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Meg, David, and Tooty
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Bob & Shirley
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Bob and Ellen
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David and MomShrimp soon to be devoured |
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Meg and Bob
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David at Smather's Beach, Key West |
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Shirley, David, and Tooty
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Tooty's backgarden table
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Toasting With Raw Oysters
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Shirley in Fruit and Spice Park
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Bob next to Sausage plant |
Later, as we were driving through the Big Cypress National Preserve, we stopped at a visitor center. In the ponds out front, we saw adult alligators. Not too long after that, we picked our campsite (Monument Lake Campground, not marked on any of our maps, but on the NPS website) near a quiet lake with the warning sign you see below. We saw a small alligator just a few feet off shore. When I told my sister Meg about this, her reaction: "Tourists! You do know that alligators come up out of the water at 30 miles per hour. And you camped near there?"
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First place we choose to camp
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We disappoint other guests by leaving in the morning
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Mid-day stop at boardwalk through cypress forest
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Shirley on suspension bridge
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Next day after eating breakfast in a local restaurant (Bob had thick waffle), we climbed the St. George lighthouse. They were miffed that the Federal Government had prevented them from operating it during tourist season because it would disturb turtles, although every other lighthouse on Florida panhandle was allowed to operate. We then visited St. Joseph Peninsula, where the sands were noticably whiter. We walked on beach and Bob swam. The day was calmer "yellow flag".
We visited the library in Appalachacola and toured the local shops, also saw the shrimp boats docked at the wharf. Ate dinner at Harry A's restaurant in St. George.
The bridges from the mainland to St. Georges, and to St. Josephs, are a sight to behold. Huge and white spans climbing into the sky, each visible from the other.
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Stop at Sugarmill on way to St. George
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Shirley on the beach at St. George island |
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Bob cheering as he enters surf at St. Joseph's |
Find the 4 frogs.
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Notes, Thu, Oct 29: We drove in pouring rain through Georgia and Mississippi to get to Louisiana. Rain let up when we got to Tickfaw State Park, which unabashedly describes itself as built in Tupelo Swamp - the usual alligator warnings. It was buried in the middle of nowhere, requiring us to drive on smaller and smaller roads.
We picked the driest tent campsite we could. Lots and lots of mosquitos. When we were in the tent we saw hordes of them trying to get through the netting.
The camp has a raised bathhouse and laundryroom. We met an incredibly nice guy who was formerly a film critic and had spent years on the road. We learned a lot from him as we talked late into the night in the air conditioned, mosquito proofed, laundry room. In particular, we learned about the National Park senior pass, $10 for life, which gets you into any national park, forest, or corp of engineers campground for 1/2 price, and lets you enter the parks, etc. for free.
We took no pictures of Tickfaw and were glad to leave it in the morning.
Notes, Fri, Oct 30: We drove in pouring rain through Louisiana to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We could not take the scenic route we wanted because the roads were flooded out.
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Flooded city park, just before road closed sign |
We stayed the first night in Hot Springs at Lake Catherine State Park, arriving at the campsite late. We saw several deer wandering around. There was an industrial complex across the lake from the campground and the noise from the nearby vending machine at the bathhouse was irritating. We decided to spend the next night at Hot Springs National Park. We took no pictures of Lake Catherine.
Notes, Saturday, Oct 31
The campground at Hot Springs National Park was the prettiest we stayed at throughout this trip. We camped just above a river where we watched that evening as a kingfisher flew up and down the river just above the surface several times.
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Campsite at Hot Springs National Park |
Shirley enjoying breakfast at campsite. |
The weather was perfect. Clear blue skies and warm temperatures. We thoroughly enjoyed hiking in the park and walking around Hot Springs. On the trail we saw both lizards (including the northern fence lizard shown below - thanks to Gail at the Hot Springs NPS for identifying) and a beautiful speckled snake (speckled king snake, which eats other snakes).
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Along the trail to Goat Rock in Hot Springs National Park |
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In town we visited the Fordyce Bathhouse - now a museum run by the park service with the original equipment and furniture. The hot springs still come into it. We were flabbergasted in reading that once upon a time, people tried to cure syphillis by injecting, breathing, and being patted down with mercury.
It was Halloween, so children paraded up and down the sidewalks, collecting candy from merchants. The children were so cute. We saw a beautiful princess and her sister Wonderwoman, among others.
We walked the promenade, had gumbo for lunch, bought a National Park senior pass, filled bottles with hot spring waters (142 degrees F), went to the top of the Hot Springs tower (for half price), which gives magnificent views of the surrounding mountains.
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Shirley fills jug from the hotsprings |
Bob touches the 143 degree water |
We went back to the campsite and watched the kingfisher. Then spoke with a couple who were down on their luck - he was a cook out of a job, they were living in their van, headed towards Kansas in hopes of finding work. They were very nice to talk with.
We went to bed that night in the nicest of all campgrounds, thankful for the weather and such a wonderful day.
At around midnight, the family from hell, perhaps let loose for Halloween, pulled into the campsite next to us. They boasted about how it was time for everyone to wake up. (Quiet hours are from 10pm until 6am). Made a fire in the grill a few feet from our tent and got it to flare up beautifully from time to time. After an hour, a little after 1 AM, we got out of our tent, took the couple of steps to theirs, and politely asked if they could wind things down. They said sure. Then continued. At 2:30 AM they decided it would be really cool to howl like coyotes as loud as they could, which they did. Around 4 AM they finally quieted down.
We got up at 6:45 AM and very, very noisily packed away our gear and left. The two boys in the tent were awakened, we are afraid.
Notes, Sunday, Nov 1
The trip back to Kansas was with beautiful weather and scenery.
Map From Key West to Kansas
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