Winter Travels 6

February 11-21: Nervous about getting a spot at Lithia Springs County Park where we could stay through Presidents Day weekend (they don’t accept reservations), we ended up leaving Myakka a day earlier than our reservation. It was probably good that we did. We had our choice of 5 sites, none of them our favorite, and all of them filled by Sunday evening.  The person at registration was nice enough to look at the sites we prefer and none of them was going to be available while we were there so we went with an okay one (#7) in the first loop that had the advantage of lots of shade as the weather continued to be record highs in the 80s and no rain. The temperatures made a dip in the Spring especially welcomed and we went in more times than other years.

Relaxing at campsite #7

Hiking up the Alafia  River at the campground

Hiking up the Alafia  River at the campground

The nice thing about Lithia Spring is how centrally located it is. And being so familiar with it makes it very comfortable for us. We rode our bikes many miles again through the adjacent Fish Hawk neighborhoods, which we have watched develop over the years. We biked to Scrambled Eggs for a breakfast, and went to our favorite “Tony’s Café” for a breakfast and a lunch. The annual Tigers vs Central Florida spring training opener was happening after we left but we still arranged to meet Ross and Pat in Winter Haven at the practically historic Andy’s Drive-In for their hamburgers and shakes for lunch. We went to Redington Beach to see John and Brenda’s new house and took John out for lunch, missing Brenda, who was presenting at a conference in Washington, DC, and seeing Louise Sternberg at her apartment. After church at Faith Family UCC which we discovered last year, we returned on Sunday for a family bar-b-que where we met Christy’s family, Brenda’s son Russel’s family, and Rob Marshall, as we all celebrated Louise’s birthday together. And we made another trip west to Ybor City and took the historic street car to the Riverwalk in Tampa. We watched two MSU basketball victories at Beef O’Brady’s and one at our campsite. The last one was extra special because it clinched at least a share of the B1G title, and best of all Bob and Cindy Chalou joined us at the campground and at the game on their way to camping in the Florida Keys. 

John and Brenda's house, which John designed is magnificent! Three blocks from Redington Beach,
they tore down the modest house they had and rebuilt according to Hurricane standards. 

Back of the house

All the living area is on the second floor, which can be accessed by inside and outside stairways,
and an elevator, so they can live here for a long, long time and Louise can easily visit them.

The great room is open and airy and they have no carpet to trip them up or get moldy.

This second level screened porch, accessed by multiple sliding doors expands the living area a great deal.

Hiking down the Alafia River from the campground

This huge mansion has been in progress for at least 4 years. The exterior was being painted last year. This year
there didn't seem to be anyone working on it but the retaining wall to the left of the driveway was new. 

Tributary creek flowing into the Alafia River

I think we take a picture on this bridge over the creek every year.

We discovered Medard Park, another campground in Hillsborough River County, last year and found it was a great place to kayak. Because of the heat, we went in the morning this year and found the reservoir to be placid and not busy at all.

Leaving the boat ramp

We went into two bays and paddled around. We didn't see a lot of wildlife but the
birds were making such a racket of singing that Marv took at video to capture the sound.

The Anhingas spread their wings in the sun to dry them and to rid them of insects.

Help me out please someone--is this a cormorant? 

One can tell this is a female anhinga by her distinctive brown "turtleneck".

This Great Blue Heron flew in and posed for us on the gated-off boardwalk, closed because of
damage from Hurricane Irma, which pulled up a whole section from its moorings.

The renovated hexagonal sidewalk in Ybor City

Ybor City is the terminus for the historic street cars to downtown Tampa Bay.
We could park free and ride all day for $2.50 each! What a deal!!

We happened to take the same car going and coming.

We took our streetcar all the way to the last stop in Tampa, walked most of the
Riverbank along the Hillsborough River, and took the streetcar back. 

Remember the Hillsborough River picture at the state park? It looks very
different down here as it meets Tampa Bay.

We watched a pair of dolphins that were swimming up river and
wondered if that is a common occurrence.

A selfie as we enjoyed a cold beer at Sails along the Riverwalk.

Interior of our streetcar

Brenda's daughter-in-law, Valerie with Scarlet and Ari come to Louise's
apartment several times a week to help her with correspondence and to visit. 

Christie Marshall and her son, Tom

Rob Marshall and Christie's husband, Jeff

John and Marv look at pictures on Facebook from their 50th Reunion.

Louise directs the singing of Happy Birthday

Much of Louise's family is gathered around her
Back left: Brenda, Ari, Valerie, Russel,  Rob, Christie, Jeff
Front left: John, Louise, Scarlet, Tom

John, Marv, Louise, Peggy, Brenda, Ari

Watching MSU at Beef O'Brady's with Bob and Cindy Chalou. It was quite amazing
that their trip to the Keys worked out to bring them to Lithia Springs, where we got them
a campsite for the night, and then all had dinner and cheered on our Spartans.

We left satisfied with our stay despite the omnipresent campfire and cigarette smoke, partly due to our proximity to others. And we had two mysteries to occupy us: 1) the story of the group next to us for all but the last two nights, which consisted of two young men, who left pretty much all day and their anorexic/drug addicted? mom who stayed at the campsite all day long, doing nothing but chain smoking and squatting on the picnic table bench for hour after hour after hour, and 2) the story of the campsite next to that one with the tent camper set up and we never saw a person or vehicle, but the tableau changed with a TV running for 24 hours then a tarp thrown over most of the camper then things added and removed from the picnic table until two guys showed up Saturday morning who closed it up and drove away. 

Winter Travels 5

February 6-11: Myakka State Park was surprisingly dry compared to other years when we’ve visited. Our campsite was right across from the bathroom which was nice because with the hot, humid weather we enjoyed a bedtime shower every night, and doing our laundry on site. 

Our campsite served us very well and we could dump our tanks at the site before we left.

Only about a half an hour from Oscar Scherer, Myakka is like a different world, with no phone or internet signal at our campsite. About three miles down the park road, on the shore of Upper Myakka Lake, there is a store and food grill up on stilts, where they also sell tickets for the tram ride and air boat ride, rent bikes and small water craft, etc. They used to also have internet service there that doesn’t seem to exist now, but we found we could get a phone signal and LTE signals there (and on the end of the Bird Walk even farther into the park!) so we satisfied ourselves with riding down there with our devices when we needed to communicate. This year they also offered a special evening at the grill, which usually closes at 4:30, when they had a duo playing guitars and singing up on the deck and a special menu which included prime rib and blackened snapper. They had flowers and candles on the picnic tables and wait staff to take and serve our orders. Marv and I shared a table with Ray and Judy, whom we met earlier when we biked down to the river, and a nuclear engineer visiting from a conference in Tampa who used to come to Myakka as a kid. It was a very pleasant evening and our delicious snapper with salad, broccoli and red skins, was only $15.00 each! The weather at Myakka the whole time was still perfect for our biking (again around 35 miles) and hiking and kayaking. And it was amusing to find that we met up with three other couples that we recognized from Oscar Scherer, snow birds like us staying warm and traveling around Florida for the winter. 

Across the lake from the Birdwalk we could see three wild hogs. We rarely see them
but signs of their destructive rooting are everywhere in Florida. The restricted area called Big Hole,
to which we've hiked in the past, was closed much of the time we were at the park because they
were doing a hunt south of the Highway. 

The Birdwalk 

An Osprey hunting/fishing over the water

This is just a few of the 17 white pelicans gathered off a point across from the Birdwalk.
The Audubon volunteer with a scope said there were about 70 there earlier.

Great Egret in flight

 

Our new bird learned this year was the Glossy Ibis.

There weren't as many birds or alligators at the weir as we have seen before.

 One day we packed a lunch on the back of our bikes and rode to the area at the bend in the road with two benches. We enjoyed a solitary picnic there and then went on to the Sweet Meadow Pastures Ranch trail too hike a few miles into the scrub oak flatwoods to where Mrs. Palmer established her highly productive and innovative ranch more than a hundred years ago.

This alligator seemed totally fine about the stick across its snout as it glided along.

The two track ranch trail

Two Sandhill cranes

 Despite my misgivings, which kept me awake the night before, we inflated the kayak and took it on the very placid river that is loaded with alligators. Of course, we had no problems and it was a great day for a paddle.

One of many alligators we saw as we paddled by. Most just laid there,
but occasionally they would silently sink underwater, leaving us to wonder
if they were swimming right underneath us.

This is probably the largest alligator we saw during our time at Myakka.

Great Blue Heron

When we met Judy and Ray along the river bank they encouraged us to take the power line trail to the water, where they had seen many roseate spoonbills and other wildlife. We rode our bikes to it and then hiked but didn't see much at all. Since we had time, we returned to the Nature Trail and Canopy Walk and THAT'S where we saw the wildlife. As we entered the trail, a guy coming out said a herd of about 20 wild hogs of all ages had crossed the path in front of him. We didn't see them, but we saw lots of water fowl. 

Wood storks, Great Egrets, and Roseate Spoonbills

The "Bridge"(above) on the Canopy Walk isn't as high as the platform,
which is about 76 feet high. 

As usual, we didn't see any wildlife from up here but it's a nice view.

Panorama view from atop the Canopy Walk