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??