Grayton Beach, FL

I spent the first week and a half of March at Grayton Beach State Park in the panhandle of Florida.  It is about 30 miles east of Destin, FL where I spent a little bit of time visiting their outlet shops!

Grayton Beach is a beautiful beach; the sand is white and the water is blue just like it is supposed to be! Below is what greeted me each time I stepped off the boardwalk. 

The beach was maybe 1/4 – 1/2 mile from my campsite, so most mornings I walked to the beach and then on the beach for my morning exercise.

The water was beautiful.

Several days, I took my chair to the beach with plans to read but got carried away with just looking at the sand and water.  I didn’t read too much on those days.

There is a bike/pedestrian trail that runs about 20 miles in this area thru several of the towns and villages.  In some areas it was a bit crowded and closer to the road than I like, but I enjoyed it and rode several times.   In one direction is the village of Seaside.  They are known for their Airstream Food Trucks --

Scenery from the bike trail --

The picture above was taken at a beach access point that was about 9 miles from the State Park.  I rode my bike there and then checked out the beach (I didn’t go down, I admired from the top).  Then headed back.  This part of the trail went close to some construction, some new homes and some businesses.  When I was a little more than 3 miles from the campground I had a flat tire.  I got off and saw that I had run over a nail.  I had been telling myself that I needed to learn how to change a tire, but I never have.  But in this area there are a few bike rental shops, so I thought I would push my bike to one of them.  I had passed one  of the shops about 1/2 mile before the flat but I thought there were more.  I never saw another one!!  So I ended up riding my bike almost 15 miles and pushing my bike for a bit more than 3 miles (Note, I had walked 4 miles that morning for my morning walk).  2 lessons – don’t ride your bike through construction areas and learn to change a bike tire!!

One afternoon, I walked to the beach and sat at the bench at the end of the boardwalk.  A gull decided to try to introduce himself to me as he flew very close and then walked even closer.  I am guessing he thought I would feed him.

From here, I headed to Summerdale, AL. 

Fort DeSoto Park (visit #2) - St. Petersburg, FL

Since I have written about Fort DeSoto several times and once this winter, I am not going to write much about my second visit to the area this winter.  This visit was in late February.  I will just post some pictures that I took with a few comments.

I love getting to North Beach, with a short walk through some woods.

Another day, same view but so foggy you can not see the water!A view from my bike on a foggy morning bike ride (the ocean is on the left) --

Limpken at Celery Fields –Great Blue Heron -

I would have loved the close up of the Heron below if I had not cut his/her beak off.  I was zoomed in too much when the wind was blowing and he opened is mouth and showed his tongue. I still like it, but I missed a really good shot.

Marbled Godwit (I think?) -

2 Great Horned Owl fledglings --

Tagged Oystercatcher --

A relaxing Skimmer.  I thought maybe it was dead at first, but I read that this is common and possibly how they relax.  TTri-Colored Heron –

2 Wood Storks.  Note how they sit, they are basically on their knees.  See their pinkish feet in front; interesting!!

Just in case you needed to know this !!!

From here, I headed up to the Panhandle.  I’ll blog about that soon. 

Beverly Hills–Not California, Florida!

While planning my time in Florida I read about the Crystal River area and decided that I wanted to visit.  I ended up staying at Sandy Oaks RV resort in Beverly Hills from Feb 5 – Feb 14, it was mostly Snow Birds but was ok.  The spots in the back were best, but of course I was in the front!

While there I wanted to ride the Withlacoochee State Trail.  The trail was only about 1/2 mile from where I was staying, but I didn’t want to ride to it as it was on a busy road.  I ended up riding it twice, once from the Inverness Trailhead and once from the trailhead just down from my RV park. It was a nice trail.

While there I learned about another trail, the Withlacoochee Bay Trail.  While this trail was fairly short (5 – 6 miles one way – depending on if you took the new 1 mile stretch), I really enjoyed it.  I went twice and rode it twice each time, so I got a good 20 – 24 mile ride in each time.  This trail runs along the side of the old Cross Florida Barge Canal.  For a while it is right beside the canal, then switches with a dirt road and goes thru the “scenic maritime hammock and salt marsh habitats”.  (I took this from a website about the trail).  One of the trips I wanted to stay beside the canal so I rode the dirt road and it was great.  Below is my bike on the dirt road beside the canal. And then scenery from the trail.

 

Below is the pavilion at the end of the trail. It ends at the Gulf of Mexico, so was a great place to relax.

On one of my visits, I watched some dolphins swim in and briefly up the canal.

In December, I got a new camera – a Lumix FZ-1000.  While it doesn’t quite have the zoom of my other camera it has some features I wanted  and is extremely fast.  One of the features is the panoramic shot. Below is the first time I had played with that setting.  This was taken from the pavilion at the end of the trail, with the canal on the right side and the Gulf of Mexico on left and center of the photo. 

Another panoramic shot, this one of the newer part of the trail. 

While in Beverly Hills, I took a boat ride on the Crystal River. It started by going by one of the mounds in the Crystal River Archaeological State Park.

A small island --

We watched a couple of dolphins feeding --

One day, I was driving around just checking out the area and came across this --

It is a bit hard to read but the sign is another of those signs that I wonder about.  It says “Road Ends Here”, with an arrow pointing at where the water starts.  I would hope that any driver could see the road ends, but maybe some people need the sign!!

From here, I headed back to Fort Desoto in St. Petersburg. 

Silver Springs State Park–Ocala, FL -

It’s still rainy in Summerdale, AL so I am working on catching up with my blog.  I stayed at Silver Springs State Park in late January and early February. 

The campground part of this state park used to be called Silver River State park, then in 1993 the state acquired Silver Springs (the touristy part), but it was operated privately until 2013 when the concessionaire gave it up.  Apparently the old Silver Springs had some zoo animals, a reptile farm, rides , vendors and anything to draw in tourist.  Also, the river now has a lot of algae on the bottom where it used to be white sand on the bottom.  Different groups (we saw some from a university) are working on the issue.  The state is working on cleaning everything up, bringing it back to a natural state.  I saw some reviews where people don’t like the new plan, but most appreciate what the state is doing. 

While here, I took the Glass bottom boat tour twice.  I took the longer tour that is only offered 3 times a week.  For me, the beauty was not thru the glass bottom of the boat, but the scenery and the wildlife.  

Many of the old Tarzan movies, the old TV show Sea Hunt, a Bond movie and many more TV shows and movies were filmed here.  We learned how Sea Hunt (with Lloyd Bridges and sons) was filmed on the river and made to look like the sea. 

We saw many turtles -- The Boat captain decided that I was a Bird expert (because I identified a few birds before he did) and I pointed out the Black Crowned Night Heron to him. (pictured below).  Unfortunately he tried to get a bit closer and he hit a Cypress knee which damaged the boat motor.  Luckily it was just some type of pin that he had spares for and had us back underway in about 10 minutes. 

In 1938 6 Rhesus monkeys were released for tourist reasons and have gone wild.  There are estimates of 500 – 2000 (depending on who you listen to) of these monkeys now in Florida.  A couple of different times they started capturing these monkeys due to concerns over diseases that they carry and the fact they are not native, but due to many complaints they quit doing that.  In 2013 there was an article in the New York Post with a heading “ Herpes infected monkies terrorize Florida”!   While I understand both sides of the controversy, it was fun seeing a few on one of my boat rides.  Scenery from the boat --

Below are 3 statues that were left from the filming of a James Bond movie.  These are very near the main spring in Silver Springs.

I also hiked most of the trails in the State Park.  One of my favorite was Swamp Trail.  The first part of it was thru typical Florida foliage but near the end is a boardwalk over a swampy area and then a dock at the Silver River. 

The view from the end of the trail --

On my first visit, I saw a snake in the swampy area and after watching him several minutes a ranger came up.  He was there snake expert and had heard a large snake was hanging out in the area.   The lighting wasn’t very good and at first the ranger was very excited because he thought it was some type of Indigo snake that was rare for this area.  But after looking at my pictures he realized it was a Water Moccasin – a large one! I ended up seeing him each of the 3 times I hiked this trail, he liked wrapping around a tree. 

Yes, I was on the boardwalk when I took these photos.  He was probably 15 – 25 feet away from me.

I enjoyed this park as it had major shopping nearby in Ocala, places to bike and hike in the park, a paved bike trail about 15 minutes away and a nice quiet campground. 

Next I headed to Beverly Hills!!  That’s Beverly Hills, Florida not California!!

Lake Louisa State Park–Clermont ,FL

Just a note, I mentioned on my last blog that I would attempt to catch up on my blog during the rain.  Well that was supposed to be while I was at Grayton Beach, but it ended up not raining as much as they predicted.  So I ended up spending more time at the beach that at  my computer.  But I am currently at the Escapees Park in Summerdale, AL and it is raining!

In Late January, I spent a week at Lake Louisa State Park.   Most days I walked 4 miles and biked.  There were hills in the park, a rare thing in Florida.  They were not huge, but enough that I could tell when biking.   I am not good at hills and felt it was good for me!

Below is one of the lakes I passed on my morning walks (not Lake Louisa).

One day, I went to the Crooked River Preserve which is on the North side of Lake Louisa.  It had rained a good bit and part of the trail was under water so I had to backtrack a little bit, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Trail shot--

Sink hole – -- I think this is a Ring-necked Duck --

I have always liked looking at water leaves.  I want to call them lily pads, but I know not all “water leaves” are lily pads.  Anyway, the day I was there it was very windy and the leaves on the water would flip up almost like a stadium doing the wave! Below is one leaf waving!

A couple of days, I drove to the Van Fleet trail to ride my bike.  This trail is known for being extremely straight, on the entire 29 mile trail there are no hills and only 1 or 2 curves.  I biked about 30 miles (15 miles and turned around to ride back to the car) and never had to turn my bike except to turn around and turn to get to the car.  Part of the trail went through the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve.  I didn’t take too many pictures, but below is the straight trail with 2 deer crossing in front of me.  If interested in the trail, look at Top 10 bike trails in Florida, Van Fleet trail

The trail is quite remote and some people may not like it, but I really loved it!!  I have now ridden 6 of the 10 trails listed in the website above.  Florida is a great place for biking.

From here, I headed to Silver Springs State Park in Ocala, FL.  I will blog about that shortly as they are calling for more rain.