Beaches, Springs and Rivers

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Friday, 13 January, 2012

It has turned cold. We went down to the beach to take pictures of the sun setting and the wind was brisk and chilly. The clouds prevented really good sunset pictures, but I’ll post a few anyway.

We left St. Joseph Peninsula SP and drove east on US 98, planning to stop at Perry’s Walmart to get a prescription filled. Unfortunately, we didn’t find Walmart and just continued on to Manatee Springs SP near Chiefland. We managed to find a camping spot for the night and set up before dark. We decided to stay for a second night and made plans to try for the last available walk-in spot in the morning.

Saturday, 14 January

Kerry went out at 8 and got the spot for tonight, but we had to break camp and move. Luckily the new spot was a shorter walk to the bathrooms and to the springs. After dropping the camper at the new spot, we went into town to Walmart for the prescription and other items on our shopping list. After dawdling around at the store, we finally got back and set up the camper and ate lunch before heading down to the springs. The water was extremely low, don’t know if manatees could even swim up the run to the springs. We did see some manatees in the Suwannee River at the end of the boardwalk from the springs. I do love the cypress knees along the boardwalk, some look like people standing around in groups. The trees are full of Spanish moss and buzzards.

Sunday, 15 January

We woke up cold this morning. It was 33 degrees outside and 43 inside. Sometime in the wee hours we ran out of propane for the furnace and the little electric heater just couldn’t keep up. Since we couldn’t remember when we last filled the propane tank, we weren’t really surprised. We managed to find an Ace Hardware store in Bronson that sold propane and got our tank filled. We’ll be warm tonight.

We are at Hillsborough River State Park, between Zephyrhills and Tampa. Our campsite is close to the river. Tomorrow morning we will go down and see the river and take some pictures. When we pulled into our campsite, there was a hawk watching us from the tree next to our camper. We met some nice people from Colorado and enjoyed a chat with them this evening as our supper was cooking. This is a beautiful park, we may have to come back again.

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Photos

Spanish moss and colorful leaves
at Manatee Springs

Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico
Our last evening at St. Joseph Peninsula SP

Dunes at Sunset
St. Joseph Peninsula SP

Manatee Springs
The springs area at Manatee Springs SP

Cypress Knees
at Manatee Springs, they almost look human.

More Cypress Knees
This has an otherworldly look

Last one, I promise
The village

Suwannee River
from Manatee Springs SP

Old Man Tree
Bare trees and lots of spanish moss

Hawk overhead
Next to our campsite at Hillsborough River SP