Almost home!

We had our first rain of the trip yesterday while traveling up I-95 from Georgia, across South Carolina and into North Carolina, where we are spending the last night of our vacation near Fayetteville.  While people here have commented on their warm temperatures for February, I felt chilly all day---ready to head back into some warm sunshine!

But the daffodils are blooming in this campground, so spring is on its way.

I do need to return to work, and there's still unpacking to do.  It should be a short day of travel, and we do get to sleep in our own bed tonight (and enjoy the extra space in our own shower!).

An excellent vacation----one of the best!  Now back to reality.....

 Crooked River State Park is on the Georgia side of the GA/FL border, in St. Mary's.  We had a relatively short day of driving yesterday, arriving here at a little after 2.  That allowed time for a late lunch and a walk along the river, as well as a hike on a very easy trail, to allow Ranger to let off steam.  We had stopped here two years ago and the campground was full, but my memory of the place was as the location of Ranger's first sighting of an armadillo.  Sure enough, he heard one in the palmettos behind our site last night (and went nuts).  I was not able to catch a view of it, however.

The park is excellent, with large level sites. It's only about 20% full so we had lots of privacy and a pull-through site.  This is a park that is worth staying at for more than an overnight, so maybe next year.......

 Our campsite at Little Manatee River has been a good one: enough vegetation to provide privacy from neighbors, a mix of sun and shade, and level.  It's a good place to relax. (I finished a second novel while here.)  Yesterday morning we took a leisurely walk around the nature trail to the river, seeing a huge flock of warblers at the picnic area.  Then we returned to the site for a big brunch of eggs, ham, potatoes and toast.

 An afternoon bike ride around the park allowed us a good view of a gopher tortoise.  I guess the original settlers used to eat them, but it does not look very appetizing to me.

This park is geared up for horseback riding with a camping area specifically for equestrian camping and lots of marked trails.  A short walk along one of the nearby horse trails took us to Dude Lake.

All in all, this has been a relaxing couple of days in a well-run, clean state park.  Well-worth the trip here and probably the only Florida park of this trip that I would highly recommend to anyone!

Here's everyone's image of Florida----our first white sandy beach of the trip!

We left Collier-Seminole SP yesterday morning (no plans to ever return--one of the worst of the Florida state parks!) , and rather than jump on I-75 for a three-hour drive to our next destination, we decided to stay with Tamiami Trail (Route 41) up the gulf coast.  We discovered that between Naples and  Fort Myers, both sides of the road are FULL of stores---strip malls, chain restaurants, and so forth, non-stop!  And of course, lots of traffic, making it a slow trip.  We turned off Rte.41 toward Sanibel Island, and as soon as we went over the causeway and saw all that blue and green water, it seemed the side-trip was worthwhile.  Sanibel is a beautiful place, with easily accessible public beaches like the one above.  The community is cute and quaint, lots of little shops and bike paths everyone.  What it is not is RV-friendly!  Narrow two-lane roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic!  Bicycles are definitely the preferred mode of transportation there.  We did manage to find the one public parking area with spaces for "vehicles 20 feet or more in length", which allowed us to take Ranger for a walk on the beach.  Yes, surprisingly, they do allow dogs on the beach there, with just a request that they be on leash and be picked up after.

Little Manatee River State Park is just east of St. Petersburg/Tampa, and it is a small park with only 30 campsites.  We were greeted by an extremely friendly and enthusiastic ranger---always a good start to a stay!---who provided maps and lots of suggestions for things to do.  Our site is private and level, just across the road from clean bathrooms with nice new showers.  Hurray!

Having come about 150 miles north from the Everglades region, it is noticeably cooler--cool enough for a campfire last evening.  Today's high expected to be mid-70's, after 55 this morning for the dog walk.  Still sunny--no rain at all so far on this trip.

 Our morning walk was along the one trail adjacent to the camping area at Collier-Seminole State Park. It passes through a "hardwood hammock" area with many royal palms which are fairly rare.  Mostly it was quite jungle-like!  The trail took you to an observation platform looking out over a salt marsh where we were able to watch quite a few ibises.  Ranger seemed to find lots of interesting things to sniff.

We later unplugged and took a day trip into Naples.  We visited the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve where they had a nice display of critters that live in the mud.  This picture of the display with parchment worm is for you, Kelly!  We also walked around the trails there which were supposed to be a good location for bird-watching; however we saw only a few hawks.  From there, we drove around Marco Island, which seems to have much high-dollar real estate---big houses on canals with large boats parked behind them.    The afternoon ended with some relaxation and reading around the campsite.

 Yesterday we traveled from Jupiter, FL to just outside Naples, following Florida's Turnpike south to West Palm Beach, then picking up I-75 to cross the state.  The highway took us through the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve.  We stopped for a lunch break at a rest area which was right along a waterway, and there were dozens of wading birds: ibises, great egrets, wood storks, tricolored herons, and moorhens.

We picked up route 29 south toward Everglades City, and then Route 41/Tamiami Trail.  Along 41, I noticed an alligator sunning itself along the canal that ran parallel to the road---then another---then another!  There were dozens of them!  We'd better keep Ranger close while camping here.

We are now at Collier-Seminole State Park. It is a very small park and the campsites are very close together--not much privacy and there's noise from the road that runs directly behind site 39.  We went to a program done by a ranger about pythons in the Everglades.  I guess people buy them as pets, then let them go, and they thrive in this jungle-like environment, growing up to 20 feet long.  There's a contest going that gives a bounty for killing them, as they are throwing off the balance of the environment here, eating almost anything they can find.  (Nice comforting thought as we camp out.  Glad we're not sleeping on the ground in a tent!)

Yesterday, we took a bike ride to explore the rest of the state park.  We pedaled to the east, toward the park entrance and picked up quite a nice bike path along which we did some bird-watching.  The path took us to the other campground in Jonathan Dickinson, Pine Grove Campground.  Seeing it made me appreciate where we are in River Campground!  Pine Grove is definitely newer, and I'm sure their showers are better, but who wants to camp in a big open field along Highway 1?  The whole trip was over 11 miles, and I suspect we'll both feel it in our legs today.

Earlier in the day, we took a walk along a path that led us to Kitching Creek.  Although the birding has not been as good as in other parks, we did see a white ibis along the way.

It's been a relaxing few days at this park,but today we move on to Collier-Seminole in the southwest part of the state.