Manatee Springs State Park and the Shell Mound

Cypress tree and its "knees"

Magnolia cone

While staying at Cedar Key, we visited Manatee Springs State Park, and "no" we did not see any manatees. We were told where they had been in the morning and we looked, but we couldn't find them. The park did have a very nice boardwalk through a cypress swamp which was pretty fantastic or creepy looking, depending on what you think about swamps. The cypress have "knees" that grow up over their roots and look like little troll houses.  I liked the explanation that they add support to the tree base, but I am not certain that is true.

Loblolly pine.

Cabbage Palm

 

Fantastic cypress swamp (or creepy)

We also went on a self-guided walk through the woods (2 miles) to learn about the local vegetation, the results of planned burning and a recreation of a Native American chickee hut.

Chickee hut

Then there were quite a few vultures hanging around in the trees and on the fences, and they were creepy... I have no idea why they were hanging around. There must be food there somewhere. We just kept moving and looked lively!

Traveling along, we visited a shell mound which looks like a small hill, now being covered with plants and trees. This is a Native American site that covers 5 acres and is the result of 3,500 years of shells, bones and household debris disposal. It is 28 feet high and where the ground is eroded you can see all the shells.

George in the background walking up the shell mound. The whiteness of the path is from the shells.

Cedar Key, Florida (West coast of Florida)

Downtown buildings

We are staying near Cedar Key at a very nice RV campground. Cedar Key is a small "old fashion" town that has an artsy downtown street and a number of seafood restaurants and tourist shops on the water. We walked the main street visiting an artists' cooperative, viewing some street art, buying a few small items and picking up some stamps at the post office (Do you know stamps cost $.49 now?)

Seafood restaurants literally "on the water"

sign for a seafood restaurant on Main Street

mosaic street art

Swamphead Big Nose IPA with George in the background 

We had a lunch of oysters with pelicans flying by the windows. George had a choice of a local beer - Swamp Head Brewery - guess which one he chose? Wild Night, Big Nose IPA, Stumpknocker, Cottonmouth or Midnight Oil?  Big Nose...of all the names! Swamphead Big Nose!











There are no pictures of the Doppler Radar for last night. We heard the thunder and had some rain, but the severe weather front sort of split, passing to either side of Cedar Key. The weather alarm did go off rather loudly at 4 AM, for a tornado watch for the county, and that's how I know what the radar looked like. Our RV neighbor said that split happens quite often.

Fort Pickens - Gulf Islands National Seashore

These are our beach photos from Fort Pickens-Gulf Islands National Seashore. This is a barrier Island not far from the Alabama state line.  It has elevations of no more than 6 feet with "roads will flood" signs consistently reminding you of that fact. The sand is absolutely gorgeous made mainly of quartz eroded from the southern Appalachian Mountains. It looks like sugar.

When we looked to our right down the beach, we saw the fishermen and to our left, there was no one as far as we could see. The water was "refreshing" and luckily I didn't need refreshing!

Boardwalk over the dunes to the beach.

The only crazy person in the water...and I am married to him!

A view down the beach with fishermen surf casting.

Me with my sun hat tied down.

Had lunch with this pirate.
Pensacola Beach is right outside the park.

Now we're heading for Cedar Key, farther south on the Florida gulf coast.

Naval Live Oaks Area, Gulf Shores Nat'l Seashore

Today, we hiked several of the trails of the Naval Live Oaks Preserve established by President John Quincy Adams to secure timber for naval shipbuilding. Live oaks are not only decay resistant, dense, heavy and strong, but their curving and branching growth habit make them especially suitable for ship frames - buttocks, knees, and such. The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides," is built with stout live oak frames.

 The contemporary forest is very dense with live oaks, magnolia, and pines with hanging Spanish Moss, giving it a magical appearance.


 As we were hiking back along the beach, a brown pelican was flying towards us parallel to the shore line. Suddenly he wheeled and dove into the bay. He must have spotted a school of fish because he repeated this a number of times, giving me multiple opportunities to capture his fishing technique.

 

National Navy Aviation Museum-Naval Air Station Pensacola Florida

Since being here at Fort Pickens, we have seen and heard a number of "roaring" solo jets flying by at  low altitudes. Well, the National Navy Aviation Museum on the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida is right across the bay, and  closer by kayak than it is car...if we had kayaks.  Both of us really enjoyed the the tour we took of ONLY the first floor of the main building. I really wouldn't mind going back for another tour. The tour guide is what made it for us.

I don't think we have a photo of this, but there were four Blue Angels Skyhawks suspended in a diamond formation in one of the foyers....and what's wrong with this? They are NOT as close as they would be in an actual flight formation...I'm not sure if that makes me want to see them fly or not want to see them fly.

This photo is taken from the National Navy Aviation Museum web site.

And since we can not give a full summary of today's tour we will choose a couple of items on which to comment:

In 1942, Blimp L-8 based out of San Francisco was looking for submarines off the coast. The last radio contact said the crew of two men was descending to check out an oil slick on the water. Area ships reported they saw the blimp descend and then ascend. The blimp then returned to land, seemingly blown toward the shore and got caught up in some poles and wires. The two crew were not on board and were never seen again. They were wearing flotation devices which were missing from the blimp.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless on display was a naval scout and dive bomber. It survived Pearl Harbor, and the Battle of Midway, where it ended up with 200 bullet holes that were patched up, but it could not survive a student naval pilot.  It ended up dumped in Lake Michigan and was resurfaced and restored for
 the exhibit.

Catalina PBY-5 Flying Boat

P-40 Flying Tiger

Campfire at Fort Pickens

Fort Pickens - Gulf Islands Nat'l Seashore

 Yesterday we left Davis Bayou in Mississippi and drove to Fort Pickens National Seashore,  just beyond Pensacola Florida. We crossed the bridge onto the barrier island, and as we are driving to the camp site I keep looking to the left, just beyond the the "low" sand dunes thinking...are we lower than the Gulf?

We had a line of severe thunderstorms pass through last night with some impressive rain, wind, lightening and thunder. The tornadoes touched down further north. The weather stations keep you posted on what is happening and when you are here in a trailer, there doesn't seem like there's much you can do.

The weather was beautiful today, a bit on the cool side but good for biking and walking which is what we did. The land seems very much like Cape Cod, MA...the way it looks, the sand and scruby trees, the warmth of the land and the way it smells.

We visited Fort Pickens which was in use before the Civil War to WWI. My most interesting facts are:
1.) the original fort was constructed with 21.5 million locally made bricks and
2.) in 1899 a fire reached one of the gun powder magazine and blew some of those brick across the bay about 1.5 miles!

George and I agree that our campgrounds at Davis Bayou and here at Fort Pickens are both places we would return to on another trip.

Our Casita tucked into the live oaks at our campsite.

Beauvoir

Today in Beloxi, Mississippi, we visited Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy. Beauvoir means "beautiful view" and indeed from the front porch there is a wonderful view of the bay. The beach has the most perfect sand.

Before the Civil War, Jefferson Davis was a U.S. senator from Mississippi and had also been Secretary of War. Once Mississippi left the union, he resigned from the senate as a much respected member, returned to Mississippi and became president of the Confederacy.






At the end of the Civil War, Davis was captured and imprisoned for two years. Some time after leaving prison, being without resources, he rented a small home on the property of Beauvoir from a family friend in order to write. He later agreed to buy the estate. The owner died shortly after and actually left Beauvoir plus other property to him in her will because of her great admiration of his character and their friendship. Her sons were not happy and sued! Davis took out a loan to pay the sons the previously agreed price.

Beauvoir was built 8 feet off the ground for "air conditioning" reasons, (I take that to mean, breezes) but had 18 inches of water in the house from the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina causing much damage. The outside of the building is still being repaired.

An example of the beautiful oak trees on the property. These trees are called "live oaks".

This is a photo from Sam Houston Jones State Park in Louisiana. A nice man took it and sent it to us. As you can see we are "in the bayou." The trees are cypress trees and we spotted no alligators...but maybe they saw us?

Yesterday we left Grand Isle and drove to New Orleans where we took a day long tour and learned a lot about this spectacular city. We plan to return and spend more time on our next visit.

This is one of New Orleans older cemeteries. I won't go into all the interesting facts I picked up there, but in the back corner there was a group of 5-6 tombs from families who were neighbors when alive, and they must have been such good neighbors, they decided to be buried next to each other as well. Neighbors in life and throughout eternity!

This is Jackson Square, at the heart of New Orleans. There is a great story about the woman who helped to revitalize this property in the 1800's as well  constructing buildings near the square. I will leave it to say the story includes four gun shots at close range....but she survives!

After touring New Orleans, we drove to Davis Bayou, Mississippi which is part of the National Seashore. There were a few accidents on the highway that made it bumper to bumper for quite a while. We arrived after dark and the campground gate was locked....but luckily a car came by and gave us the entrance code. We then drove around reading all the reservation tags at any empty site until we found ours.  After getting the trailer set up, it was time for a glass of wine! It was a long day...

For those of you who watch HGTV, here is an example of a "tiny house" right here at our campground. It is really a beautiful looking structure. It seems to be a home for two adults and two smallish children, by the looks of the bicycles.

And finally here is a photo of Davis Bayou this morning. It was a glorious day of biking in the bayou and into town for lunch and some shopping...and we saw an alligator!

Photos from the beach at Grand Isle.

This is part of a very large flock of Black Skimmers. They form large colonies during the non-breeding season. Every day this flock of about 200 birds can be found at the same spot on the beach. They are strange looking birds, almost the size of a herring gull, but with a large red-orange/black beak. The lower bill is substantially longer than the upper. It feeds by flying close to the water and dragging its lower bill in the water. When it encounters a small fish the top beak closes down sharply catching the fish. Seems like a tough way to make a living.

These little mud volcanoes are the openings of the extensive communal burrows of the crustaceans known as ghost shrimp in the intertidal zone on the beach. They are evidently fairly deep and complex, about 3 - 4 feet down. We tried to dig them out but didn't have any luck finding the critters.

Finally a photo of our camping spot, and a map of southern Louisiana. Grand Isle is certainly way down the bayou in Cajun land.

Toward the back of the Casita are the vegetated dunes and beyond that a very wide and shallow beach. Today the park is sparsely occupied and very quiet. During Mardi Gras there were more visitors because of local school vacations, but still not full. Although it is pleasant weather, a little chilly at night, this is definitely the off-season.

Tomorrow morning we're visiting New Orleans, then moving on to Davis Bayou, MS of the Gulf Islands National Seashore