Winter 2017--Lithia Springs Part 1

Lithia Springs: We were relieved to find that we had our choice of five campsites when we arrived at Lithia Springs County Park on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 12. By the next day the camping was full and stayed that way most of the time we were there. We took a site across and up a few from our favorite sites that are against the woods towards the river, but we have a large area of greenery and growth behind us here for privacy, too. 

It wasn’t going to be as convenient to get to the bathroom as our site at Myakka, where we could easily go every night for a shower before bed, but it would do nicely. We got set up and then went for a two mile or so pedal to see how the park looked this year. 

Our banner from Cindy Chalou lends a touch of color and class to the camper!
The center panel says "All who wander are not lost".

Last year the water was very high and the Alafia River that runs through the park and is fed partly by the spring was too high to kayak up river as we had done our first stay there. This year the state is in a bit of a drought and the River is too low to take our kayak. The park is one of our favorites and although we started with a 10 day reservation we soon extended it to two weeks. There is a Beef O’Brady’s just down the road where we watched MSU beat osu on Valentine’s Day. Next to it is a Winn-Dixie for some of our grocery shopping and down from there a Publix. It’s a pleasant three and a half mile pedal through Fish Hawk Ranch to a small strip mall where we had breakfast on Valentine’s Day at Scrambled Eggs. After breakfast we drove to a nearby Hillsborough Park called Blackwater Creek and took a 3.4 mile hike. 

The Jimmy the Greek--naan bread topped with scrambled eggs, spinach, feta cheese, tomatoes,
Hollandaise sauce, and a balsamic reduction plus a fruit cup--was an excellent choice.

This small tributary to Blackwater Creek is just a damp area right now.....

...but there were a few Florida iris drawn to the wetness.

Some kind of Bluebird was tweeting away overhead as we walked by.

Tampa is a day trip away and we are near to Plant City. We are also near to Largo, where Louise Sternberg had just moved, and where Jill and Dan Baker live so we drove over Wednesday to visit them and we called Thelma twice to wish her Happy Birthday! 

Much of the furniture is on backorder so seating is a bit sparse right now.

Her bedroom has a big, well lighted walk-in closet.

Her screened balcony overlooks the golf course. There is also a pool at the complex.

Jill and Dan screened in their patio for a nice seating area. Their home
 is right along the fairway for their golf course.

The living room

On the way home we used a Groupon Marv bought for Bar-B-Que at Uncle Mike’s the day after Valentine’s Day and they gave me a really lovely (leftover) rose as we left.

The spring is more shallow than last year but it's always a refreshing place with its 72 degree water.