A White Christmas in Florida

No, not snow – white sand beaches! But if you squint just right it does look a little like snow. Lol. 

So let’s get you caught up on what we’ve been up to. On Saturday, we hit a local farmers market and stocked up on homemade baked goods. Dessert for Christmas dinner. Check. :) Since it was the day before Christmas, there weren’t a ton of vendors. But you gotta love a guy who does his wood carving wearing a parrot on his head. Lol.

Cool carvings and the parrot is a plus. Lol. 

In the afternoon, we paddled the kayak over to Shell Island. I’d like to speak to the marketing department, please. Where are the shells on Shell Island??? Lol. It is beautiful though. The island is approximately 7-miles long and sits between the Gulf of Mexico and St. Andrews Bay.  The western portion of the island is part of St. Andrews State Park and the eastern portion belongs to Tindall Airforce Base. It is totally undeveloped with pristine white sand beaches surrounded by clear turquoise and emerald waters. But it was a bust for shells.  Rog did a little snorkeling, while I walked the beach. (I’m waiting on the wet suits!)

Beautiful beaches, but "Shell Island", not so much. Lol.

Surf's up!

Mr. Crabby was sporting just one claw.

Happy Campers together.

On the way back to the mainland we saw two pods of dolphins! That was exciting!  They were fishing the channel, so hopefully we will see them again. We’d lose sight and then we’d hear them blowing water before we saw them. It sounded like Rog clearing his snorkel. Lol.  Apparently this is a great place to see bottlenose dolphins and we’re hoping to get close in the kayak. They are so sleek and fast in the water, they’ll have to come to us, we certainly can’t paddle fast enough to catch them!

Dolphins! Yeah!

We had one final adventure before we made it back to our campsite. Some (insert your choice of adjectives here) campers had left several fishing lines unattended and snagged a gull. No one was around and the gull was unable to get free of the line. We paddled over and Rog grabbed the gull while I tried to untangle him. He was trussed up good and proper and was not the least bit cooperative. All we got were angry eyes and Rog got stabbed several times with that wicked beak. We had no knife and were trying to cut the line with a key. By then, we had drifted close to an occupied campsite so I asked for something to cut the line and they brought me a pair of scissors. We finally managed to get him free and he flew off without a backward glance or word of thanks. Sheesh. Lol. 

A cousin to the ungrateful wench we rescued. Note the sharp beak, Rog was on the receiving end. Ouch.

Christmas morning we had a fresh, hot loaf of cinnamon bread (you do not mess with some traditions!) and then opened our presents. Yes, Santa delivered. Lol.  

Sunrise on Christmas morning.

Cinnamon Bread. A family tradition that tastes great!

We decided to get our steps in walking the beach here in the state park – we were surprised by the number of people on the beach Christmas day. We’ve always been homebodies on the holiday, but it looks like lots of folks head to the beach here. We did get a kick out of the hang-gliding Santa and his elf. They went up and down the beach waving to the kids.

Pier at St. Andrews State Park.

A visit from Santa and his elf - no reindeer needed. :)

We were sitting outside the RV in the late afternoon when there was a huge splash not 40 feet from where we were sitting. It was a dolphin! He must have been chasing a fish and nearly landed on our patio. Lol. He rejoined his buddies and swam off, but what a fun Christmas surprise.

For Christmas dinner, Rog did a rack of pork on the Traeger. It was fantastic. And since we bought the meat at Costco, there is enough for four meals. Lol. We also made several holiday phone calls, checking in with the girls and family. It was a nice quiet day, but I’m glad to put this one in the books.  I think it’ll be a long time before we travel over the holidays again.

This gal is decorated for Christmas - Florida style. 

On Monday, 12/26, we took the kayak out again, but opted not to cross the channel. It was windy and choppy on the open water, but perfect along the more protected shore. We did some beach combing and I found several awesome shells, unfortunately they were all still “owner occupied”. All the best real estate was already taken. Lol. We spent a couple hours paddling and wading and then headed back to camp.

Anemone. 

Pretty cowrie shell, but this one was occupied!

Sponge crabs - very cool!

Star fishy.

Our wetsuits are supposed to be delivered tomorrow, so with a little luck we’ll get them in time to do some snorkeling. If not, we can always try chasing the dolphins!

Happy Holidays!

Not our usual 11 ft tree, but Christmas just the same.

Just a quick post to wish you all a wonderful holiday. May you eat too much, get more stuff than you wished for, and be surrounded by friends and family. Hugs all around and smooches to the pooches (and kitties too).

Merry Christmas! 

Look, it's Santatee! ;)

Happy Holidays!

Exploring St. Andrews and Panama City Beach

Having two whole weeks to explore an area is a novelty for us, this will be our longest stop so far on the trip. We’ve got a long list of places to go and things to do, but we’re pacing ourselves. Lol. The weather has been only marginally cooperative too.  Don’t roll your eyes. I know we have nothing to complain about – but I’m an avowed weather wimp and I really want to kayak and snorkel – just not when both the air and water temps are in the 60’s. Lol. Maybe I’m part manatee and need the temps to be at least 68˚ or higher. (What do you mean you can see the resemblance??!!)  Anyway, we’ve put our water plans on hold for a bit, the forecast is for a warming trend AND we ordered wetsuits from Amazon. Merry Christmas to us. :)

In the meantime, we haven’t been totally idle. Saint Andrews State Park has a lot of area to cover. The park is 1,260 acres, with over 1½ miles of beautiful white sand beach with long rock jetties and several piers. There are dunes, fresh and saltwater marshes, scrub and pine forests, and a swampy area with a “Gator Lake”. They are also doing a dredging project, sucking up huge quantities of sand to deepen the channel and then piping it up to restore the beach.

Rock jetty creates a protected area for swimming.

A view of Panama Beach City behind the dunes.

Dredging the channel.

We’ve have spent a couple of days walking the trails and beaches here in the park. There is an old historical turpentine still on site. The water birds are fun to watch and you can just about trip over the resident deer.  We’ve done some beachcombing (love those shells!) and reconnaissance for kayaking and snorkeling next week. We've managed to get in our 10K steps!

Historical turpentine still.

Shore birds are quick to snag a tasty morsel.

Resident deer in the evening light.

Pretty girl.

I mentioned in my last post how much fun I had trying to photograph the leaping mullet. Well it seems word has spread among the denizens of the sea and now they are teasing me! We were chatting with a local guy fishing for shark from the pier (you should have seen the size of those hooks!) and he pointed out some rays leaping out of the water. He said they were likely being chased by a shark. Then a formation of at least five rays swam right near the pier and several of them leapt out of the water, literally flapping their “wings”. I did not get a decent picture, but it was an awesome sight and I’ll try to be faster next time!

Miles of beach and the city at dusk. 

The beach is nearly deserted.

Did you think I'd skip the sunset pic? Lol. 

On Wednesday, 12/21, we went to Pier Park in Panama City Beach. It turned out to be a giant outdoor mall with some local shops, but mostly the same chain stores we have at home. Rog used the wifi at Starbucks while I went swimsuit shopping at JC Penney’s. UGH! Nobody should have to try on swimsuits between Thanksgiving and New Years! The holiday treats are showing! Lol. After trying on more than a dozen combinations, I finally settled on a pair of swim shorts and tank top. Success! Much more practical than my one piece.

We also hit the mall theater and saw Dr. Strange. It’s the first (and only) movie we’ve watched since before we left home in July! We are soooo behind. If we want to see Fantastic Beasts and Star Wars: Rogue One while they’re still in the theaters we had better step up our game. Lol.

Not quite what we were expecting, but a fun day anyway.

Friday, we took the bikes to a city park to ride “Gayle’s Trails” a series of paved bike paths. The main path bordered a busy highway, so we’re weren’t too excited about that. Then we took a connecting trail to Conservation Park. Jackpot! The trails aren’t paved, but they are hard-packed sand and gravel and there are about 25 miles that meander through wetlands and woods. This is “off road” riding that even I can do! We only rode about five miles there in deference to my tender tushie, but we will be back. Our total for the day was close to 19 miles, which is plenty for me.

Off rode riding even I can do!

Happy to find some great biking trails!

On Saturday, 12/24, we plan to hit the local farmer’s market and then maybe do some kayaking. I’m just dying to get out to Shell Island. It’s supposed to be a beachcombers dream, we’ll see. I know, I know. Gotta pace myself.

We’re Here ‘Till Next Year and 50 Blog Posts!

Well we’ve finally made it to our final destination for 2016! We’re booked for 14 nights starting 12/20 at Saint Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, FL. We’ll be here through Christmas and the New Year holidays.

A secluded spot right on the beach. Yeah, I can live with this for two weeks. Lol.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Before leaving Cedar Key on 12/19, we did two more kayaking trips and enjoyed a holiday boat parade with Santa Clam. (I’m not making this up!)

On Friday, we left right from the campground for a little sunset paddle. Several of the smaller keys are bird sanctuaries. The pelicans are fun to watch, graceful they are not. The sunset was so-so, but I had the most fun with the crazy, jumping mullets. I have no idea what motivates them, but they just go nuts – leaping out of the water sometimes doing 4 or 5 consecutive jumps! They’re small and fast so timing a photo is ridiculously hard and a total blast. Mullet madness!

Roosting pelicans.

Prepare for takeoff. :)

A view of home from the kayak (we're in the middle).

Mullet dancing across the water and then.... splash!

On Saturday, we walked into town for breakfast. After a serving of yummy crab quiche at Kona Joe’s we decided to check out the marina. Our plan was to bring the kayak into Cedar Key and launch from the marina to paddle the half mile out to Atsena Otie Key. Change of plans! We discovered they were hosting “A Taste of Cedar Key” in the city park from 11:30am – 1:00pm. For $10 we could sample fare from about a dozen or so local eateries. Needless to say, the kayaking trip was postponed in favor of cheap eats! Lol. 

Snowy Egret on the pier.

Osprey, could he be waiting for one of those leaping mullets?  :)

Saturday evening was also the holiday boat parade and I certainly did not want to miss Santa Clam. So at dusk we headed back into town and picked a spot on the pier to view the boats. We were waiting anxiously for Santa Clam to arrive and then found out he was headed for the city park by airboat. We hot footed it to the park and found a spot on the beach to view the festivities. It turns out Santa Clam was just a regular Santa sitting on a lighted clam-shaped backdrop. Sigh. He didn’t even smell funny. Lol. We sat on the sand and enjoyed the festivities. In addition to Santa Clam, there were seven decorated boats in the parade, a small-town holiday celebration at its finest.

Enjoying the sunset while we wait on the pier.

Boats are lining up at dusk.

Couldn't quite figure out the theme.... Santa Serpent?? Lol.

Our last day in Cedar Key, we finally managed our kayak trip to Atsena Otie Key. The town of Cedar Key used to be located on Atsena Otie Key along with a cedar mill own by the Faber Pencil Company. A hurricane in 1896 leveled the town and destroyed the mill and the town was moved to its present location. The key is now part of the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge.  We walked the trails on the island and visited the old cemetery and paddled all way around it (about 1 ½ miles) before heading back.  There are several other keys within paddling distance including Seahorse Key, which boasts a population of about 230 venomous cottonmouth snakes per acre. Can you say, not a chance in hell! Lol. 

Our first open water kayaking - we felt very small. :)

We made it! Atsena Otie Key - part of the National Wildlife Refuge.

We were hoping to find a live horseshoe crab, but all we saw were lots of shells.

The trail went through stands of live oak festooned with Spanish moss.

The cemetery was very interesting, very few folks made it to 60 or even 50. Life was hard.

After our paddle we grabbed some lunch at a waterfront restaurant. As we ate, we were thrilled to watch several dolphins sporting in the area we had just paddled through not a half hour earlier.  It would have been fun to see them from the kayak, but our timing wasn’t quite right. Back at the rig, we starting prepping for our departure in the morning. Chores finished, we walked next door to the very fun and funky Tiki Bar at the Low-Key Hideaway for one last sunset libation.

Low-Key Living!  This place is just a kick. Yes, the primary building material is bottles.

From here to there..... Seattle 2975 miles.

Happy Hour... Happy Campers!

Last Cedar Key sunset. (I promise!)

Monday morning saw us back on the road, with reservations for one night at Newport Park Campground near St. Marks River.  From there we took the CRV into Tallahassee to stock up at Costco and get groceries.

Our arrival at St. Andrews State Park on Tuesday, 12/20, brings us up-to-date. Which reminds me, for those of you who have been following our travels from the beginning – you’ve slogged your way through 50 BLOG POSTS! Wow. For those who joined us later, you’ve got some catching up to do. Lol. Really, thank you so much for following along. So, what’s been your favorite post? Favorite photograph?  Comments?? Suggestions??