Our last gasp of Florida

Before we left Florida we made one more stop at a funky little fishing village called Cedar Key. Everything about it had that retro feel, like you are back in the seventies. The campground we stayed at even had an old trailer out front.

Anne and I headed into town and explored the small village on our bikes, which made for a great day. We of course stopped at one of the many waterside restaurants for our fill of some local seafood. yummm

On the local peir the pelicans were hanging around hoping to score some free fish from people fishing and Anne loves pelicans, so she had a blast.

Next morning we headed out to get some sunrise photography done. It was a beautiful morning and I was lucky to catch the boats heading out for the day of clam farming, which is the biggest industry here. The boats are very different. The steering is way up front and so is the engine. They call them "bird dog boats"

Leaving Florida was sad but west is where we need to go now. We have made stops in Alabama and are currently in Biloxi, Mississippi. Biloxi was devastated by Katrina and it still show, much of the oceanfront is empty lots. The casinos are back though and we spent an afternoon at the Hardrock Casino, had lunch and lost 5$ in the slots. Soon we head for New Orleans....

More photos of Cedar Key click here

Florida's Gulf Coast

The gulf coast is the western side of Florida. We have spent the entire month of January slowly moving up it from South to North. First we stayed in Ft. Myers so we could go to the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge so Anne could get some bird shots. There was also a bunch of beautiful white sandy beaches to explore. The amazing thing about the beaches was the amount of shells they contained.

Next stop was a hundred or so miles north to St. Petersburg / Tampa. Here we attended the Tampa RV supershow! Wow what a lot of RVs to see. We went into dozens of new models and felt good that nothing was better for us than what we bought. Another day we visited Fort Desoto State Park. The water was very calm and the view over to the Skyline Bridge was gorgeous. They also have one of the best white sand beaches on the gulf coast. Anne dragged me to the famous Salvador Dali museum to instill some culture into me. The building was really neat but the paintings weren't that impressive for the $21 admission price.

Last week we moved up to the Crystal River area where the manatees head in the winter to hangout because of the warm spring water found here. We booked a snorkel tour and got to swim with the manatees. We even had a baby one play us, very cool!  We also visited the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park where they had an old hippo named Lou. Anne loves hippos so she was pumped to see Lou

We bought some cruiser type bikes to burn around the campground on and general sightseeing.
Checkout Anne testing hers out.

More pictures here

South Florida

We spent the last two weeks of December at the very southern tip of Florida. Weather was awesome usually sunny and around 80 degrees.

First we camped in the Everglades National Park , where we rented a canoe. We took it out on to the bay and down one of the inland rivers lined by mangrove trees. Wildlife was everywhere and from the canoe you get a great perspective on it. We saw tons of birds, like pelicans, ibis, herons, turkey vultures, storks, ospreys and on and on. We also watched a dolphin play with a fish it had just caught, observed a little manatee eating plants from the rocks and docks, and saw a tarpin swim through the very shallow bay waters trying to get back out to sea. One thing that was weird were signs in the marina parking lot saying that the vultures will eat the rubber trim from you car windows! bizarre!

Next we moved down to the keys for Xmas. We booked a week at a nice RV resort called Sunshine Key as a gift to each other, rving is very expensive in the keys due to lack of land. Of course we went and saw the famous Key West and took a trolley tour around the town. It's very touristy but was cool to hang out for the day. The nicer place for us was Bahia Honda State Park. White sandy beaches, turquoise waters and waving palms, aahhhhhhh. We rented a couple kayaks and had a great day on the water. Also got some snorkel and swimming time in on another day.
Only downer was my so called waterproof camera leaked and is now toast, so enjoy this last video. :(

Happy New Year! Next we are heading to the west side of Florida in Ft Myers, Tampa area for a few weeks exploring what's over there. Stay tuned.

More photos here

FLA!

Well we have landed in Florida and welcome it's balmy weather, beaches and palm trees. So far we have stayed for week long stints in two areas on the east coast of the state. First up was Daytona Beach, home of an incredible 23 mile strip of sandy beach you can drive on, so we did. :)

Also we toured the famed Daytona International Speedway, home of the Daytona 500 race. It was really cool to see the place even empty you can imagine what a spectacle it must be to see. There were some practice  cars racing around the track, check out the video I shot.

Daytona Beach video

Next we moved about a hundred miles further south to a town called Titusville on the Space Coast right by the Kennedy Space Center. We took a day to tour all the exhibits which there were tons of. We could have easily spent a week seeing everything that they have on display. Amazing stuff.

We have been touring a lot of guy stuff lately so lucky for Anne there was a great wildlife refuge close to the space center and we made a couple trips there and she was able to get some awesome wildlife shots, so stay tuned on her blogs for those.

We move down to the Everglades National Park next and then on to the Keys for Xmas.

Click here for more pix

Georgia on our mind

We have spent a great couple weeks on the coast of Georgia. It is late November and the weather temps average between 15c and 25c daily, about like summer back home. The whole coastline is formed by barrier islands, usually with a beautiful sandy beach then a island with a mix of live oak and palm trees and a huge track of marshland behind. Needless to say there are many bridges needed to cross to the islands.

One of the highlights has been Jekyll Island, a barrier island that is mostly park land. We spent some gorgeous days walking and photographing the beaches. Also we rented bikes and explored the historical district where the rich and famous use to play in the old days. Many of the beach houses and the old hotel have been restored and are used today.

On the back side of the island is a huge marshy area full of birds and interesting vegetation like cactus plants and palm trees.

Overall it's been a great month in Georgia and we are sorry to leave but it's on to Florida!

South to Carolina

Well we have been beating a path south lately following the sun and staying away from freezing temps. After New Hampshire we drove down to New York state and boondocked at a Walmart near Bingingham. Next 2 days we mostly travelled to get into Virginia and explored Shenandoah National Park. Saw lots of nice autumn colors and scenic vistas. We followed the Blue Ridge Parkway down as far as Fancy Gap and stayed for several nights at a nice little mountain campground but it was getting cold and we were sick of fall and leaves so off to the coast!.

I saw online the Charleston was one of the best cities to visit in the US and the weather map said temps in the 70s and 80s so we made a beeline out of the mountains of Virginia down to the coast of South Carolina.

Charleston is indeed a beautiful city with tons of history and gorgeous beaches. We spent one splendid morning watching the sun rise at the famous Folly Beach Pier and another afternoon touring the historic downtown area by mule team in a carriage. Another day we checked out the USS Yorktown, a floating air craft carrier museum and got some nice shots of the new bridge. The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, also known as the New Cooper River Bridge

We are now travelling with the snowbird crowd, all the campgrounds are loaded with northern plates and I can see why the weather is great. Next stop is a little down the coast to Savannah, Georgia with maybe a side trip to the famous Hilton Head resort to gawk at the rich and famous.

More photos here

Maine and New Hampshire

Well we crossed back into the US of A at Northern Maine to go visit my fellow TV tech Brian who lives in Caribou, Maine. He was nice enough to let us camp out on his property. We hung out for a couple fun days of good food, drink and playing with his cool sheep dog Yoder. Wish we could have stayed longer as the leaf colors were looking great and it was fun to hang with a fellow tech but it was getting cold! And the trailer doesn't like freezing temps.

So we headed down to the coast to Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor and were treated to a couple of nice warm summer like days and beautiful scenery. Then we drove across to New Hampshire and spent a couple more days viewing the famous fall colors, wow the trees sure put on a show.

Unfortunately though the trees are in full color, they are late this year and it's getting cold again so we are going to blast down south to ,Shenandoah National Park, Virginia where there still will be fall color but the temps will be better.

More photos here