Celtic Festival Day!

What a fun-filled day!  We met Coy and Betsy at the nearby CVS and went with them to a local farmers market.  What a special event.  There was so much fresh produce, especially vegetable and different types of lettuce.  Crafts too!  We spent about 1 hour walking around the market and then left to go into downtown St. Augustine for the Celtic Festival.

But first, we got to watch the early St. Patrick's Day parade!  What a hoot!!!  The outfits were crazy and the bagpipe "bands" were great to hear!  There were numeous floats, a clogger group, local groups, and even some roller derby gals.  What a variety of people and things to "take in".  Betsy and I were "lucky" and got some green shamrock necklaces. 

After the entertaining parade, we headed to the Celtic Festival.  Another interesting event!  Food, beer, craft vendors, and Irish Entertainment was all part of this festival.  The one group was especially entertaining and consisted of 4 drummers and a young gentleman on bagpipes.  This group had an amazing amount of energy, especially the bass drummer.  He put his whole body and soul into his playing.

From there we headed to Annie O'Mallory's Pub for a delicious lunch.  One of the bagpipe groups was playing on the sidewalk in front of the Pub while we had lunch.  Then we headed back to the Celtic Festival to hear some additional Irish music.  By 4:30 we decided it was time to head back to our campsites after spending so much time in the 25 to 30 mph winds, but what a unique day.  You never know what local events you will find when traveling!

Hope you enjoy the photos from this link!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/100432034439116837822/CelticFestival#5718414126570101554

Let's Talk About Today - Friday!

Ken and I planned to spend some time on the beach today, but the weather really didn't cooperate!  It was very overcast and then we had some rain showers in the morning!

We took a walk around the CG and then attended a free breakfast here in the CG sponsered by Camping World.  They also had a raffle and brought 2 RV's here for us to tour.  It was a nice, casual and non pressured get together!

Then we headed towards Flagler Beach, but turned around when the weather stayed overcast.  We decided to head to the Camping World that was nearby.  Did alittle shopping there and checked out some motorhomes.  Willie outshines everything we saw!  On the way back we stopped at Vilano Beach which is just alittle north of St. Augustine.   It is very accessible area with free parking and a nice beach area.  They are in the process of rebuilding the small town and are doing a good job.  It appears that it has been an area that is in dire need of attention, but there is a very nice Hampton Inn and a Publix grocery store just opened.  We enjoyed the quiet, quaint area.

Stopped for groceries and back to Willie by 6:00.  A relaxing evening!

They drive their cars right on the Beach at Valano Beach

A fisherman caught this stingray from the pier!

This pelican has a staring contest with us!

This appeared to be a fairly new pier complete with
the dolphin sculpture!

Enjoying St. Augustine!!

Need to catch up on our time here in St. Augustine!

Wednesday was an ovecast day, especially in the morning.  So, Ken and I did some work on our computers.  Then he dropped me off so I could shop at Hobby Lobby (we don't have them in PA and they are such great stores) and a Bells Outlet here in St. Augustine!  I had a good time while he went to the local farmes market and drove through downtown St. Augustine.  He picked me up 2 hours later and then even agreed to take me to Michael's Arts and Crafts.  What a guy!  I was buying beads and wire to keep making some pendants from pieces of shells I collected on the beaches.

After lunch at Willie, we walked 3/4 mile to St. Augustine Beach.  It was difficult to find a place to get access to the beach since they are in the process of refurbishing.  Our evening was relaxed and quiet!

St. Augustine Beach about 3/4 mile from ou campground!

Another photo from St. Augustine Beach

This is the walkway from our CG to the Beach!

Yesterday we spent the morning talking with friends and family back home.  I got to skype with our granddaughters!  Ken had numerous phone calls to our library back home and eventually was able to download library books onto his I-Pad.  He was one happy boy!!!

At 1:00 Coy and Betsy picked us up to go into downtown St. Augustine.  We toured the very interesting Castillo de San Marcos Fort and then walked the downtown area.  Had a light supper at an Italian Restaurant that offered 2 drinks for the price of 1 and a free piece of brick oven pizza during their Happy Hour.  What a deal and the pizza was delicious.  Then they offered a 10" pizza at $5.00 off as an exta.  We ate outside and had a great time!

Here are numerous pictures of the fort -

What a view from up above!

The 4 of us at the Fort. Happy Campers!

Then back to their campsite to enjoy a walk on the beach, the beautiful sunset and some "howling" at the full moon over the ocean. It was a fun day and evening.

The beach is just a "walkway" from Besty and Coy's
campsite!

This is the beach walkway from their CG.
What a gorgeous sunset!

Coy and Betsy's Motorhome on their campsite at
Bryn Mar.  Note the covered "gazebo" type structure.
Lots of the sites have one in this CG.

Full moon oe the Atlantic!

On the Road Again!

Yesterday, Monday, was a rather busy day for Ken and I.  We decided to do some work both inside and outside Willie!  It was time for me to do some cleaning, much to my dismay, but it really needed to be done.  So I started scrubbing, dusting, vaccuming, and washing floors.  Even washed the wastecans - I was on a roll.

Ken worked on the basement of Willie and then cleaned the grill, scrubbed the outside chairs, and started packing for our travel day.  Got most things ready for traveling!

I did spend about 2 1/2 hours with our camping neighbors, Steve and Jacquai.  She is a "retired" silversmith, having made beautiful jewelry and teaching classes for a craft guild in New Hampshire.  Such a talented lady.  She was willing to give me some 1 on 1 instruction regarding wire wrapping.  Not her specialty, but many of the techniques she used in making her jewelry could apply my wire wrapping.  She gave me some great tips and helps!  It was lots of fun!

Ken and I did take a short drive for a final view of Crystal River and to get some groceries.  Spent the evening relaxing and playing some cards.  We are also into watching The Voice.  They have some very talented people on that show!

This morning we were on our way to St. Augustine by 9:15, having had a wonderful time in Crystal Lake and the Rock Crusher Canyon CG.  We would highly recommend it to fellow campers.  It was a very uneventful drive, thank heaven, arriving at the KOA CG in St. Augustine around 1:30.  Set-up went very smoothly.  I really think we are getting the knack of setting up and tearing down the 5th wheel.  We are definitely getting so much better at the leveling process and getting into our site.  Yeah Ken!!!!

2 of the couples we met while camping on Pine Island are staying at a CG on 2 miles away.  So, we joined them at their campsite for dinner.  Besty invited us all to have dinner with them.  How nice!
They are staying at the Bryn Mar CG right on the Atlantic.  We planned to eat outside, but it got too cool and so windy.  So the 6 of us had dinner in their motorhome.  Paul and Regina had planned to leave early tomorrow morning, but I am almost certain they will be around for another day or 2.  They just aren't quite ready to head back to Michigan!!

We are so fortunate to have met such wonderful camping friends.  For some reason, that always seems to happen at Pine Island!  There is something very special about that CG.

Looking forward to our stay in St. Augustine!

Walkway from their CG to the Atlantic!

A photo from the walkway looking back to the CG!
So handy to the beach!

So kind of Betsy and Coy to invite us to dinne at their campsite
with Paul and Regina.  Delicious supper and great fellowship!

Our Weekend at Homosassa

Yesterday, Saturday, was another busy day for Ken and I.  We left the CG aound 10 and headed to Inverness about 30 minutes away.  We decided to ride bike on the Withacoochee State Trail, a 47 mile Rails to Trail.  It was a beautiful trail, but a rather windy day.  Not easy riding.  We were told it was about 7 miles to the Floral City Strawberry Festival, but it was 9 1/2 miles one way!!  It was worth the ride just to have one of their strawberry shortcake desserts.  It was the best we have ever had!  Not sure why we decided to share one!!!!  Floral City is known for growing strawberries, but not as famous as Plant City, FL.  We enjoyed spending some time at the Festival before riding back to Inverness. 

We stopped at one of my favorite places for the 3rd time - Sonny's for their pulled pork sandwich.  They are always delicious!  We were back to Willie by 3:30 and then joined 2 of our neighboring campers for Happy Hour.  (They had invited us before we left for our bike ride.)  We spent about 3 hours chatting and getting to know each other.  Great folks.

During the night it was sooooo windy and we had a brief but heavy rainstorm.  But, it was sunny by 10.  This was the coolest day we have had since coming to FL.  It only got to 64 degrees and was windy.  A perfect day to do laundry and it was a necessity!  We headed to a local laundramat since the campground only had 3 washers in their 2 laundries, and we had 4 loads.  Told you it was a necessity!  Played a little shuffleboard, grilled supper, and then relaxed.  Imagine that!

Tomorrow will be another slow down day as we get ready to move to St. Augustine on Tuesday!  We have had a wonderful week on the Nature Coast of Florida and Rock Crusher Canyon CG.

Click on this link to see photos of yesterday!


https://picasaweb.google.com/100432034439116837822/March4#5716217404365891202

A Full Day of Kayaking!

Well, today was not a day of resting and relaxation!  We decided to take a kayaking trip on the Rainbow River!

We left the CG at 8:45 and headed to Rainbow River Kayak and Canoe Rentals!  Nathan is the owner and what a great guy!  We inflated our kayak and Nathan put it on his truck and drove us to KP Hole, a county park, to launch ou kayak.  We will kayak back to the Rental place where we left our truck.

We decided to head upstream 1st to Rainbow Springs Park,where the water originates.  The springs produce 500,000 gallons of water per Day, making it the  7th largest spring in the world.  It is a constant 72 degrees and is supposed to be safe to drink.  We didn't try it!!!  Then back to KP Hole to eat our picnic lunch, and then head downstream back to our truck.  The Rainbow River is positively gorgeous - crystal clear and so many special birds, fish, turtles, and adorable river otters.  They are so much fun to watch.  We stopped and observed 5 of them playing and swimming!  We saw more turtles today than I ever saw at one time.  They were lined up on the logs as if in formation - some very little ones as well as large ones. 

We had some wind on the way back so it was not just a "floating" trip as we had been told.  We had to paddle most of the way.  We went a total of 7 1/2 miles and were vey tired when we got back to the truck.  We returned to the CG at 5:45 and Ken spent time cleaning and drying the kayak while I made supper.  It really was a special day.  We are enjoying the Sea Eagle kayak and learning how to paddle very well together.  I find the seats extremely comfortable.
Check out the link at the bottom of this blog for our photos from today's adventure!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/100432034439116837822/RainbowParkMarch2#

A fun-filled Learning Day!

Ken and I decided to take it a little easy today - no bike riding or kayaking!  So, we headed to Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park to see all the animals and birds.  It really was a very worthwhile place to visit. 

The centerpiece of this 210 acre park is a first-magnitude freshwater spring, which produces millions of gallons of fresh, crystal-clear water every hour.  The spring outflow creates the Homosassa River. 

Upon arrival, you travel on pontoon boats along Pepper Creek for about 20 minutes to the actual entrance to the park.  It is a beautiful boat ride in a totally natural setting.  Once inside there is a mile of paved trails and boardwalks for observing all the animals in natural habitats.  This was a private park until 1987 when it was taken over by the state of Florida.  As a private park it was the home of exotic animals - giraffes, tigers, lions, etc.  The state decided to only have animals and birds native to the area, so homes were found for all of them except for Lu, the Hippo.  Many local folks signed a petition to keep Lu, somewhat of the "mascot" , in the park, that the governor made him a legal citizen of Florida.  Lu is now 52 years old and will stay here until his death, usually around 60 years old.

While there, we saw manatees, a black bear, snakes, alligators, deer, fish, turtles, owls, otters, many exotic birds, wolves, bald eagles, bobcats, a cougar, etc., and of course, Lu.  The otter was a hoot to watch - quite the entertainer with his flips, back floating, etc.  Lu weight 6000 pounds and definitely does his "own thing".  There was a small turtle who was struggling to get over a little wall into a pool for food.  Eventually he fell upside down onto his shell.  Poor thing!

Probably our favorite thing to see was all the beautiful birds.  Did you know that flamingos actually are bright coral, especially during mating season.  They were gorgeous, but certainly appeared to be noisy and aggressive.  We also saw sandhill cranes and whooping cranes, which are the tallest birds in the US and on the endangered species list.  The roseate spoonbills are always a thrill for Ken.  Found out the ones that are only pink with no reddish color are the young ones.  The white pelicans actually have black on their wings when they are open, even though they look totally white and they have a "fin-like thing" on their bills when they are young.  We finally learned a way to tell the difference between a cormorant and an anhinga.  Cormorants have a hook at the end of their curved beaks, while an anhinga has a straight beak.  Also, did you know that an osprey nest can weigh up to 1200 pounds and that the same nest is used year after year?

How about a lesson on manatees?  The large ones can weigh over 1000 lbs. and they eat about 10% of their body weight per day.  That's a lot of salad!!!  Their gestation period is 13 months and the baby calf weighs about 60 lbs. at birth.  They only conceive about every 3 years.  They are a warm blooded mammal and require water to be above 68 degrees.  That is way they like these springs, for the water temperature averages 72 degrees year round.    They are a protected species!

As you can tell, we really enjoy our visit to this park and learned a lot. 

We left the park and went to The Freezer for a late lunch/early supper.  Ken learned of this place through an RV website.  They do no advertising nor do they have a sign on the restaurant.  If you are not familiar with the area, you need to ask a local how to get there.  It is right on the water and they are known for good shrimp and cold beer.  Ken was thrilled with both!!!!  A friendly cat decided to share my stool.  We protected Ken's shrimp!!!



https://picasaweb.google.com/100432034439116837822/WildlifeParkMarch1#