Battleship and Submarine Tours

We headed to Mobile, AL, this morning to tour the Battleship USS Alabama and the rest of Battleship Memorial Park. They are on a small peninsula jutting out into Mobile Bay. When we checked TripAdvisor to see what attractions or activities people recommend, visiting the battleship shows up as number one.

This tour, unlike the Navy aviation museum in Pensacola, is not free. Seniors pay $13 each to get in, a fairly high charge, but it goes to provide maintenance and improvements. No taxpayer money at all is involved in the Battleship Memorial Park. It depends entirely on volunteers and fundraising from ticket sales, gift ship, and cafe, plus donations from supporters.

We've never been aboard a battleship before. This one is quite impressive. There are three self-guided tours, and we did all of them, so we saw the ship from stem to stern and from top to bottom. We had to take a break in the middle to eat lunch.

We also toured the submarine USS Drum.

We certainly got a lot of exercise climbing ladders and going through hatches and watching our heads. The sailors and Marines about these vessels were definitely more fit than we are. They had only three minutes to get to battle stations.

In addition to the two vessels, the park includes memorials and lots of aircraft and military equipment. We were running out of steam after spending more than five hours at the park, so we didn't spend much time on the rest of the displays beyond the battleship and the sub. We've decided that we've had enough of aircraft and ships to keep us for a while.

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Summerdale

We decided to stay home today and get our laundry and some other chores done. By this afternoon we were getting a bit of cabin fever, so we went to the post office to pick up our general delivery mail. We thought we'd look around Summerdale a bit. Summerdale is the town where the Escapees Rainbow Plantation is located.

It sort of turned out that "there's no there there." We found a large square, but no people around it. Only a few local businesses appeared to be operating. We asked at the agricultural chemicals store and were told that this area is the "old town," which once was booming. Pretty much all current businesses are on Hwy 59.

Old cotton warehouse, used as antique mall, now closed.
 
The one open business that caught our attention was Summer Scoops--a fifties diner featuring ice cream, though they also serve burgers and sandwiches. The owner offered to turn on the headlights on the vintage Chrysler.

We had great service and delicious ice cream. We also discovered that Blueberry Pie ice cream has, you guessed it, crushed up blueberry pie in it, complete with crust.

On the way home, we couldn't resist taking a photo of this cute mail box, an iconic green tractor, right in place in this rural farming community.

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National Naval Aviation Museum

It's my 68th birthday today. I got lots of calls and e-cards from family and friends. Thanks, all!

We got up this morning and spent an hour finishing the cleanup of love bugs from the end cap and the truck. We had a real sense of accomplishment, but we also know that it's an ongoing battle.

Then we showered and dressed and headed to Pensacola to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. We have visited two other major national aerospace museums: the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (in Washington, DC, and Chantilly, VA) and the National Museum of the US Air Force (at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH). You can probably see a trend here, keeping in mind that Ken's field is aerospace engineering....

The museum in Pensacola is free. The buildings were funded entirely by private contributions, though the Navy now maintains them. Countless volunteer hours go into restoring the exhibits and guiding tours. We took a trolley tour of the flight line, guided by a retired pilot who served in the Navy and later flew for Fedex. His knowledge and enthusiasm were evident, and besides that, he was quite entertaining.

We also watched an IMAX film called "The Magic of Flight." Although it's about flight in general, it focuses on the Navy Blue Angels. We learned a lot about the training of the Blue Angels pilots and saw some really dramatic and stomach turning footage filmed from the cockpit of a Blue Angels jet. It is amazing that anyone can withstand the G forces involved in the formation and stunt flying, as the land and sky swirl around and go through what seem to be kaleidoscopic transformations, and still be in complete control of the aircraft. The pilots learn to use their muscles to force blood to stay in their heads so they won't black out.

The displays were a bit overwhelming to us. Despite having a map, we seemed to be disoriented most of the time, and there was just too much to see and take in. Probably it would take several visits to sort everything out.

The bottom line is that the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum has the broadest coverage of all facets of flight. Its displays are well organized and interpreted. We think we'd like to go back and spend more time at this and other Smithsonian museums.

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Alabamy Bound!

We left Crestview, FL, this morning and headed west, leaving Florida behind after our visit of 7 1/2 weeks. We very much enjoyed Florida, including our visits with family and our time at the beaches and hiking the Florida Trail, but we are ready to move on.

As we were moving on, we ran into LOVE BUGS! These pesky critters smash into windshields and every forward facing surface of the truck and trailer. It sounded like rain hitting the windshield, except that the bug guts stick like glue and aren't nearly as easy to deal with as rain.  We spent over an hour working on bug removal after our arrival at the Escapees Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL.

By the way, Alabama is our 40th state to add to our States Visited map (see the bottom of this blog page).

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Leaving Paradise?

We woke up this morning and looked out at the rising sun, a fiery red ball just above the eastern horizon, over the Gulf of Mexico. Stunning! We packed up for our move and then took one last walk on the beach, watching the pelicans and herons and gulls and peeps all diligently searching for breakfast.

The camera can't capture the true brilliance of the flaming red orb we saw.

We had noticed another New Horizons fifth wheel in the park, and I spotted their truck at home, so I walked over to greet them. Their names were Linda and Bill, and their rig is a 1996 model 30 footer which they purchased used. That reminds us a lot of one that some friends of ours live in full time. These folks are only occasional RVers and live only 180 miles from Carrabelle. We had a brief chat and wished each other safe travels, and it was time to leave.

We drove through Panacea on the way back to I-10 because someone had told us it was more scenic than Sopchoppy, but we didn't see much of note. I called Uncle Jesse and wished him a happy 83rd birthday. He sounded in good spirits. Essie Lee is going in for minor surgery Monday.

Our route west on I-10 was mainly straight and boring, but it got us safely to our stop for the night, the Walmart parking lot in Crestview, FL. Tomorrow we'll move on to Summerdale, AL, thus adding another state to our "States Visited" map.

The most unusual Walmart parking lot we've stayed in. A large area of the parking lot in front of the store was filled with storage containers.
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Carabelle Beach

We had passed Carrabelle Beach on our way to St. George Island and again on our way to the High Bluff Coastal Trail. We decided this morning to walk along the beach and check out the town of Carrabelle. When we got out of the truck, we saw that the tiny flowers in the ground cover had attracted a host of Gulf Fritillaries, including this one that fluttered flower to flower, posing for Ken's camera.

Gulf Fritillary

The beach is a crescent extending in both directions, and the tide was fortunately out so that we were able to walk beyond the city beach.

The waterfront property is unevenly developed. This mansion represents one end of the spectrum, an example of the degree to which money can command nature.

On the other end of the spectrum we found this RV site. Even "trailer trash" like us could find a little personal bit of paradise on this "Forgotten Coast."

As we walked back along the beach, Ken spotted a dorsal fin. His first thought was "shark," but then we realized that what we were actually seeing was a group of dolphins off shore, probably feeding. Ken actually got a brief video of some of them, but the file is too large for the blog. It was exciting to watch them.

After we left the beach we drove to the Crooked River Lighthouse. The original light was built on Dog Island but destroyed by a hurricane in 1873. The current light was built in 1895 on the coast and continued to guide sailors through the passage between Dog Island and St. George Island. It was decommissioned in 1995 and almost sold as surplus, but a group of local people formed the Carrabelle Lighthouse Association to protect this bit of local history.

Crooked River Lighthouse

We went to the City of Carrabelle to look around. Other than the many marinas, it didn't have much to hold us there, so we headed home.

Carrabelle River

We're guessing that this bear crossing sign must indicate that the local black bears occasionally come down to the shore.

Bear Crossing

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Hike in Hell?

Tate's Hell, that is. Here's the story:

How Tate’s Hell Got Its Name

In 1875, Cebe Tate’s livestock were being killed by a panther. He decided enough was enough and went to hunt down the slayer cat. He headed out into the immense, unknown swamp north of Carrabelle, with his gun in hand. As the story goes, he got disoriented, snake –bit and lost his gun. After seven days of wandering, drinking swamp water and eating whatever he was able to find, he wound up crawling out onto a street in Carrabelle. His brown hair had turned white. When he was asked his name he gasped, “My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came from hell,” just before he died.

Now the area is a state forest, but the name still sticks: Tate's Hell State Forest lies in Franklin and Liberty Counties, and the trail we hiked part of has its eastern trailhead just outside of Carrabelle. We were intrigued by the sign marking the trailhead that we saw on our way to St. George Island and decided to check out the trail this morning.

It turned out to be part of the Great Florida Birding Trail and had the familiar orange blazes, although it is evidently not part of the Florida National Scenic Trail--the one we've hiked a few segments of. That trail runs farther north of here, in the Apalachicola National Forest.

We set out with high hopes that perhaps a high bluff trail would have at least a few vistas of the coastline, but that turned out not to be the case. We hiked through slash pine flatwoods and spotting mainly butterflies and one gem of a dragonfly. We were hoping for a (distant) view of a black bear, since the roadways along here feature many bear crossing signs, but we must have alerted the bears and given them a chance to move out of the way. We did try to keep up some chatter to let critters know we were coming.

Even though we were on a "high bluff" trail, we encountered some wet stretches of trail. For the most part the water was shallow and not too extensive, but then we came to this:

The water was deeper and extended farther up the trail. Besides, we were about ready to turn around and head back to camp. Between the mosquitoes and the heat, we'd had enough hiking for one day.

We've been enjoying the shorebirds, even the sea gulls. Here's one that posed on the pier behind our home this morning.

This evening we walked along the shore, watching the variety of birds and just being soothed by the gentle lapping of the water as the tide receded.
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St. George Island and Apalachicola

What a day! We woke up this morning and looked out on the water, where Ken spotted this heron fishing.

We packed a picnic lunch and headed to St. George Island, crossing the five-mile-long bridge from the mainland. The first thing we saw on the island was the reconstructed lighthouse. We visited the museum housed in the reconstructed Keeper's House. Both are monuments to civic involvement and the passion of the many volunteers who painstakingly cleaned the bricks from the fallen lighthouse and rebuilt.

On the advice of some folks at the museum, we headed next for the St. George Island State Park, which occupies the east end of the island. We walked a one-mile nature trail through some slash pine next to the East Slough.

Then we spent some time leisurely strolling along the beach being constantly entertained by the antics of the many shore birds and the diving feats of the pelicans and some smaller white birds.

Around 4:30 p.m. we decided to shower and clean up for a visit to nearby Apalachicola, a historic town that now attracts visitors with its charm (or so the Chamber of Commerce says). Apalachicola was an important cotton trading port. Now in addition to the tourist business, it continues to be a center for local seafood.

We ate at the Owl Taproom. The happy hour craft beer on tap was delicious, as was the meal. We had deep fried jumbo Gulf shrimp, french fries, Owl slaw and a house salad. Everything was delicious. We topped the meal off with a dessert featuring house-made sea salt caramel ice cream and chocolate mocha rum fudge cake. The service was friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere was casual and not too loud. Just right to finish a day at the beach.

After dinner we walked around the town and checked out the waterfront.

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Ho-Hum RV Park: Gulf Coast Haven

We left Otter Springs after a final walk around the camp this morning. Our destination was Ho-Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, FL, in the Panhandle. We have a beach front site--what more do we need to say? Lots of entertaining bird watching out the windows.

We took a walk along the narrow beach at low tide this evening. This place is called "Ho-Hum" for a reason, they say: nothing to do but relax and enjoy the peace and quiet and the beach on "Florida's Forgotten Coast."

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Nature Coast State Trail

We biked another part of the Florida Greenway system this morning. The Nature Coast State Trail runs for 31.7 miles, but it is not in a straight line but rather more like three spokes from a hub. The "hub" is in Fanning Springs. We started at the trailhead in Trenton, at the old Trenton Railroad Depot and headed west towards Old Town. Our destination was the historic railroad bridge over the Suwannee River.

The trail runs pretty much straight as an arrow, paralleling Florida Hwy 26 and separated from it by only a narrow band of vegetation.  Part of the way there's a canopy of trees overhead, but for most of the route we were trying to stay as much as possible in the shade of whatever trees and such along the path. The weather cooperated, because after a bit the gathering clouds obscured the sun and kept us a bit cooler. It even sprinkled on us enough to cool us off a bit, but not enough to really get us wet.

We were happy to arrive at the now familiar Suwannee River. It is continuing to rise and to run rather more swiftly than usual.

The railroad bridge is indeed an impressive structure.

At the Old Town trailhead, we turned around. At least we think we were at the trailhead. It was the least marked trailhead we have ever seen, with no amenities. In fact, there were no signs at all, just a grassy verge for parking.

Next we rode south a bit to the Fanning Springs trailhead. It is much better marked, but has no facilities aside from a parking area. However we were happy to discover restrooms and even some picnic tables just a few hundred feet north of the trailhead. We stopped for lunch and had the little park all to ourselves.

After lunch we got back on the bikes and headed back to the Trenton trailhead. Although the trail, like most rails to trails routes, is mainly level, it had been slightly uphill as we rode away from Trenton. We enjoyed the slight downhill as we rode back, making the last few miles of our ride a bit easier. Altogether we rode almost 25 miles.
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Sleep In

We slept in, so we had a lazy summer Sunday morning and didn't eat brunch until nearly noon. In our walks around the campground we are noticing that there are some groups camping together. Lots of little kids running around enjoying themselves. Lots of kids in the indoor screened and heated pool. We are happy to be on the other side of the campground in a quieter atmosphere.

We did our laundry today. Each of the two bathhouses has an outdoor laundry area at the back, with two washers and one dryer. We put the first two loads in to wash and headed out for a walk around the campground. The laundry took longer to finish, since we had another load to wash and dry, but the setting was lovely.

On our walk Ken spotted another red shouldered hawk. Yesterday he saw a raccoon as it was disappearing into the brush, so I missed that one. We're seeing lots of butterflies, mainly swallowtails, but also some Julias and sulfurs.

We started down one of the trails to the Suwannee, just to see how far we could get. The answer was "not very far." We soon ran into flooding over the trail.

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Water Water Everywhere

We set out this morning to take our morning walk along one of the nature trails leading from the campground to the Suwannee River. All was well as we walked along on the wide, sandy trail. Then we came to some water on the trail. We walked around it, pleased to be able to outflank it in the sandy woodland.

We came to the "Stilt House," one of the cabins you can rent. It sleeps 8 and is a real bargain at $85 a night. No one is in it right now, which is not really surprising, since the river is rising, and the water is nearly up to the house. A few feet later, we discovered that we had been outflanked by spreading flood water, so we turned around and went back to the campground to walk around. We found flooding everywhere (except in the campground itself). The volleyball net and grills in the photo below are standing in water.

Much of the water is covered with the same little green plant we've seen elsewhere. It gives the illusion of a solid surface. Googling led to the identification of this plant as "duckweed."

We walked along the "yellow trail," the only one that is currently open. It's a small loop and appears to be an overgrown former campground, complete with electric posts and site numbers.
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Happy Birthday, Shawn, and Moving On

 Today is Shawn's birthday. She and Chris are at the coast staying with her mom and step-dad. When I called, they were walking along the beach.

We left the Crystal River area today and headed north about 60 miles to a county park and campground near the Suwannee River and the Florida Nature Coast Bicycle Trail. Otter Springs Park and Campground is an honest to goodness family camping spot, complete with kids running around and swimming in the indoor pool, overall just having fun. We even saw some campfires.

Our site, #103, is a long pull through with a view of the DirecTV satellites. We're on the edge of the campground, so our area isn't as crowded as some of the more interior sites. All the sites have shared utilities, which means alternating directions parking and really close quarters if the sites are full. We're hoping we won't get a new neighbor between us and the adjacent rig.

We went out this evening after it cooled down a bit (only 83 degrees), but we had to cut our walk short because of the abundance of mosquitoes.
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