we paddle, but lots of Manatees. Just paddle down to the Homasassa Spring State Park. If you sit still long enough one might come over to you and check you out. They are very curious creatures. 

Here is a link. 

http://www.clubkayak.com/cfkt/trips/homosassa_river.html

If beach is more your style, we were just at Sand Key doing a triathon and the beach is beautiful and the water is gorgeous.  Bring coins for the parking meters and be prepared to walk a little distance to get to the beach. 

Here is a link with more information.

http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/15_Sand_Key.htm

Whatever you decide to do relax, enjoy, keep your eye on the weather and most of all be safe.

Have a great holiday weekend!

We spent a weekend there about a year and a half ago, but since it is about a 3 hour drive, this time Kevin and I decided to go up for 4 days. The property is just that, a piece of land, no electric, no water. The property is also by the Suwannee, Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and Fanning springs. So lots to do if so choose to leave the property.

Kevin and I left on Thursday around 8am and drove to the Walmart at Chiefland, where we brought grocery’s and filled up the cooler with ice. Then headed for the property, which was pretty easy to find in the daylight. Last time we arrived in the dark and wow what a trip finding the place, since you are on a dirt road with no lights. Sean and his 14 year old son Torin were due to join us on Friday around 6p for the rest of the weekend.

Once we figured out where we wanted to set up, tent city was in progress. We set up our sleeping quarters, storage shed, privy shed, kitchen and dining room. Next was getting the fire wood out, stacked and fire going.  After a much needed break, I got our supper together, Pork chops and a bag of frozen veg/potato mix…yum.  It was a pretty decent day, little over cast, but the night brought out the stars and what a beautiful night…if you stayed by the fire. OH MY was it COLD!!!  Not quite sure how cold during the night it got, but around 8 the next morning I check the thermostat in my car and it was 43 degrees…Brrrrr

After lots of hot coffee and nice breakfast, we head out for a day of site seeing. We wanted to find a good spot to where the four of us could go kayak on Saturday, but the rivers were high, around 20feet at the Suwannee and around 17 feet at Santa Fe and flowing extremely fast. We did not think it be wise to take Torin out on these rivers. So we decided to go to the Ichetucknee, since we heard so much about it. This is a state park and cost $5 per person to launch your boat, this might be an option. So we walked around and checked out the area, the river was beautiful, and the park was much smaller than I thought it would be, but nice.

We left and drove back the way we came since I needed to take picture of the miniature horses with their babies, which I stopped in the middle of the road to do…I still don’t get what Kevin was so worried about, there not that much traffic on that road…hazard lights…please. Then down the road a bit were the beautiful Mules we saw. I have never seen a mule before and these ones were absolutely gorgeous. All day, we saw lots of animals and babies; it was a very fruitful spring. We saw goats, horses, miniature horses, mules, burros, deer, wild hogs, chickens, wild turkey, white geese, pileated woodpeckers, cardinals and of course cows, even the French white Charolais cow.  At least we did not see any more coral snakes like we did last time we were there and the camel down the street was not there, although we heard him that morning.

We had a great day running around the country side and ended back up at the Walmart looking for a new loo since we kinda broke ours, but unable to find one we were able to work with what we had for the weekend. Then we saw a small carnival, they had camel rides…so guess the camel down the street had a gig for the weekend. On the way back we stopped at a bar-b-que place called Huckleberry’s Bar-B-Que, just a little dive, but the rib sandwich was delicious—a must if you are every up that way.

After lunch it was back to the property for a nap in my recliner in the beautiful weather with the sun hitting on me…felt so goodJ… and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. The guys showed up at about 630p and story of how they got a speeding ticket…bum. But not to let the ticket ruin the weekend, we quickly got them set up and we all were sitting down to a nice hot bowl of Chicken Barley Chili soup, then off to the camp fire to relax and enjoy another beautiful night. But again we had to stay by the fire since it got COLD again. It was so cold that during the night I was concern that my nose was going to get frost bite…I don’t remember my nose ever being so cold!!

I woke up Saturday around 730a and found Torin up and sitting around the fire ring wrapped in a blanket; he had been up for about 15 mins. and was freezing. (he had two sleeping bags and we are all still wondering how he got so cold).  So he and I quickly started a nice blazing campfire to get us warm. I put on coffee and hot chocolate…yum.

After breakfast the work started. See the last time we stayed we burned up all the firewood and left none for the next group…we bad. So time to replenish the wood; Kevin with chain saw in hand started cutting up logs with trees or large branches that were lying around. Sean and Torin had the pleasure of carrying these back to the campfire ring and neatly stacking the logs. Poor Torin, got a D and F on his report card, so they guys figure he needed a good work out and they gave him one. After cleaning up the camp and doing some homework, I felt the need to help out when Kevin decided to cut down a tree. All was going well until I was struggling a little to move a huge branch, I thought I had it under control, when my wonderful man asked Torin to help me, which was ok, but he had to stay “help her, after all she is old enough to be your grandmother”. Thanks honey, I really needed to be reminded about my age…remember pay back is hell!!!!

Work was completed and firewood all stacked ( looked like a small hill) , we had a short discussion and we decided to just hang out on the property. So out came the guns….boys need to have their fun!!  Kevin felt that I needed to shoot his gun, since I asked him on Thursday night what I had to do to shoot it if he was in trouble.  So with his gun in hand and a target to aim at…boom…not bang….boom, dang that gun is big and loud…way too much gun for me…I think it is a 44. Then I shot the 22 rifle and that was as much fun as this gal needed.  So I sat and watch the guys, mostly Torin. He is getting to be a pretty good aim. Once the target practice was over, off to my favorite recliner for a short read and longer nap…boy that sun felt good. Torin went out on an adventure and came back with fossils of sea urchins, interesting stuff.

Our trip was down to one more night of campfire, and what a beauty it was. We sat up later than normal and enjoyed each others company. Then once we were sleepy enough to brave the cold, we left the campfire and headed for bed. Sean and Torin heard a bobcat shortly after they went to bed, off in the distance. I had my earplugs in so I did not hear the scream. I got a chance to hear the bobcat the last time we were here and the bobcat was very close. They scream sounds like a woman screaming and make your hair stand up when you hear it. I sent Kevin to get his gun out of the Truck, when the 2^nd scream was heard the bobcat seemed much closer. Kevin flashed his headlights on his truck and that was the end of the bobcat.

Sometime during the night the rain started. It was not a heavy rain, and it would rain on and off during the night. The next morning we got the fire going, coffee in hand, sitting around enjoying the fire and the rain started again. We all moved inside the screened dinning room, then the rain would stop, as soon as we thought to move out by the fire again it would start back up, it stop long enough to get a nice breakfast together. Then the rain started and again and was pretty constant. The screen dinning room turned out not to be very waterproof, we were getting wet so we took off for the kitchen area. The kitchen area is two poles holding up a tarp with around 6 tie downs and the least expensive of all our equipment and the only thing that kept us dry…lol.

We got a break in the rain and we quickly took camp down. Everything would have to go home wet. Dang, I hate packing up with everything wet; now we have to put the tents up when we get home to let them dry…geez. Oh well you cannot dictate to mother-nature.

With everything packed up and double check to be sure nothing was left behind and all trash was up, it was time to give hugs and say goodbye to Sean and Torin and down the road we went. We got a far as Fanning springs, we both saw Huckleberry’s Bar-B-Que and we just had to pull in, once inside we called Sean, who was behind us in traffic and had him stop and have lunch with us…dang the food here is good!!!  Hugs and good-byes again and home we came. We had another wonderful successful trip. Charleston, SC is next…

Kevin and I packed up and with our beautiful washed and waxed trailer hooked on to the back of the truck and our buddy Sean (who helped with the waxing) along; we were off to this sweet park in Estero, Florida. We were meeting up with several other Kayakers for the weekend. We got there and set up and help those coming in behind us. Kevin and I took off on our bikes for some site seeing. The park has a nice picnic and playground area, as well as a very nice boat ramp. The park is also the site of the Koreshan Unity Settlement…more on this later. 

 The day started off very hot, but the weather soon changed late on Friday, when it started raining and continued on and off until around noon on Saturday. Everyone was tent camping except Kevin and I and most of them got soaked from the rain. Sean was very proud of his older tent, which held up beautifully in the rain. He stayed nice and dry. Only Judy and Roy decided to call it quits. They had no sooner left when the rain stopped. Everyone grabbed their yaks and head for the water. It was still quite windy so we did not head out to the Mound as we wanted to do; instead we went the other direction and stayed on the river. What a beautiful river to paddle; not very wide and in some spots just room for one yak at a time.

 Saturday night the weather turned cold, it was refreshing and enjoyable to sit around the campfire. We even had a young raccoon run though the campsite and scared the heck out of me, and when I scream I scared the poor little thing so bad it ran right into one of the kayaks and hit its head. The rest of the Kayakers took off and went for a hike on the natural trail in the dark.  Sean took off to find them and hid in the bushes to jump out to scare them…but instead he jumped out and fell…lol.  On Sunday the other kayakers took off for a morning paddle, then came back and slowly packed up, said their good byes and before long it were just us three.

Sean and I walked the nature trail back to the historical site. The Koreshan’s settled in Estero back in the late 1800s. Here is a link telling you all about this strange cult: http://koreshan.mwweb.org/.  And at the historical site they have some of the same buildings and in the main building they have a video you can sit and watch. As Sean and I watched and learned about this settlement, we kept turning to one another in disbelief. It is amazing that someone with a strange belief can actually find people to give up everything they have and known just to follow this person to parts unknown.  However, it was very interesting and at least the leader believed in Women’s rights, which was still unheard of back in those days.

 All in all it was a wonderful relaxing four days. This is where we are spending our xmas vacation and are looking forward to staying 10 days at this park. There are lots around to do. If every in this neck of the woods this is a must to visit for a day or set up camp and stay awhile.

http://s962.photobucket.com/albums/ae108/geezlouise39/?action=view&current=6b53d9fe.pbw

We finally made it to Tennessee. Two days drive up, three days camping, two days drive back. We left at 5am on Thursday the 13^th of August and landed on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN at 530pm. We stayed at a very nice hotel, newly built and on top of a mountain. After a refreshing night of rest, we were on the road at 630am for Norris Dam State Park, Lake City, TN and we arrived at our campsite at 930a. 

 We stayed at the west campground which had about 50 campsites. Trailers set up in the middle and tents around the parameter of the campground. This was a very clean, quiet campground with a nice restroom facility and a nice playground for the kids. There is also an east campground that we were not impressed with— not shady, and they also have several cottages in all different sizes. The campground was on top the mountain with the beautiful lake, Norris Dam and Clinch River below us. 

We had two reasons to go to Tennessee, we delivered the kayak that Kev built to the owner, and we love to go to Tennessee. The fellow that we were delivering the boat to, also name Kevin, come later on Friday to get his boat. I did not think he would ever stop smiling. Nice young fellow who works two part time jobs and goes to college full time. After we took several pictures of Kevin, unwrapping his boat and loading on his car—it looks so cute on top his car—we made a date to go out paddling the next day

We were all set up, had to run to town to get groceries, supper done, showers taken and we were kicking back by the camp fire. When I notice Kev was looking out around us and he looked at me and ask, “are those lightening bugs?” I looked around and sure enough there they were; not a lot of them, just one here and there. Having been raised in Ohio I was very familiar with lightening bugs, and told Kev that yes they were. Then I just looked at him and saw a 53 year old man turn into a 10 year old boy. I asked him if he had ever seen one before and he was like no, this was the first time he had ever seen them. It was fun to watch him, he seemed ecstatic. I wish I could have caught one for him.

On Saturday morning we took off for a morning paddle around the lake…well part of the lake, it has 900 square miles of shore line. We found a quaint little fishing spot where we launched from. We had to carry the boats down a steep hill and back up, but it was worth it. The lake is clear and beautiful. There was boat traffic but nothing too bad. We paddle 5 miles that morning, and stopped for about an hour to swim. We realized that it is pretty difficult to find a decent landing spot. You were either in muck or rocks. But we finally found a pretty cool spot to get out. Kevin actually went swimming, something he is not that fond of. I convince him there was nothing in the water that could eat him…lol.

Around 5p we were in the water again, this time our new friend Kevin joined us. We took lots of pictures of Kevin in his new boat. This was Kevin’s first paddle in his new boat and it was a nice long paddle of 6 miles around Norris Dam. We noticed that there were only one other kayak on the lake which was a tandem, and I found this surprising since it is such a beautiful lake to be on. The boaters out on the lake appeared to be looking at us as if we were from Mars, so we are not sure if they just were not familiar with Sea Kayakers on the lake or if they could not believe that Kev had enough guts to paddle a Florida Gator boat on their lake….

Sunday we spent playing tourist. Right by Norris Dam is Weir dam, which was very pretty and poplar place for the locals to come out and fish. In the same area was the Rice Grist Mill and Crosby Threshing Barn, where Kevin was in heaven looking at all the antique tools and watching the how the mill wheel works. Lenoir Museum displays several pioneer artifacts from the area that Mr. & Mrs. Lenoir spent a life-time collecting. Then our last stop was the Museum of Appalachia, which is set up to display how a community looked and how it worked. They call it a Living Mountain Village, and had lots of animals hanging around. I was thrilled with the peacocks and roosters that were running around. A very nice day of visiting the community; hot and tired we headed back to our camp.

We were pretty surprise by the lack of birds around the lake, we thought that we would see lots,  we heard a hawk, but never saw it. Around the campsite there were several different types of birds going from tree to tree, Deers that popped out from the bushes every now and then, there were raccoons that came out at night and played in people’s trash, a feral cat that came out every evening looking for food, and squirrels, which refused to come to Kevin and get a peanut. He got so upset with him that he just scattered them around for the birds and raccoons to get. I tried to explain to him that the squirrels in Tennessee are not as friendly to humans as they are considered dinner here…lol. We saw lots of butterflies, a few horseflies, bees of all shapes and sizes, and lightening bugs; what we did not have were mosquitoes or noseeums. One of our fellow campers said that he camps there year around and never gets sees biting bugs. It was a pleasant change to be sitting out early in the day and late at night and not getting bug bites. Then each night we had the cicadas singing us to sleep…well they put Kevin to sleep, once I put my earplugs in I could not hear their annoying noise.

We left the following Monday around 8a, with promises to come back for a longer stay. We decided to drive till about 5p, then get a hotel room. We landed in Lake City, Florida…hahaha, we went from one Lake City to another. I got Kevin to go swimming again by telling him they had a heated pool, well I thought it was heated when I put my toe in…must had been a warm spot…lol.  He finally got a little swim in before he got out of the cold pool on into the hot sauna. After a restful night sleep we headed home and landed at my doorstep around 1230p. Another wonderful trip in, now it is time to concentrate on our trip in October.

Our destination was Salt Springs; our fearless leader Michael took a right into a small river that twisted us back toward the spring. Along the way we had a few white egrets hanging out in the shallow water, then a big blue heron decided to land and got a little too close to one of the big whites. No fight broke out, but the egret decided to leave the area. We also had several Osprey diving in to get the breakfast or lunch.

This was a nice paddle and we got to meet new friends. Margaret and her daughter Christine, this was there first Kayak paddle. Ed and Henrietta, this was the 2nd time out for her, but Ed looked like he had been paddling some. Scott, Kevin’s boss for HSN, it was his first time out with us, but has paddle some and very comfortable in the water. Dan was new to us and had paddled a few times with Bill Jackson’s group and he had a friend with him, and I hate to admit that I did not get his name. I also did not get the Grandfather and Grandson’s name that joined us. There were two other ladies that I had meant before but not that familiar with, Lynn and Karen. I loved Lynn’s hat and went out after the paddle and got one—they are called Sun-Day. There were also old paddling buddies we had not seen for awhile, Judy and Roy, Craig, and Carol. Unfortunately, once we got back to the spot that was suppose to be open for us to kayak back to the spring, the tide was too low for us to do so. Then Scott found a little area that we were able to paddle up to where there was a small spring. It was very pretty paddling back to it, but very tight and we had to go single file. And would you believe I forgot to take any pictures once I got back there.

Our Leader Michael

 

 

We paddled back to Brasher Park to eat lunch, when we noticed two dogs at the tip of some mangroves and they looked like they were lost and did not know how to get back where they came from. Of course we had now idea where or how they got in their predicament. Kevin decided to paddle over to see if he could figure out if he could see their owners on the other side. When there were no-one around he paddle back to get pen and paper to write down their tag numbers and someone who could see the tags…print was too small. So off went Scott and Kevin to save the dogs, a very cute beagle and his buddy part wolf. The owner’s phone number was on the dogs tag and Kevin was able to reach her right away. She was on her way home from vacation, about 30 minutes out and told Kevin that she had a couple staying at the house to dog watch and she would call them. She also told Kevin the part-wolf would follow the beagle anywhere. So Scott put the beagle in his sit on top with him, Kevin towed them back to shore and the part-wolf followed swimming behind them Another fellow from our group thought he help out and paddled out to them, but this scared the part-wolf, who immediately turned around and went back to the mangroves. We got the beagle to shore and tied up; he received lots of attention, food and water. The guys went back to see if they could get the other dog to come with them. At this point here came the dog watchers. She came by bike and he came by boat, when he could not get the part-wolf to come to him, Kevin paddled the beagle over to him. The part-wolf then followed them home via the mangroves, which we found out was actually the owners back yard. I bet that these two will not be invited back to dog sit.

We plan to go back some day, but we will definitely be sure the tide will be on our side.

The welcoming committee!

My dear friend for Ohio, JoAnn, came for a visit and while she was here I took her to the park for a late Saturday morning walk. The park in about 5 minutes from my house, unfortunately I do not visit often. However, my baby brother lives right around the corner and he takes his grandbabies there quite often. So if you need to know something about Sawgrass Park, like where are the gators hiding, he is the one to ask.

 JoAnn and I spent several minutes at the observation tower where a big soft shell turtle was putting on quite a show for us…I think he was trying to get us to feed him. A little later another showed up just as big.

But since she had never seen an alligator and I was unable to see any myself at the park, I placed a call to my brother…where are the gators??  Well, come to find out there was a female about to lay eggs at marker 5, if we were going to see one that is where we needed to go. 

So off we went. Just as he said, there she was lying beside the boardwalk at marker 5. But she had already laid her eggs and had a big mound beside the tree and she was standing guard. She was a beautiful gator, about 5 to 6 foot and was not paying much attention to us. We took pictures and just stood and admired her. Others walking by would stop and look. One young boy about 7 or 8 with his grandparents, spit twice at the gator and even though he was able to hit her she paid no attention. After the second spit and dirty looks from me and my friend, granny told the kid that the gator did not care and they moved on. What a way to teach the child about respect for nature… 

Momma Gator

We were just about to leave when JoAnn saw this big turtle coming out from under the boardwalk heading for the nice mound the gator was protecting. Well knowing if the turtle stayed on his course there was going to an extremely upset gator. I got myself in position to take a picture. A couple came by and stayed to observe the action. Up the mound the turtle went, and just as he reached the top, momma gator took off and chomped down. She did not get the turtle just right, so he went flying though the air, where he landed none of us saw, so we were not sure if he had life threatening injuries or not.

Turtle soup anyone?

Momma gators decided to just lay right there on the mound and dare the turtle or anyone else to try and get her eggs.  After seeing how swift and vicious she could be I know I wanted nothing to do with her eggs…lol. However, the young couple that stopped to watch with us, he decide he wanted to make her move again and was shaking the bush beside her, until my friend and I told him to leave her alone. His girlfriend grabbed his arm and took him down the walkway. People can be so ignorant!!

Protective Momma

 This was the highlife of my friend’s trip and she could not wait to get home to tell her eleven year old grandson. 

 If you every get the chance take a walk around Sawgrass Lake Park, and enjoy!!