4 Days Instead of 8 Hours

                  PALM TIKI-WOOD CARVINGS/GULF BREEZE, FL.-CHARLES KNIGHT

A trip to visit family in the Panhandle of Florida from our home on the Central West Coast of  the state, is an 8 hour drive +/-.  For many years, we drive the interstate to get there and back asap.

Now, I take the slow road.  'This trip', the slowest road trip ever, using our motorhome and 4 stops at State Parks along the coast.  How lovely it was.

ST. ANDREWS STATE PARK, PANAMA CITY, FL. SURFERS PARADISE

 














OCKLOCKNEE STATE PARK AND SURROUNDING AREA.  WHITE SQUIRRELS, TURKEY, DEER, RACOON, POSSUM AND GREAT FISHING.

 















MANATEE SPRINGS. ONE OF MY FAVORITES NOW.  VERY QUIET/NATURAL SPRING FOR SWIMMING, BIRDING SMALL TO VULTURES. SUWANNEE RIVER, STURGEON, GATOR DEER.

CRYSTAL RIVER ARCHEOLOGY SITE HAD UNUSUAL POTTERY CHARDS.  UNUSUAL IF YOU FOLLOW SHOWS LIKE THE HISTORY CHANNEL, ON ALIEN VISITATION THEORIES.  I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH AN UNUSUAL PICTOGRAM ON A FLORIDIAN ARTIFACT.


SWIMMING IN FLORIDA, TAKES EXTRA CAUTION.  NOT A JOKE!

CARRABELLE, FL. QUIET, ARTISTIC AND LOVELY.


In reverse order, so it will read well on this blog, I'll do separate posts this weekend, on Manatee Springs, Ochlockonee, St. Joe and St. Andrews State Parks and assorted stops along the way.

Hope you enjoy the photos as much as we did taking them!

St. Andrews State Park, Panama City, Fl.

Stop #4. St. Andrews State Park was a bit big for us.  Yes, we like the remoteness of small parks but St. Andrews is special too.

Quiet places are available.  The beach has a combination of attributes that attract a variety of folks.

  Shelling is excellent, fishing off the beach or jetty should produce a good catch. Photography enthusiasts have endless subject matter. Boaters can ply the bay waters, inlet or Gulf waters.

The Navy has it's Diving and Salvage School located near the inlet, so their vessels are commonly seen transiting the inlet and local waters.

Surfers of all kinds enjoy the action near the breakwater.  Regurlar boards, stand up boards, and wind surfers share the bounty of action.  The kite sailors seem to have the majority of fun though.  Wow, it was exciting to watch them!

Port St. Joe, Florida

The beaches at Port St. Joe State Park are extra ordinary.  I camped here 38 years ago, in my VW van during January.  The temps dropped to 29F that night.  COLD-D-D!
Warmer on this trip and still outstandingly beautiful.

Appalachacola, Carrabelle, Fl.

 Often in our culture, we tear down anything 'old'.  Not true in many foreign countries.  I'm glad some history has been saved, when I can stand and view a slave home on the property of an early leader of Appalachacola.

 How many times had eyes stared out this window?  How much life evolved inside.  Where did the residents and their family go later on? .......................??? questions.

 The 'Main' house is kept up now as a tourist atttaction.  Decorated for Christmas, this one front window with a reflection of the flying American Flag in the glass window, caught our eye.

 NOT store bought, but finely crafted with love and attention in an old fashion kind of way.

 Home garden decorated for the Christmas Season.

 Below, one of several bat houses on the property.

 This part of Florida is slowly giving in to the development that is commonly changing our country from quaint to generic, but much of the 'old' is certainly there and the locals are proud of their heritage.  Nice town, nice vibes.

 A war memorial in a special square, contained bronze statues for each of the 5 US services proudly displayed.  Very Nice!

 Local art had changed this old home into a gallery.  Funky but it sure made me smile.  Had to stop and do a walk about.

 Old, mixed with new.  The 'tire' told you of another chapter in this town's history.  The vine? well the book that is being written.

 Gosh, I was trying to figure out how I could get this sweetie to join my crew!?

 Or this one!!!  Yes, once a sailor, always a sailor..............you don't grow out of certain things.  ;)

 Dorothy noted the nets were colored perfectly for the Christmas Season!

 Not many of the wooden fishing boats left.  Time, hurricanes and the cost of this highly labor intensive craft have taken the majority to the bone yards of the deap blue or the local marshes.  They photograph so well though, and I can't stop imagining stories lived aboard these vessels.

 'Art' in the eye of the (this) beholder.

 A bronze copy of the Vietnam Memorial art standing in DC is at a park in Appalachacola,Fl.

A sight once common when I was a kid, were fields and fields of cotton in the southern U.S.  No more.  This cotton was decorative growth in a private garden.

Manatee Springs to Crystal River Archeological sites

Several times in the past we have chosen to take a slow trip up the coast of Florida.  We have stopped at Manatee Springs 4 times now and love it for it's quiet, natural setting.  The spring this park is named for, is as clear as air, yet appears turquoise.  Folks love to swim or soak in it's cool waters.  Along the short waterway  from the spring to the Suwannee River, the park system has built a wooden raised walkway, to traverse the cypress swamp.

Buzzards lined the tree tops and below, in the mud were constant signs of raccoon traffic.

While sitting in our motor home, we enjoyed the deer walking through the campground eating vegetation.  They were cautious and often looked around.  Later, while walking our dog, we came across deer several times.

 Our dog, a rat terrier/all of 8 pounds was totally confused.  Her eyes were as large as they get.  Seems she had never seen a 'dog ' this big!

Next day, we were traveling north and spotted a sign for an archaeological site along the Crystal river.  I enjoy the history of our hemisphere so turned to investigate.  The site was the remnants of a village along the water dating thousands of years ago.  Various tribes over time inhabited this area.

A shell midden was at one time a Temple Mound with a ramp built leading to a large stone in the center of the village which might have had special significance.  The midden was build entirely of oyster shells.  Sorry to say, part of the midden mound, had been destroyed by early settlers or land owners but it does allow a good shot of the shells.

In the museum was something extremely interesting to me.  A pottery chard (piece) that resembles the large eyed drawing humans have drawn for thousands of years, representing aliens.  Yes, aliens.

I have NEVER seen this drawing on Eastern indian pottery, although in the american south west, this representation of a humanoid is common in petroglyphs.

Also, inside the museum as a very decent collection of man made weapon points, from spears or arrows.  I happen to be lucky enough to have one of these.

This display shows a specific type of arrow head I actually found on the surface of a plowed field in Georgia 40 years ago. It's the 'White' one shown here in the upper right and called by either name,  a Bollen Bevel or a Big Sandy.  It's one of the earliest projectile points found in the South East U.S.  and was believed to be made by the first nomadic peoples venturing into this  part of the U.S 7,000 BC, read that as...........9,000 years ago!  How cool!

Pottery displayed here was pieced together from fragments found on the property.

View from the top of the Temple Mound looking west.