Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Great Day in the St. Mary's Area!

Ken and I felt very fortunate that the storms they predicted for this area of Georgia never happened.  They expected severe thunderstorms with heavy downpours and even hail.  Somehow, it managed to miss us - hallelujah! 

When we woke and listened to the news we realized that is what they were experiencing in the Tampa area that we LEFT around lunchtime yesterday - another hallelujah!  We had a leisure morning and around 10:00 got on our bikes to ride around Crooked River SP and do some hiking.  

This is a beautiful park with many trails and amazing "cabins" that are rented. They look like nice sized homes. 


These are considered "cabins"!

We parked our bikes and walked the Sempervirens Trail and two "off chutes" called the River Trail and the Nature Trail probably walking about 2 miles.



This was a beautiful trail!


Loved this stump.  Looks like the profile of a face!


On the bird watching boardwalk we could observe the marsh area -



This seat gave me a great view of the marsh!



We saw some interesting "critters" along the way.....


Rather colorful!

When this 1st crossed my path I thought it was a baby snake!
Looked like a slug, but I am not sure what it is! 

This is a different one with more color!

This gopher tortoise looks like he spent a lot of time\
digging in the sand!

This guy is rather photogenic!


and some pretty flowers -





On the way back to Waldo we saw a Snowy Egret and a Great White Heron -


The snowy egret in the back is identified by his orange legs!




We ate lunch outside at Waldo and then stopped at the Park Office and had a nice conversation with a volunteer who is a full-time RVer.  She was very interesting.  

Then we drove about 15 minutes to St. Mary's.  At one time this would have been a thriving fishing village, but now it seems rather deserted and businesses have trouble surviving.  From St. Mary's you can take a ferry to Cumberland Island National Seashore.  Because of all the things to do in this area we will probably not do that adventure - hopefully another time! 





We walked around the area enjoying the beautiful park area along the water ....


What a beautiful place to swing!

This fountain is in the center of the park in downtown
St Mary's
and a couple more interesting creatures -

Another leaping lizard!

He looks like he is suspended on the tree!

Then we checked out this tall ship that was built in Brazil in 1980, then brought to Savannah to be finished, and bought by 12 Tribes 8 years later.  Currently you can tour it for free on the weekends but it is also For Sale.  It really is a beautiful sailing vessel.



It is hard to tell, but the colors of this boat are beautiful - dark
navy and then lots of gorgeous dark wood!  Impressive!

We also enjoyed watching these fiddler crabs...



These little critters scurry sideways across the mud flaps.  They
can burrow up to 23 inches deep into the sand and mud to escape
predators.  Male fiddler crabs have one large claw which they move
up and down to attract the females and to intimidate potential
male competitors!  Wow!


On to Wal-Mart and then back to the CG.  Ken grilled as it was a beautiful evening with lots of sunshine and in the 80's. After dinner we took a short walk to the water at the back of the CG and the sky was a brilliant orange and the sun ready to set.  It was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, Ken only had his cell phone to take pictures, but I still think the pictures are spectacular!






We met a couple from North Carolina while watching the sunset and we shared some places to camp and tour with each other.  What's not to like in this area???? 

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