Southbound in the Sunshine State – Summer 2011

We made our way east into the Sunshine State just in time for the July 4th weekend celebrations. Heavy rains and automobile accidents along our route delayed our arrival into Santa Rosa Beach by several hours, but we still managed to arrived in time to eat a great dinner at one of our favorite seafood restaurants, Bayou Bills. The next day we enjoyed a visit with some our Clemson friends, Louis and Elise in Seagrove. We celebrated the 4th of July evening on the beach where we were able to see several fireworks celebrations along the gulf from Pensacola to Panama City.

Our next stop was in Ocala to visit our friends Curt and Cathy. They showed us many things in the Ocala area and we had a great time with them as always. We departed earlier than planned in hopes of seeing the Space Shuttle Atlantis. We were ver fortunate to locate a resident who allowed us to view the launch from his dock on the Banana River. The next day we were treated to a tour of the Kennedy Space Center where we went to the launch pad and viewed the crawler and other equipment used to set up the shuttle’s launch and learned a lot about the entire shuttle program.

Continuing our trek south we stopped at Fort De Soto Park in Tierra Verde near St.Petersburg Beach on the Gulf. It is a beautiful park. On our first morning there, we were treated to the company of three dolphins continually surfacing near us while walking the dogs along the seawall near our coach. We were amazed at how close they kept coming to us. Camper thought he had found a new (and much larger) variety of squirrel to chase. Camera? Camera? Where was the camera? While in the area, we spent a day at the Greek village of Tarpon Springs where we toured the sponge docks and enjoyed a fantastic seafood lunch overlooking the water.

We headed to our final southbound destination (Ft. Myers and Sanibel Island) a day early in an attempt to elude some of the mosquitos invading the Fort DeSoto area. We still had to deal with the little biters in Ft. Myers, but there weren’t as many. We spent a day just relaxing capped off by an evening on Sanibel and Captiva Islands. We ate dinner at the Murky Duck looking over the Gulf, and then strolled along the beach watching a beautiful sunset (shown below). Ft. Myers was also the location for the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. I had visited these sites when I was a high school student years ago, but seeing them again was still a delight. A morning tour of their homes, gardens, and Edison’s research lab was both informative and fascinating. Edison’s discoveries, inventions, and contributions to our everyday lives is almost beyond comprehension. We spent another morning walking through the swamp land of Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. A botanist’s dream, but not many animals. It was peaceful and relaxing.

This pretty much wraps it up for our southbound tour. It is time to turn the Tigerden northbound for our return trip. Who knows what opportunities await on the road ahead?

Click Here to view additional photos related to this blog.

As always, we hope we see you down the road…