End of a Perfect Day

We went to Schooner's to watch the sunset. Had drinks and dinner overlooking the beach. Listened to the band and more people watching. My drink is called The District and is the same color as the ocean.


Waiting on the sunset.
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They advertised that they shot a cannon from the beach at sunset. This is the cannon---not the one we expected although it sounded just like a big cannon and even smoked!!!

The sunset--enough said----it was a perfect day!

Panama City Beach

This is my favorite stop of the whole trip. We are in St Andrews State Park on a peninsula in the Andres Bay. We can sit outside and watch boats go by. The beach is a short drive away and in between we have seen deer, alligators in a pond, and lots of birds in the marsh. You would never know that we are in a city. The water is emerald green and the sand is the whitest!!


This morning we drove over the the county beach where there is a long fishing pier. We walked out to see if anyone was catching anything and spent two hours enjoying the view and talking to people. Fred even helped gaff a few fish.


He met these fishermen from Georgia.

Then we went back to our beach. The dolphins come just offshore here and boats bring people out to swim with them in the wild. We can sit and watch on the beach. The water was chilly but I did get in.


Lots of people watching, boat watching, dolphin watching, and bird watching made this a perfect day!!!

Steamed Oysters----Yummy!!!

The guys cleaning the oysters with a pressure washer---you might not eat them if you watched this.


James steams then in huge pots and then we dig in

James, mother, Billie and her husband John joined us.

These are so good with cocktail sauce and butter.

Billie, Judd, and Martha dig in while John looks on.

Jackson

Martha, Kathy's oldest, had a baby boy, Jackson in August so we got to meet him.
James, Kathy, Martha, Jackson, and Judd

Jackson playing in the motorhome.



His first swim

Fred's visit with his sister

Fred's sister, Kathy lives west of Daytona. We spent the weekend with her family.


Warm enough this year that we could swim all weekend (with a little help from the heater)

They had a very tall dead pine tree and since Fred is REALLY good at taking down trees in the neighborhood, he bet them that he could put a stake down and make the tree fall at exactly that spot.

He did it with Kathy's help. This is one of their Jack Russell's. Tex had a great time playing with them.

Martha, Jackson, and Kathy in the pool

Lake Country

We camped at Lake Harris just NW of Orlando. This area has more lakes and they are all joined by canal and rivers----what a boat ride that would be. We passed through orange orchids and orange juice factories all along the way. This one was by our campground. (My maiden name is Harris)



Tex and I walked out on the pier just down from our campsite. We saw this bird and heard a grunting in the mangroves . I didn't think anything of it although the grunting was constant. Tex, however, was pulling at his lease to go back----he never does this. I was so mad at him for acting up.


We found out the next day that the grunting was a mother alligator---her babies wander off and this is the way they can find their way home. They also crawl out on the grass under the pier and could have blocked us from getting home. We did not walk by the lake again----they love dogs. All the lakes in Florida are full of alligators and no swimming signs are posted.

Sunset on Lake Harris

Vizcaya

Blogger is finally working again!!! Our first stop after the Keys was in Miami---this is the John Deering winter home built on Biscayne Bay. Took a guided tour----house was built with lots of technology back in its day. We also walked the gardens.


Can you find Janice??

Overlooking the bay

The formal garden