Westward Ho!

Getting ready to take off down river. 

Turtles and birds sharing a log

This blue heron struck a lovely pose.

We followed a family of manatees as we both
drifted with the current.

 

But not far with Baby this year. For three years we've driven as far as California, but this year Baby stays in the East while we will fly westward. From Winter Park we drove a short distance to Silver Springs State Park for two nights. We stayed there for one night last year and really liked it. The short canoe trip we took then wet our taste for a longer trip, so we booked the 5.2 mile trip down the Silver River. It's a one way paddle, and downstream, so totally relaxing. In fact we had no trouble paddling most of the way but had more challenge with sitting on the canoe seats for hours! This trip can take from 2 to 5 hours - it took us 2.5. The fellow who picked us up was impressed by these old folks - very satisfying.  On the way we saw a lot of manatees, turtles and fish, one alligator, and no monkeys. The latter was disappointing as we saw a lot of them last year. There are over a thousand in the area!

Our first day we went over to Navarre beach and walked before having dinner there. Here's our view of the sunset!

And the view from our RV "Baby" the next morning! That's Santa Rosa island in the distance where we had dunner the night before.

We split up the trip from there to Santa Rosa RV Resort by staying one night in Tallahassee. The weather was rainy so we went out for dinner - at another BJ's Brewhouse - and it was good deal again. But we were off early for the 4 hours drive. Our favorite RV park welcomed us with it's beautiful beach, friendly folks and heated swimming pool.  We were in that pool within an hour of settling into our site - which is right on the beach.  And that night we had dinner on the beach overlooking the Gulf. 

But more on our stay at Santa Rosa in my next post!