Thursday, December 18, 2008
Daytona and Silver Glen springs
Monday morning’s weather report said foggy in the morning and then clearing and sunny by afternoon. The day was to be good so we headed for Daytona Beach - - - but were detained by several back roads thru the forest. Almost had to call Ron to get us out of the sand again! The one road started out wide and packed sand but ended up a two track that zigzagged around utility poles and was all soft, DEEP, rutted sand. A few moves down on the shift knob, a foot on the gas and the 4wheel drive finally got us moving.
Daytona Beach was still hazed in but we did drive the beach from one end to the other. Too bad the surf took up most of the beach!
Tuesday was our “stay at home day”. H got some sun and read some book. I dug out my new sewing machine and tackled sewing on more patches to my new jacket and worked on the first stages of putting together my heart shaped potholders.
Wednesday we drove to Silver Glen Springs and the canoe went in the water first until it was warm enough to go snorkeling. We put the lures in the water and drug them along! Guess who caught the first, the biggest and the most? My “brim” or what we know as bluegill was huge! The fat part of his body was as long as my hand! So, all total it had to have been 10 or 12 inches long from nose to tail! Way clear water, a bunch of fish, lots of gigantic turtles, noisy squawking herons, egrets, manta ray and possibly even a ‘gator! The spring itself was deep and blue and was swarming with foot long silver mullet. Some of them were jumping and leaping out of the water. It felt like we were watching America’s Funniest Videos, especially when we were out on the river and the fish would jump across the wake of a passing boat!
Daytona Beach was still hazed in but we did drive the beach from one end to the other. Too bad the surf took up most of the beach!
Tuesday was our “stay at home day”. H got some sun and read some book. I dug out my new sewing machine and tackled sewing on more patches to my new jacket and worked on the first stages of putting together my heart shaped potholders.
Wednesday we drove to Silver Glen Springs and the canoe went in the water first until it was warm enough to go snorkeling. We put the lures in the water and drug them along! Guess who caught the first, the biggest and the most? My “brim” or what we know as bluegill was huge! The fat part of his body was as long as my hand! So, all total it had to have been 10 or 12 inches long from nose to tail! Way clear water, a bunch of fish, lots of gigantic turtles, noisy squawking herons, egrets, manta ray and possibly even a ‘gator! The spring itself was deep and blue and was swarming with foot long silver mullet. Some of them were jumping and leaping out of the water. It felt like we were watching America’s Funniest Videos, especially when we were out on the river and the fish would jump across the wake of a passing boat!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Mich. in summer or Fla. in winter?
The weather is warming up! In the 60’s today (Saturday) so we went cross-country, looking for the centennial party celebrating the first 100 years for The Ocala National Forest. Since H’s brother Ron was not with us, he pretty much stayed on the roads. But check out the pictures – are we really in Florida or are we in Michigan? Did not see any The weather is warming up! In the 60’s today (Saturday) so we went cross-country, deer or bear, but we did see a flock of really long legged turkeys and some sandhill cranes.
The Ocala National Forest is the first national forest east of the Mississippi River and it was President Theodore Roosevelt who signed the proclamation.
The party was at the Kiwanis Camp at Mill Dam and had local vendors, musicians, demonstrators, hit and miss engines, information booths and food! Free birthday cake but we were there too early to partake.
Sunday was H’s day to get a lot of little stuff done. Washing of vehicles and trailers are not allowed in this park, so each day or so, he discreetly washes another part of the trailer. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast and enjoyed them outside at the picnic table. We got our walking and biking in, met some folks from Grayling, H read and I worked on cutting our my heart-shaped potholders, and we finally put the canoe in the water and tried to catch some of the fish out in the cove. H and a lot of other campers are pretty upset because the spring area itself has been closed for repairs since last summer and no one is even working on them. No one knows when they are going to work on it! From the water, you cannot see what the problem would be and everything is fenced, gated and posted with warning signs.
The fella across the way has been catching black crappie and said to use hotdogs. We saw lots of good-sized fish and drug both the plastic lures and the hotdogs right in front of them with no luck. As we were drifting back across the cove to the boat launch we drifted right over 3 manatees that were almost as big as the canoe. What a thrill!! The water was so clear and it was shallow enough that you could just about reach out and pet them! At one time, one of them rolled over on it’s back as we glided right next to it.
The Ocala National Forest is the first national forest east of the Mississippi River and it was President Theodore Roosevelt who signed the proclamation.
The party was at the Kiwanis Camp at Mill Dam and had local vendors, musicians, demonstrators, hit and miss engines, information booths and food! Free birthday cake but we were there too early to partake.
Sunday was H’s day to get a lot of little stuff done. Washing of vehicles and trailers are not allowed in this park, so each day or so, he discreetly washes another part of the trailer. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast and enjoyed them outside at the picnic table. We got our walking and biking in, met some folks from Grayling, H read and I worked on cutting our my heart-shaped potholders, and we finally put the canoe in the water and tried to catch some of the fish out in the cove. H and a lot of other campers are pretty upset because the spring area itself has been closed for repairs since last summer and no one is even working on them. No one knows when they are going to work on it! From the water, you cannot see what the problem would be and everything is fenced, gated and posted with warning signs.
The fella across the way has been catching black crappie and said to use hotdogs. We saw lots of good-sized fish and drug both the plastic lures and the hotdogs right in front of them with no luck. As we were drifting back across the cove to the boat launch we drifted right over 3 manatees that were almost as big as the canoe. What a thrill!! The water was so clear and it was shallow enough that you could just about reach out and pet them! At one time, one of them rolled over on it’s back as we glided right next to it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)