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!