Winter 2014-Manatee Springs

Mon. Feb. 17-Thu. Feb. 21: Manatee Springs was only about 30 miles from Cedar Key. We bought breakfast at the Sunset Island Café while doing the laundry, broke camp, bought groceries and got to our campsite in time to have lunch there after setting up. We went the short distance to the spring and walked the boardwalk up to the Suwannee River but saw only birds, fish and turtles, no manatees. Ann and Shelby arrived before 6:00 as promised and after we ate dinner they went to the spring. We all finished setting up our camps and then played dominoes. Playing dominoes or card games was to be our every evening activity for our time together.

Way down upon the Suwanee River...

Turtles along the spring run

Our large campsite at Manatee Springs

Tuesday morning we all walked to the spring with our devices to use the WiFi available at the concession stand there, which became our everyday activity after breakfast. While we were there we saw a small manatee in the spring run that slowly made its way to the river. We spent the rest of the day at the park riding our bikes 2.75 miles on some of the trails and Marv, Ann & I went snorkeling in the spring. The air temperature was about 76° and the spring is always at 72° so Floridians wouldn’t even consider going in but it was fine with us.

Snorkeling in Manatee Springs

Sunset over the Suwanee River

After we got our internet fix on Wednesday Shelby drove all of us to Cedar Key. We visited the bald eagles and the ospreys and had lunch at Tony’s again. The whole time we were searching for a good place to put in our kayaks without much luck. We drove to the back of the old cemetery, thinking there might be access there, but only found a short cut to the nature boardwalk that we had walked with Oiens. We ran into a woman at the park there that had lived in Cedar Key for thirty years. She couldn’t think of anyplace we could put in and was very apologetic. But then she said, “Oh I know where you could go! Take state route 347 north about 5 miles to the Shell Mound Park.” It turned out to be there perfect spot! There is a small campground with a public access into a tidal waterway that opens to the Gulf of Mexico and is a National Wildlife Refuge. We paddled all the way up one shore to a large fishing pier, across the channel, and then back along the opposite shore before crossing back over to the access site. We saw lots of water fowl and wading birds and enjoyed the quiet area for nearly two hours with no other boats or watercraft to bother us. On the way back we drove the 7 mile nature loop through the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Key Nature Preserve but we saw only one alligator and one armadillo. By the time we got back to the campsite the spaghetti sauce I left simmering in the CrockPot tasted great to all four of us.

Paddling through the grasses in our inflatable kayaj

Great Blue heron

Our first armadillo of the trip

Each day at Manatee Springs the weather got warmer and sunnier. So on Thursday we drove north to Fanning Springs about 10 miles away. We had packed lunches and our swim gear and spent several hours swimming in the blue spring that is just a short run from the Suwannee River. We saw a couple of manatees in the run but nothing like the pictures on the bulletin board that showed as many as 11 right near the shore of the spring. There was a short nature/boardwalk to the bank of the Suwannee, which we walked and then stayed at the overlook to watch some kayakers come down the river and take out at the park. On our way home we stopped for ice cream before heading back to our campsites. That gave us the energy to ride our bikes 6.3 miles on more of their trails before dinner and games. Along the road and right at our campsites we enjoyed watching the practically tame deer that browse and wander without seeming to care about the human visitors to their home.

Ann & Peggy snorkeling in Fanning Springs

Marv & Ann snorkeling in Fanning Springs

Fanning Springs swimming area

Happy turtles on a log

Looking downstream on the Suwanee River

Ann & Shelby biking

Deer beside our camper

Thursday the weather was threatening as we picked up our camps. Ann was out early to take a picture of the biggest deer eating grass right next to our camper. As she sat and read a few raindrops fell and so we all finished quickly and headed over to the spring for a last visit. To our joy we found a very large manatee hanging out in the middle of the spring, floating and browsing and coming up to breathe as people took pictures from all around. Since Ann and Shelby had finished with the internet they said they were going to be on their way and we’d meet again at Hillsborough River State Park. Thunder was rumbling in the distance as we finished up and packed up our devices, when to our surprise Shelby returned saying that Ann was getting on her suit so she could swim with the manatee. And she proceeded to do just that. With her snorkel gear and flippers she entered the water. The manatee slowly circled around and swam right to her. She gave it a small three fingered pat and it swam away and down the spring run. We got lots of pictures and a short video to record her feat and then hurried back to the vehicles as the skies really opened up and the rain poured down.

(pictures of Ann snorkeling to follow) 

Winter 2014--Cedar Key

Fri. Feb. 14-Sun. Feb. 16: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! The camper was 32.5° and everything was covered with frost on Friday morning. Luckily, it warmed up pretty quickly with the bright sunshine, eventually topping out at about 60°. I took some video of Marv & Lou driving P.E.T.s in the parking lot and a couple pictures of Larry, who had come to say good-bye again, in front of the workshop with a P.E.T. Then we closed up our campers and hit the road to drive across the state to Cedar Key, on the Gulf shore, with a quick stop at the Gainesville Trader Joe’s.

Marv, Larry & Lou in front of the P.E.T. workshop

Sunset Island RV Park is the kind of place we would never, ever have discovered if we were on our own. But Lou & Janice had heard about it from someone in a campground on their last trip to Florida and definitely wanted to share the experience with us. It turned out to be a unique gathering of colorful souls all attracted to the “live and let live” attitude of everyone here. The park has 50+ campsites crammed together on the shore and a small stagnant inlet of one of the many small islands or “keys/cays” along the Gulf Coast. There are also a few motel rooms and a homey restaurant and convenience store. The tiny clubhouse has four unisex bathrooms with showers, a laundry room along the back, a large deck on the front, and a cavernous fireplace in which every night and each morning there is a fire going. Each evening when we were there people gathered by the fireplace to enjoy a very informal bluegrass jam session of whatever musicians show up. Some are quite accomplished and some are purely amateur but everyone seemed to have a good time. Friday night there was also a Potluck Dinner in which we took part. There are many volunteers who camp free in exchange for keeping up the park and it is hard but necessary to get a reservation to stay there because people tend to spend the entire winter. A traveling artist is in residence right now and she has painted murals and signs inside and out of the whole place with bright colors that add to the psychedelic feel. It was a great place to spend the weekend.

Sunset into the islands at the shore of the Gulf of Mexico

Jam session on Saturday night at the Club House

Saturday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM H. & CHUCK!!) we rode our bikes about a mile across two small bridges into Cedar Key. This tiny resort town was a booming metropolis of 3000 people back in the late 1800s drawing people first for the cedar, which was exported (and eventually depleted) to Germany by the Eberhard family to make pencils, and then for expensive, fine whisk brooms made from the fibers of Sabal Palms. Devastating hurricanes in 1896 and 1950 wiped away the industries and fisheries and now the population is about 500. Clam farming is a growing industry with small claims staked out and fiercely defended in the shallow waters around the keys. A few of the historical buildings still make up the old part of town a block or two off the water and there is a strip of new buildings, mostly restaurants, along the water’s edge. We intended to have lunch at Tony’s (more about that later) on the main corner of the old district but there was a half hour wait so instead we rode to the water’s edge and had lunch at Steamer’s where they are known for their local steamed clams. None of us elected to try them however, instead opting for blackened fish tacos (Janice & me), oyster po’ boy (Lou) & Pork Bar-B-Que sandwich (Marv). We were happy with our choices and Marv enjoyed the Florida IPA and I the Fish Head Midnight Oil (oatmeal coffee stout) to wash then down. Afterwards we walked through the small historical museum on the main street and then peddled north to the cemetery to walk the nature trail and boardwalk along the marsh where we watched skimmers and osprey over the water. By the time we got back we had ridden 5.88 miles. We were so full from lunch we were happy to make do with snack items and Happy Hour before going back to the club house to enjoy more music.

Marv, Peggy, Janice and Lou at Steamer's

Adult Bald Eagle by the nest

One juvenile in the nest and the adult nearby

St. Claire Witman home

Osprey on its nest

A smaller Bald Eagle perched on a tree right next to the road on our bike back to the campground

Sunday morning Marv made French Toast for all of us and then we hopped on our bikes and rode back to Cedar Key. We had better directions this time to find the Bald Eagle nest that is in the back yard of a small house at the edge of town. A woman there had a scope trained on the giant nest and we could plainly see a pair of juveniles with a huge adult standing guard on a branch nearby. From there it was a short peddle to the tiny Cedar Key State Park, which has a small museum mostly about the Natives and early European visitors to the area, the restored St. Clair Whitman cabin with Whitman’s collection of seashells and other natural specimens, and a few short nature trails. We walked to the water’s edge on one, saw a large osprey nest, and returned to watch the Bald Eagles some more before we went back to town to wait 25 minutes for lunch at Tony’s. They are famous for their Clam Chowder, made with local clams, which they have been making since 2005. They won the Newport, Rhode Island International Clam Chowder Competition for three years running before they were forced to retire from the competition and put into the Hall of Fame. Lou and I both had the rich, delicious Clam Chowder and it was well worth the wait. On our peddle back to the campground we saw a smaller Bald Eagle in a tree on the main road. Today’s ride had been 6.3 miles making it just over 12 miles of pleasant, easy Cedar Key biking. Janice and Lou loaded their bikes back on the van to return to Penney Farms for another week of volunteering. Marv and I stayed one more night at Cedar Key and went back for another evening of music at the club house. Each day had been sunnier and warmer with less wind than the day before so it had been an extremely pleasant stay!

Winter 2014-Ocala National Forest and Penney Farm

Sat. Feb. 4-Thu. Feb. 13: The drive to Juniper Springs in Ocala National Forest took us over 4 hours but the further we got the more it rained so we weren’t in any hurry. Janice and Lou Oien had reserved the site next to theirs for us and were hunkered down in the rain in their van and had told us there was no reason to rush. The GPS took us on some back county roads but the good part was that we found the rustic, quaint Dam Diner, where we had a great lunch. We then went to a Winn-Dixie for a few groceries, and it was only lightly raining when we arrived at Juniper springs and set up. The four of us went for a hike in the drizzle to the main spring. The big water wheel that had been on dry land to be repaired two years ago was now reinstalled and turning beside the old CCC mill that is empty but open to visit.  Lou had cooked a pot roast all afternoon so it was fork tender and tasted delicious with the carrots, rutabaga and potatoes he added later. Then we hung out together and caught up on each other’s travels thus far until bedtime. We ate breakfast separately the next morning before we hiked the nature hike and boardwalk along the creek and a number of other springs. The sun was quickly warming the slippery boards so that they steamed as we walked by. After our hike each couple packed a lunch before closing up our camps. We drove a short distance north to Silver Spring and ate our lunch before taking the two mile trail to Lake George through a magical forest of long needle pines and live oaks, both heavily draped with Spanish moss with the sunlight filtering through. It was lovely!

Juniper Spring

Draping Spanish Moss 

The Lake George Trail

Lake George

From there it was about a two hour drive to Penney Farm Retirement Community. J.C. Penney built the community, complete with cottages, houses, apartments, health center, rehab, memory unit, a golf course, church, post office, city hall, dining hall, assisted living, and more, to give Methodist pastors and missionaries a place to retire after their service to the church. It is also the home of one of the first P.E.T. Project facilities. On their trip to Florida last year, Oiens had met P.E.T. founders Larry & Laura Hills, who now live at Penney Farms and for whom the P.E.T. warehouse/workshop is named. While serving as missionaries in Africa they saw how paraplegics were ostracized and disenfranchised by their inability to walk or ambulate over the rough terrain. Because of land mines around the world the problem is only getting worse. With two other men, Larry helped develop hand peddled carts called Personal Energy Transportation units (P.E.T.). They are now made in 40 facilities around the US and in a few other countries. We camped in two of the five spots they have set-up next to the workshop to volunteer for the week, as Janice and Lou had done last year.

Marv, Larry & Lou in front of the workshop

 We were blown away with our reception at Penney Farms from Armand and Mary (who were the only other campers but had been there since November and will remain there to work in the metal shop until spring) to Sid (who did the orientation and training for Marv and me and is one of the workshop supervisors since Larry “retired” from that job) to Joan (whom Marv took to be about the age of our sisters but is actually 83 and is a regular in the paint shop, gave us a tour of the exercise center, and hosted us for lunch one day) to the incomparable Laura and Larry who fed us two lunches, had us to their apartment twice and took us to Clark’s Fish Camp (more later) for dinner. Everyone was overwhelmingly generous and welcoming and appreciative of our help. Marv and Lou did a variety of jobs all week. Part of the time they were assembling the boxes for the bodies of the P.E.T.s and, working together, they built 14. That was pretty impressive until 90 year old Mary Ellen came in on Thursday morning and did about as many all by herself. Jan worked on upholstering seats Monday morning and then joined me in the paint shop for the rest of that day and all day Tuesday and Wednesday. The first two days weren’t too bad as we painted on the porch with a nice breeze and some sun and talked and listened to the birds. But Wednesday was cold and rainy so we had to move into the close confines of the noisy shop. There the painting became oppressive and too repetitive so that we were sore and cranky. Janice and Lou made sure we had a more enjoyable Thursday by finding us new jobs. We each spent some time packing P.E.T.s and some time working the drill press for the seats. We managed to pack 6 units Thursday morning, which was all that were ready to be shipped so we felt a nice sense of completion. The rest of the time that week we ate huge lunchtime dinners (always hosted by someone else in the community), rode our bikes 2.75 miles around the community, visited Teddy and Carl Staser, who are residents, worked on the internet, and slept hard and well each night.

 Lou working a drill press

 Marv, Peggy, Janice & Lou on the bridge of the Garden Walk at Penney Farms

Rocky, who played football for MSU on Biggie Munn's 

National Championship team, assembling P.E.T.s 

 Armand, Lou, Janice, Mary & Peggy socializing in our camper

90 year old Mary Ellen making P.E.T. "boxes" 

Peggy shows Janice how to work the drill press 

Peggy & Marv with one of the P.E.T.s all packaged and ready to ship

Thursday evening Larry and Laura insisted on taking the four of us to Clark’s Fish Camp for dinner. It was a cool but sunny day and, since it is nearly an hour away and almost to Jacksonville, we left about 4:00 with Larry driving their car with Janice and me aboard and Marv driving our truck with Lou and Laura. The Fish Camp has been on the shore of the wide Saint John’s River since the 40s and, although it has had some upgrading, is still pretty rustic and sprawling. Larry assured us they do no advertising but word-of-mouth and there is usually a wait for seating. As you enter there is a large tank with a living alligator and live fish and directly in front of the doors is a bent over stuffed adult giraffe. Inside there are many rooms and porches and all are crammed with full-size stuffed (taxidermy) animals. The Clark family is committed to green living and protection of animals so they are all animals that have died in zoos or in other legitimate settings. One porch is birds, one is fish, and the main dining room is mammals from all over the world but especially Africa. That is the room where we ate, surrounded by bears, lions, tigers, kangaroos, ocelots, antelope, deer, and on, and on, and on. Adding to the surreal atmosphere are display cases of Mrs. Clark’s collection of over 3000 plates and platters, each one with a different fish pattern painted on it. It is impossible to describe this amazing restaurant but we enjoyed it immensely and had a wonderful dinner before driving back to Penney Farms. 

Main dining room at Clark's Fish Camp 

Peggy, Larry, Marv, Janice, Lou & Laura at Clark's Fish Camp 

Looking up in the dining room at Clark's Fish Camp

Winter 2014--Myakka River State Park

Sun. Feb. 2-Fri. Feb. 7: We got up a little early and the fog was still lifting as we got on the road before 9:30. Our drive was again all back roads with little traffic. John and Brenda Sternberg picked up Louise in Siesta Key and we all arrived at Myakka River State Park within 10 minutes of each other. They asked to see how the trailer goes up so we got set up on site 27 in Old Prairie campground. Then John drove the five of us around to see more of the State Park with stops at the bridge over the river where one can always find alligators sunning themselves on the bank, the Bird (board) Walk, and the Treetop Canopy. Louise waited in the car while the rest of us took short walks at each. Lunch was at Phillippi’s Creek Village where we all had seafood including blackened salmon for Marv and a Florida Cobb Salad (with mango, grouper chunks and queso fresco) for me. Louise’s place was nearby and she rested while the four of us walked on the fine sugar white sand of Siesta Beach. John and Brenda wanted to get home in time to watch the Super Bowl with Brenda’s son. They dropped us off at the campsite, where we made wonderful Cobb Salads to eat while we watched the Seattle Seahawks demolish the Denver Broncos 43-8.

Set-up on Site 22

Alligators on the bank by the park road bridge

Close-up of the bigger ones

John, Brenda, Peggy, Louise & Marv at Louise's apartment

There was almost no phone or 3G at our campsite so after breakfast Monday we rode our bikes to the Visitors Center near the main gate and got information on trails and other things to do in the park. From there we peddled to the concession area about 3 miles away, where they have free Wi-Fi. It turned out that their Wi-Fi wasn’t real strong. In fact, we couldn’t upload or download anything large, including the newspaper, but we did manage to get our email and send out some so that people knew we were doing well. While we were there we shared a yummy Caprese wrap and a side of their homemade chips. We rode on up the main road to the Bird Walk where we saw more birds than on Sunday and then took Fox’s Low Road to Fox’s High Road to Myakka Island Road to Ranch House Road to circle us back to the main road. Calling them “Roads” is giving them more credit than they deserve. Each is more of a wide mowed area with a fire break plowed alongside. Island Road is through wide open Prairie and was spongy enough from the recent rains that it felt like we were peddling uphill the whole time, with no coasting. The sun was beating down on us but there were some small wet areas where trees afforded a bit of shade and frogs cheerfully croaked a greeting. The other roads were in Oak Hammocks or Pine Flatlands and more hard-packed so it was easier to ride. 

The trail in the oak hammock

The trail through the scrub prairie

Where we rested and watched the birds before returning to the campsite

Back on the main drive we stopped for a rest at the side of the river and watched Ibis, Great Egrets, Anhinga, and Osprey wheeling through the air and roosting in nearby trees. Each time we crossed the bridge over the water we stopped to look at the 6-8 alligators that can always be seen sunning themselves there.  By the time we returned to the campsite we had ridden 12.6 miles. After resting a while we rode a mile back to the Nature Trail to walk it as the sun set. In a clearing there was a flock of turkeys and a wild hog that raised its head to watch us for a bit, then loudly snorted, turned tail, and trotted away. In a marsh area there were two roseate spoonbills and other water fowl. We came out at the Treetop Canopy and climbed it in time to see the sun set from its lofty tower. We had minestrone soup and fruit salad to complete our Meatless/Motor-less Monday.

Roseate Spoonbill roosting in a tree

Wild boar

Sunset from the Treetop Canopy

Marv hopped out of bed first thing Tuesday morning and rode up to the Ranger Station to get our required permit to hike in the Wilderness Preserve. After breakfast we made a lunch and drove to the nearby gated parking area. It is a 2.7 mile hike through scrub Prairie to get to Deep Hole at the foot of Lower Myakka Lake. Deep Hole is an ancient 134 foot deep sink hole. It looks like an ordinary lake on the surface but we learned it has a deep “dead zone” of oxygen deprived water partway down. No plants live there and fish or other aquatic animals that enter the zone can’t escape and soon die, sinking to the bottom to become part of the deep gelatinous layer of goo at the bottom. As we hiked in we saw two couples and a group of three heading back to their cars. When we hiked out we passed one couple hiking to Deep Hole. We were all alone the rest of the time, with only the wild life sharing the vast expanse of prairie and then water. On Deep Hole we saw more roseate spoonbills, Glossy Ibis, Great Blue Herons, and a large number of White Pelicans. Gathered around a small inlet between the lake and the sink home were at least 30 alligators and innumerable vultures, all sharing the shoreline without seeming to notice the other. We found a log in the shade of trees near the shoreline to eat our lunch, walked a little way around the lake until the ground was too wet, and then left the peaceful area. It was into the low eighties by the time we hiked back and we were grateful for passing clouds that gave us some respite from the hot sun. Along the way we saw an osprey, a red headed woodpecker, and an Eastern Towhee, the latter which we identified back in our camper with the birding app on Marv’s iPod. When we got back to the truck the GPS took us to a McDonald’s about 6 miles away where I drank two large ice teas and Marv had a caramel sundae while we used the Wi-Fi to get two days of LSJ, answer email, and catch up on Facebook. Afterwards we did some grocery shopping before returning to the park to grill spinach-feta sausages for dinner and relaxed in the camper, where we ran the air-conditioning for a while to try and drop the humidity a bit. It had been another great but tiring day.

Peggy hiking to Deep Hole

Alligators and vultures around a small inlet at the edge of Deep Hole

Red-headed Woodpecker with a treasure in its beak

Eastern Towhee

We could spend all day Wednesday within the park, enjoying activities offered there, so I made spaghetti sauce in the Crockpot. We started at a 9:00 coffee hour held at the CCC log pavilion about half a mile bike ride from our campsite. We talked to Frank and Sandy who were camping in Palmetto, across the main road from Old Prairie where we are. We pedaled through it on our way back since we hadn’t seen it. Back at our campsite we did some housekeeping and reading before we had lunch. Then, because it was threatening rain, we drove the truck to Low Fox’s Road to take a guided hike of a small area with Ranger Nikki. As we returned we stopped at the Bird Walk once again and found more birds than we had seen before, including harriers, ospreys, spoonbills, the ever present Great Blue Herons, egrets and ibis, and even a tri-colored heron. Since it was on the way we stopped at the Outpost for ice cream for Marv and a giant pickle for me to use their WiFi. After enjoying angel hair pasta with the spaghetti sauce we rode our bikes back to the log pavilion for a presentation of “Florida Stories” and more music from the “Cracker” couple who had entertained at the coffee that morning.

Ranger Nikki leading our small group

Great Blue Heron with a festooned alligator

Tri-colored Heron

It was cloudy and cooler Thursday morning, just as had been forecast. We got up in time to drive half an hour or so and meet Louise Sternberg at Oscar Schrier State Park for the wonderful blueberry pancake breakfast they cook each week. Louise had introduced us to it two years ago when we camped at the park and it was fun to be there with her again and see people who have come to know her greet her once again. Since the weather wasn’t great Marv and I left there without doing any hiking and instead drove north to Sarasota to spend the rest of the day at The Ringling. The legacy of John & Mable Ringling now includes The historic Asolo Theater, the Original Circus museum, the Museum of Art, the Tibbals Learning Center, stores and cafes all on the grounds of their mansion Ca’ d’Zan and surrounded by the lavish gardens that Mable loved. It took all day to do it justice and since the day remained mostly cloudy and cool it was a good way to spend our time. The miniature circus and parade in the Learning Center were highlights, along with the many short film clips that were available throughout the original museum. They also have Ringling’s original luxurious converted Pullman Car in which he traveled all over the east setting up the circus’s next stop.   It was surprising to hear that despite his millions that John earned and spent during his lifetime, he died with less than $400 in the bank and only saved the mansion and museum by willing them to the state of Florida. When we had seen all we wanted we had the GPS guide us to Snook Haven for dinner. Mary Anne and John Larzelere recommended it highly and we soon learned why. Started in 1946 on the banks of the Myakka River near Venice, the smokehouse is famous for its food and simple presentation at wooden tables on sprawling porches on cardboard platters with plastic silverware. We split a smoked fish spread with their homemade potato chips and then Marv had fish and chips(more of their homemade chips) and I had their pick 2 platter—my choices were ¼ smoked chicken and baby back ribs with fresh corn on the cob and black-eyed pea salad. Everything was absolutely delicious and the smoked meats were fall-off-the-bone tender. Outstanding!!! It was about 9:00 by the time we got back to the campsite, where we didn’t have enough signal to listen to the MSU/PSU basketball game. But about 11:00 we magically had a small window of signal in time to hear the wrap-up at the end of the MSU victory. We both wanted to watch Jay Leno’s final show as host of the Tonight Show so it was a late night at the end of a very long day.

Miniature Circus: "Back door" to Big Top

Miniature Circus: Midway

Miniature Circus from above

Peggy relaxing on the piazza by the water at Ca' d'Zan

We slept in a little bit after our late night and gathered our laundry together before making scrambled eggs with lots of veggies, bacon bits, and cheese. We spent the morning doing three loads of laundry and doing a little more housekeeping, including making another marinated salad for lunch. Before eating it we hopped on our bikes and rode to the picnic area near the front gate and then hiked along the river. There were quite a few alligators sunning themselves as best they could on a cloudy, cool day that wouldn’t make it above 70°. (As it turned out there were far more alligators along here than there would be at the bridge today.) Lunch was the marinated salad and a fruit salad as we try to use up some foods before we move on. Since it was our last day we agreed we wanted to go to the Bird Walk one more time so we rode our bikes there but were disappointed to find few birds there today. We also stopped at the Outpost one last time for Marv’s ice cream and my pickle and some time on WiFi. As it got cooler and sunset approached we took the Nature Walk again but the animals all seemed to be hidden away there too. Angel hair pasta and the last of the spaghetti sauce tasted even better in the cool temperatures and then we watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics from Sochi, Russia. We had ridden our bikes over 11 miles today and 28 miles during our stay at Myakka. It was really nice to spend a week here and get a chance to feel like we had really experienced this wonderful state park.