Georgia Camping

Between the Kennedy Space Center and discovering St. Augustine we had a whirlwind couple of days with a lot crammed in. It sure felt good to kick it down a notch and have last night and today be all about the journey and the camping. We were the only people in the campground last night and we very much appreciated the solitude. We were seriously thinking about going for an evening swim, but when the ranger came by to collect our fees he advised against it. Or how he put it was, "It's probably not a good idea, we have a couple of baby gators that have wondered in." Okay, enough said that worked for me! Instead we thoroughly enjoyed coffee on the lakeside swing and taking an early morning walk next to the lily pads. We continued our journey sticking to the Georgia backroads until we reached Augusta. Our plan was to bike along the "river-walk" which sounded great on paper. In reality, we found Augusta to be a bit mundane and not very charming at all. It's entirely possible that we missed the quaint part, but mostly it seemed like Augusta was just one big strip mall sprawl with a couple of downtown blocks. The mercury was really rising by now and a picnic lunch in 97 deg weather next to the unimpressive river was no longer appealing. We opted instead for salads in an air conditioned cafe. We continued our drive on the backroads enjoying the groves of stately pecan trees. Several years ago, we followed this same route, but on the South Carolina side of the river. This side seems more developed. After checking out several state campgrounds, we settled on Bobby Brown State Park. As luck would have it we have another campsite right on the lake, but this time there are no gators. It was still in the high 90's and thick with humidity, (To my Nevada City family and friends, sorry to be whining about the heat when you've had rain, hail and tornadoes!) so we spent the next several hours floating in the lake trying to get cooled off. As I write this, at 8:30 pm, its a nice 85 deg. with not a lick of breeze. The sunset on the lake and the peacefulness of another quiet campground does the soul good. Today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bobby Brown Stare Park

The Fountain of Youth - We Made It!

After our whirlwind tour yesterday, we were a bit pokey heading out this morning. Looks like we might need a taste from the Fountain of Youth waters none too soon! Anastasia State Park has a beautiful campground and we'd love to come back to spend a little more time. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the beach. We did however have time for a tour at the Whetstone Chocolate factory. Priorities, priorities. We've done lots of other chocolate tours on our travels, but this one was my favorite. We had a very engaging tour guide named Chauncey, who is also a local pastor. He was quite knowledgeable on chocolate and what I especially liked was the detailed history he provided. There were quite a few visual aids and lots of chocolate sampling too. Ned, Mr. Chocolatier, wasn't quite as easily bribed by chocolate as I was, but he thought it was a pretty good tour as well. Turns out they don't roast their own cocoa beans, the mark of a true chocolate maker. Nonetheless, they had some pretty darn good samples! Next on the agenda was riding our bikes thru town and visiting the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest fort in the US. The highlight for us here was seeing the beautiful ornately decorated bronze cannons some of them still in working condition. After a little more bike riding we finally made it to The Fountain of Youth Park, a mere 4700 miles to drink the magic elixir!! (crowd roar). We spent several hours roaming around seeing the Indian Diorama displays, the 1950's state of the art audio visual presentation complete with a 32 ft. diameter glowing globe of the earth, and strutting peacocks. After toasting to our youth with the magical waters, I can honestly say we found the secret to staying young...it's going on road trips and stopping at goofy roadside attractions. It definitely helps to have a sense of humor and appreciate the quirkiness of local folklore. In the late afternoon, we sadly bid adieu to Florida and crossed into Georgia, turning Winnie oh so slightly toward the West. We will never forget Florida, but for now we have Georgia on our mind.today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Gordonia Alatamaha State Park

Exploring Outer Space

Ned here. Today's big event was our trip to the Kennedy Space Center. We arrived around 10 a.m. and were pleased to see that not too many other people were there. We think maybe the day after Memorial Day weekend was a good day for us to attend. Our first event there was watching a 3D IMAX movie about the repair of the Hubble Deep Space telescope. There were some really gorgeous scenes in that film of distant galaxies. Next we took the ride on the Shuttle Lift Off Simulator. That exhibit did a particularly good job of explaining all the steps before and during liftoff. One thing I learned that I had always wondered about was why you see a bunch of sparks underneath rocket engines several seconds before they actually finish the countdown to liftoff. Turns out those are intentionally created to burn off any excess hydrogen which might be present, thus avoiding an unintended explosion prior to liftoff. We then spent some time looking at the exhibits in both the Early Space Exploration and the Astronauts Hall of Fame, which were both really interesting. As part of these displays we both tried our hands at some flight control simulations. I'm not sure how Debi performed on these, but I'm sorry to report that I managed to crash my vessel twice into the space station, along with smashing the space shuttle into the landing strip, although I was successful at landing the lunar module onto the surface of the moon! Having spent nearly 5 hours(!) at the Space Center we decided to head north towards St. Augustine. We were not convinced that the town of Daytona Beach has aged very well, as Debi has memories of it being extremely cool when she was in her early teens. However, the seemingly endless miles of spectacular beaches which ran north of the city impressed us greatly. Once we arrived in St. Augustine, Debi was completely with the feel of the old part of town. We spent a long time just walking around the quaint little streets, taking photos, as the sun fell lower in the sky. It was a very beautiful way to few the place, and appreciate all the old buildings and their charm. I'm sure we will be spending lots of time there tomorrow, as Debi has now found another town which she has fallen in love with! See today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Anastasia State Park, FL

Miami - Move Along, Move Along

Our time being beach bums is over, and into metropolis we go. It's surreal leaving the keys, the last stop being Key Largo and onto a sea foam green freeway divider. You feel like you're on a Disney Autopia ride. Our first destination was the "must see, never to be believed" roadside attraction of Coral Castle. The story goes that a 5 ft. 100 lb. Latvian man was jilted at the altar and spent the rest of his life carving a home out of coral in dedication to his lost love. We paid the big bucks and got to see Ed's handiwork. The big mystery is how such a little guy accomplished this singlehandedly. It was interesting, but didn't really seem all that comfy or cozy. Actually, I give a lot more credit to the fiancé for having the sense to bolt. She definitely seemed like the sane one! (ah Debi, you romantic). Actually, the most interesting part of the Castle was that the "Wild Women from Wongo" was filmed here in 1959. After that little adventure our next stop was Miami Beach. We thought it would be fun to ride our bikes along South Beach, check out the beautiful people and catch some more Cuban food. This is where our day started getting a little weird. Upon arriving in downtown, we got caught in a police escort. Really! The motorcycles cops were escorting a fancy bus through the streets and we were stuck right in front of it, being motioned thru red lights by the cops on every street corner until we reached the American Airlines arena. I felt like giving all the bystanders my best princess wave. Turns out that there's something like an NBA basketball playoff and the bus was either the Heat or the Mavericks. Go figure. When we crossed into Miami Beach, most of the streets were closed and thousands of cars were creeping and beeping along. We saw a parking spot along the road and just took it, figuring we could bike it from there. Well, turns out I had a flat tire, and as Mr. Gallant was fixing it, a "local gentleman" approached us and informed us that this area was for locals only and we should leave. At this point I realized we were in a sketchy neighborhood and we should take his advice and scram. After sitting in traffic and not moving we decided to forego the Miami Beach scene and move onto Plan B. I got on the Internet to see what Memorial Day activities were holding things up. Turns out it's the annual Hip Hop festival. That explains so much of what was going on! Meanwhile we found a great Brazilian Restaurant, away from the action, and thoroughly enjoyed a very meaty lunch. Feeling that we weren't welcome in Miami Beach, we headed to the very upscale and tony Palm Beach. Nancy told us about a great Bike Trail where we can view all the swanky mansions. Cool! As we were reading about the trail, the following info is stated: "...many of the people using the trail are unusually well dressed and polite. Visitors should dress and act appropriately." Well, we definitely got a chuckle out of that, especially since Ned now had grease stained shorts from the tire repair and after 3 weeks of camping I was definitely looking like something the cat dragged in. As we unloaded the bikes and approached the trail, we noticed a sign that said "trail closed for repairs", and sure enough there was a pipe blocking the trail. Mmm, seems like we weren't fitting in with the hip hop crowd or able to hang with the upper crust. So, we just said let's go do what we do best and head for biking and camping at the State Park. Ah, home sweet home. We checked out the river, but it was much too warm to cool off - not to mention the snake I saw and warning signs of alligators. So, a bike it was thru the park. The crowds have left so it's a very mellow scene. So much form our re-entry into civilization. Tomorrow we go at it again. today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Fl

Life's a Beach

We didn't do much today. We started out at Sandspur Beach where we hoped to find better snorkeling. It was really windy though, and we couldn't find any rocky areas where we had found the coolest looking fish yesterday, so we decided to head back to Caloosa Beach, where we'd started out snorkeling on Friday. Being the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, the family picnic action was in full swing there. We realized quickly, once we'd hit the water that there was a really huge current moving past the end of the rocks where we expected to see the best fish. Carefully maneuvering ourselves near the rocks, so as not to get sucked out to sea, we snorkeled for a bit and saw some fish, but decided that the swift current was creating cloudy water conditions which didn't make for the best viewing. We tried swimming to the rocks on the other end of the beach, which turned into a major workout, as we fought against the current. Finding few fish to view at that location, we returned to the beach to hangout under our umbrella, since the day was really hot at this point. Finally we headed back to our campsite to get out of the heat and try to cool off. Thankfully, the wind had turned cooler at this point, so we got some relief. We realize that we have felt very lucky regarding the presence of mosquitos and other biting insects in Florida, which we were warned are unbearable starting this time of year. We've had very little problem with insects at all in Florida, particularly after we were eaten alive in New Orleans! We hit 100 miles on our bike odometer today, which is probably a good thing, considering all the great eating we've been doing. Enough lollagagging around, we're heading out of here first thing in the morning. We've got the Atlantic side of Florida to check out! today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bahia Honda State Park

A Day in Key West...or 90 miles from Cuba

Talk about a whirlwind day. Rather than spending another day at the beach, we decided to take a day trip to Key West, especially since it's only 45 minutes from here. We arrived at 9ish this morning and already the thermometer was pushing the high 80's. First in order was checking out the town on bikes. Being that it was a holiday weekend, it was difficult finding a parking spot, but I befriended an elderly Cuban man sitting on his porch and he let us park in front of his home. First up was a bike ride around the town, checking out the streets and getting a feel for the vibe. Most of the residences are picturesque cottages hidden among dense tropical foliage. Some of the streets are bricked and the cock-a-doodle-doo of roosters is not uncommon. In the historic area, especially on the main street, there is every kind of food you can imagine; Cuban dishes, French crepes, Mexican tacos, and of course local fish specialties. Bars are everywhere serving up daiquiris, rum runners and touting "Papa Hemingway drank here." Ironically, I actually think he did. As we rode our bikes down Duval St, you would get the occasional waft of cigar coming from the various "Dominican made from Cuban seed" cigars. It also seemed that Spanish was the most common language we heard. Or maybe I just felt that way because everyone just assumed I was Cuban and spoke Spanish to me. Well, we couldn't come this far without having our picture taken at the Southern Most Point in the Continental US. It was pretty funny, there was a long line of people queued up to have their picture taken. Apparently, the protocol was to ask the people standing behind you to take your picture. It made for a very congenial wait! Next we rode our bikes over for a tour of Hemingway's House. It was a fun, interesting tour and they pretty much let you have the run of the place. The Hemingway stories and anecdotes were really enjoyable, but I was a little creeped out by the 40 some odd 6 toed cats running around. A bit much for my taste. After more biking and exploring the various streets, we came upon Harry Truman's Little White House and decided to take a tour thru that as well. We learned a lot about President Truman and are even more eager to visit Independence, Mo in a couple of weeks. BTW, I had no idea he started his day at 7:25 with a glass of oj and a shot of bourbon "to kick start his day." Dude! By this time we had worked up an appetite and decided that a Cuban restaurant was most apropos. Mojitos, pork, rice & beans, plantains, beef & chorizo sandwich, and the most delicious bread that came with two spicy sauces pretty much did the trick. After this rather large meal, we rode bikes over to Fort Zacharay Taylor to check out the beach. We heard from several locals that this was the best beach in Key West, and it looked pretty damn good to me! The temperature as pushing the high 90s by now and a short nap under a shady tree just wasn't quite cool enough. The great thing about traveling with your home is that you can be flexible. We decided to ride bikes back to the van, change into our suits and drive back to the beach. This turned out to be an excellent decision. We not only swam, but got in the best snorkeling of the trip. All in all, we spent a good 3 or so hours playing in the water. Knowing that we wanted to spend the night in town, we made the best of the outdoor showers to get spruced up. The Sunset Celebration is a big deal in Key West. By the time we walked to the wharf several hundred people had congregated for this event. In true Key West style there was singing, musicians playing and lots of good people watching characters all waiting for the sun to set. Unfortunately, the sun was hidden behind a huge cloud making the event slightly anti-climatic. We walked around town and were bombarded with loud noisy bad musicians playing in the bars. New Orleans this ain't. We searched for awhile for a little restaurant we had read about in the New York Times. Thankfully, it was quite a few blocks off the main drag. It was packed, but they were able to fit us in at the 4 seater bar. We had the best meal of the trip here and became good friends with Brent, the bartender. We each had fresh local fish. How do you know it's fresh? As people ordered, we watched Pete, who was the host, take it from his ice chest that was in the back of his pick up truck to the chef. We also heard lots of local stories that can only be repeated when several glasses of wine have been consumed. Good times! We didn't get back to the campsite until midnight..we're tired it's been a long day, good night! today's pics Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bahia Honda State Park

Being a Beach Bum in The Keys

We were blessed with a breezy night which definitely helped cool us off. I think the coolest it got was about 78 degrees, so the breeze really did make sleeping manageable. We didn't have to leave our campsite until about 1 and we only had a 45 minute drive further down The Keys to our next spot, so we decided to just chill out (so to speak) and swim. The only problem was that it was low tide so we had to walk about a couple hundred yards to get in waist deep water. It was ridiculous. The plus side was watching all the shorebirds show up and checking out the tide pools. Our big destination for the long weekend is Bahia Honda State Park. It is consistently rated as one of the best beaches in Florida. We reserved a spot last October, and still only had a choice of two sites that were left. Our expectations were pretty low. Our campsite isn't so bad, not on the beach like last night, but at least we have some vegetation to keep us cool. We spent the rest of the day swimming and snorkeling at different beaches in the park. The snorkeling is so so, nothing like Hawaii, but still fun. The biggest excitement I had was seeing a sting-ray. Yes, it definitely scared the bejesus out of me! A park concessionaire offers snorkel tours out to some coral reef so we are definitely considering doing that later on. I think tomorrow we'll head down to Key West and see what's happening at the southern most point in the US. Today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bahia Honda State Park