It’s pouring down rain and 52 degrees! This morning, Friday the 11th, we joined the rest of the campers in Salt Springs National Forest Campground for a pancake breakfast in the “barn”. Pretty good fixin’s! This afternoon we went out exploring more backwoods when a young VERY black bear loped across the roadway! We were looking for a large sinkhole that someone told H about but we never found any. The “lakes” we saw on the maps were actually just overgrown water spots in vast wild swamps. By the time we returned to the trailer it was pouring down rain, which was a perfect time to get out the sewing machine and work on some Christmas potholders. 4 are done so now I can get you caught up on what’s been going on since our last visit.
From Blythe Island Georgia, we moved on down to Amelia Island, Florida and got a nice spot in Little Talbot State Park for the night. Of course, before we parked at the State Park, we had to make a stop and do some shopping in the touristy town of Ferdindina at the north end of the island. Nothing has changed there!! Even the shark is still hanging high on the dock in the harbor. (H had his picture taken with it several years ago!) On our way early Monday morning, the schedule for the day included (finally) a stop at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. Our Toledo Zoo membership didn’t get us in free but even half price was well worth the experience. African elephants, a small herd of giraffes, Bongo’s, a pretty neat reptile building with ACTIVE inhabitants, a pair of cougars and several domed aviaries were among our favorites there. NO polar bears and only one nervously pacing cheetah! In one of the jungle aviaries there was a pair of extremely colorful ducks who took turns preening themselves whenever I attempted to take their pictures. Snap – one duck was swiveling his neck. Snap- the other one was! Oh well! Our feet and legs were soon wore out and after a sandwich in the trailer we were back on the road south to St Augustine and 2 nights at Anastasia State Park. This time we parked in the loop that was nearest to the beach but STILL never made it out to walk on it. Way too windy! Tuesday morning we headed to the beach - to drive on it! It was a bit foggy and still windy. The waves were rolling in hard and the beach was fairly empty of vehicles or foot traffic but there were plenty of bobbing little shorebirds. And plenty of gulls and “bad hair” terns! After going slow for nearly 10 miles we turned inland and found ourselves across from the Fort Matanzas National Historic Site. We HAD to visit! Our free boat ride took us out onto an island down river from St Augustine. The island originally was only an acre and the size of the tiny restored fort matched that island in size! The 8 soldiers who once manned the fort never saw any battles but spent 30 days at a time serving as lookouts – protecting the city of St Augustine from the mouth of the river to the south. The Jeep was parked next at the “Castillo De San Marcos “ near historic downtown St Augustine and we spent an hour going in and out of the shops that lined the pedestrian mall. Since we STILL had time on the meter we entered the fort and took our own private tour there. Up on the walls of the fort, the view of the harbor below offered moored pleasure sailboats instead of Spanish war ships. The roads buzzed with vehicle traffic instead of marching soldiers or civilians going about their business in the nearby town.
Wednesday morning the road before us led us inland to the Ocala National Forest and here in Salt Springs we parked in the same site as last year. This will be our home for the next week. The awning is out and Christmas lights are hung on it. Our American flag is flying on our pole that Bud made for us! The Christmas tree is on the dining room table and our two little blue velvet stockings are hung. The radio station is called “The River” and Christmas Carols play all day. The wifi is still across the road in the small strip mall there! The temperature on Thursday was 84 degrees and today it only made it up to 52. Then there is the rain – it’s now gone and the temps are to be back up in the 70’s and 80’s for the weekend.
