Ahhh, Florida

We finally headed inland from the gulf coast and made our way into Ocala. Driving through the countryside on Hwy. 27, we got to see the beautiful horse farms that fill the area. Ocala is one of the major thoroughbred centers of the world, with over 1,200 horse farms.

We also got a chance to have dinner with some former neighbors, Bill and Casey, who had moved back to Florida a number of years ago. It was fun to catch up with them.

Ocala was our first experience with RV parks that aren't. Most of the parks are really set up to accommodate the sno-birds who winter in Florida every year and they are filled with permanent trailers, mobile homes and park models. If they did have an RV spot, it was usually in an area close to a road or railroad track. In California, we would call them Trailer Parks! We're learning to search out state and county parks instead. Most of them are well designed to handle large RV's like ours and have full or partial hook-ups. And of course, we're still happy to boondock at the friendly, neighborhood Wal-Mart.

Edward Menard County Park outside of Tampa Bay

This was our first real exposure to alligators living in the lake. Lots of fisherman... none of them using float tubes. ;-)

We took a day off from prepping our taxes to take a sight-seeing tour around Tampa Bay. The whole bay is lovely and we especially liked the area around St. Petersburg. It was funny to us that the news programs always refer to the "bay area". Makes us feel like we're home!

Our lunch spot at the Parkshore Grill in St. Petersburg. Yum.

Moving south, we stopped in the Sarasota/Port Charlotte area. The beaches are very popular and we had found the perfect spot for lunch on Venice Beach. Hmmmm, is lunch becoming a theme?




Above Les's head is a huge Staghorn Fern attached to a palm tree. The Staghorn is an epiphyte plant, which is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant, but they're not parasitic (unlike mistletoe); they get their water and food from the air. Epiphytic plants are sometimes called "air plants" because they do not root in soil. Spanish Moss is also an epiphyte.



(Tanda, I took this photo just for you!)

Taxes

We finally parked the coach for a few days and focused on getting our tax paperwork pulled together to send to the accountant. This is my first time trying to do this 'on the road'. There were a couple of challenges, but mission accomplished! Yeah!

Thank you.

Do you remember when the toll takers on the bridges in the SF Bay used to say "thank you"? I do. Well, here in Tampa Bay, they still do. And they smile, and say "have a nice day". And we did.

Okay!

Okay.

More white sand beaches

Doesn't this just make you want to drag your beach towel and a good book down to the beach? Gulf Shores, Alabama

Having a beer and a snack at the beach.

We just lucked into this great site at Gulf State Park. There are almost 500 sites at this State Park, and we got one right on the water.

Biloxi Mississippi

Beautiful white sand beaches, great weather and a lovely picnic lunch on the beach. What a great way to spend an afternoon.
Les wouldn't let us call it a day until I could loop the kite. =)

Hurricane Damage

You hear so much about the damage that Katrina did to New Orleans, but you don't hear much about Mississippi. I can tell you that having whole houses blown away is pretty devastating. We were so amazed by what we saw: beachfront property with nothing left but the pillars that Gulf homes are built on. A local told us that some of these were historic homes. So sad.

These were taken in Waveland/Bay St. Louis Mississippi

Beignets and Cafe' au Lait

It was 1994 the last time we were in New Orleans and what I remembered most were the beignets at Cafe du Monde, so a trip into the french quarter was essential for these oh, so, decadent french doughnuts. Beignets, coffee and soft drinks is all this restaurant has on it's menu. It's really all they need!
Would you like some powdered sugar with your doughnuts?

Miss Cynthia, this picture of Tujaques is for you.

The french quarter appears to have recovered from Hurricane Katrina, but I was amazed at how many for-sale signs are there.

Jackson Square

Port Fourchon

We headed out one morning to drive to Grand Isle State Park, but along the way we encountered signs telling us the park was closed (due to Hurricane damage, of course). So instead, we headed south to Port Fourchon. Sounds exotic, doesn't it... What we actually discovered was a working port for offshore oil drilling. We were amazed by how many rigs you could see just from the beach.

This photo's are stitched together and so are a little large, but it's interesting to try and count the drilling platforms. Just click on them to see them full size.

And the refinery...

Lagniappe

On our way through Houston, we were able to have dinner with Tara, the remaining Texas gal that I had met on my Thailand trip. Fun evening! It was wonderful reconnecting with these fabulous women. I would love to travel with any of them again!

The Painted Churches of Texas

There are about 15 of these painted churches in Texas. From the outside they look like many other churches, but on the inside nearly every surface has been painted with beautiful colors and the stained glass windows are breathtaking. Built by 19th century immigrants, inscriptions on the walls read not in English, but in the mother tongue of those who built them: German and Czech.

You can read more about them here: http://www.klru.org/paintedchurches/

We spent about 4 days in Beaumont, hanging out with Deborah & Jeff. Unfortunately, they had to work (bummer) and so we spent some fun evenings together, until the weekend rolled around. We pitched in to help with some home maintenance, while they were working. Les installed an electrical outlet outside and I did some painting in the bathroom. It was actually kind of fun to have some projects to work on.

Salt & Pepper ~ AVERY ISLAND - Land of Tabasco!

Just outside of the town of New Iberia, Louisiana, is Avery Island. Considering how Les appreciates a good hot sauce, this side trip was a no-brainer for us. We had the misconception that the island part of Avery Island meant we'd have to cross some major water source to get there, but really it is just surrounded by bayous, salt marsh and swampland.

Tabasco was created by Edmund McIlhenny in 1968. The basic recipe, the process by which it’s made, and the ingredients remain unchanged. (Basically peppers, salt and vinegar). All Tabasco sauce is still made on the island, but the peppers are now mostly grown in Latin America (however all the seeds come from the island). The peppers have to reach the perfect stage of red before they're picked (they start out green and then go through yellow and orange before turning red). The pickers even have a small wooden dowel "le petit bâton rouge" painted the correct color to compare against the peppers. After they're picked, they're mashed and mixed with salt and placed in white oak barrels to ferment for up to 3 years. The barrels come from Jack Daniels, who by law can only use their barrels once! The history is fascinating and you can read more here: http://www.tabasco.com/tabasco_history/mcilhenny.cfm#targ

Here's the most impressive fact about Avery Island: it's really a SALT DOME. This 6 mile island is the tip of a mountain of salt that is 8 miles deep; one of the worlds largest salt mines. Picture it this way: if you fashioned of pure salt a lifesized model of Himalayan Mt. Everest, it would still be so much smaller than that plug of salt that there would be room to add a dozen or so of the major mountain peaks of the Allegheny range. (Taken from the Avery Islands Jungle Gardens brochure.) Wow! The salt is mined by through a shaft 530 feet deep. Oil was discovered on the island in 1942. Five generations later, the McIlhenny Company is still privately held by direct descendants.

Son, Edward Avery McIlhenny, or "Monsieur Ned" as he was affectionately known, is credited with saving the snowy egret from extinction. He founded this bird colony—later called Bird City—around 1895 after plume hunters had slaughtered egrets by the thousands to provide feathers for ladies' hats. Monsieur Ned gathered eight young egrets, raised them in captivity on the Island, and released them in the fall to migrate across the Gulf. The following spring the birds returned to the Island with others of their species, a migration that continues today.


"Jungle Gardens" is the 250 acre natural area created by Monsieur Ned, which includes numerous native and imported plants.

Look closely, that's a baby alligator.

Lagniappe means something more or a little bit extra...