Panama City Beach

Since we love Jimmy Buffet, we always drop by his place any chance we get.

It's pretty quiet and deserted now, but in several weeks when spring break starts, look out.....

Now this is some chair!

We even entertained by the waitress and the hula hoop.

The sunset was our goal, but it was cloudy and sunset was sort of funky.  But I still love being on the beach at sunset.

  We had a nice dinner at Sharky's while watching the sunset on the beach.

Mardi Gras in Panama City, FL

We got to Panama City and found there was a Mardi Gras Parade .

Choices, choices.  What to choose for Mardi Gras.  Na, I don't think so.,

Not this one either.

Yeah, this one might be it.

These little girls are all ready for Mardi Gras.

Everyone has their own idea for a costume. I thought this was pretty good, but I do wonder how they see.

Max's hair really got long while we were in Florida.

Max's Mardi Gras hat.

The Parrot Head Club Float.

I agree with that!

This band had its own tram.  No marching for them.

What fun on our first day in Panama City.   I can't wait to see what we will do next.

More Kayaking and Exploring the Homosassa SpringsWhere

The grounds of the Moose Lodge are covered with these large pinecones.  They are the largest I have ever seen.

One of the highlights of kayaking the Homosassa River is Monkey Island.

The monkeys (originally 3 spider monkeys and 2 squirrel monkeys) came from what is now the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park.  They were brought back from Africa by Dr. Hamlet, but they were causing trouble at the park by escaping, stealing things from tourists and even biting.  One of the developers of the park also built the island from a pile of rocks in the river which boaters were forever hitting.  They moved the monkeys to the island and they have lived there happily for many years.  They island and the monkeys are privately owned by Riverside Resort and they are fed twice daily and their habitat is changed often so the monkeys don't get bored.

Everyone got a kick out of Charlotte's dog kayaking with her.  I don't think Fancy would stay still that long.

Just north of Crystal River is the Crystal River Archaeological Mounds.  The mounds date back  before Christ.  Some scientists even believe the mounds could be as much as 10,000 years old.  They were abandoned before 1200 A.D.  The museum has lots of pottery shards and flints, some that date back to 300 B.C.

Homosassa Springs and area

Florida has some soft, soft sand and I found it.  Thank goodness for Coach-Net Road Service.

The Yulee Sugar Mill ruins, now a state park, is located in Homosassa Springs.  At one time sugar cane was a common crop in the area and each plantation had its own sugar processing mill.  The mill opened in 1849 and provided sugar, syrup and molasses to the confederate soldiers.

Part of the process was cooking the juice, squeezed from the sugar cane, through a five step or kettle process.  The juice would cook in these kettles, being hand ladeled from the largest to the smallest, each kettle getting progressively hotter.  By the time it reached the final kettle it was a syrup.  After being cooked, it was cooled in large wooden vats.  As it cooled it would crystallize.  Sugar back then was not white, but brown.

North of Homosassa Springs was Crystal River and Three Sisters Springs.   Because the water all around this area is warmer than the gulf, even if only a few degrees, the manatees gather during the winter months. Some of the more inhabited areas are roped off to people and boats.  Manatees are protected and you are not allowed to chase them, harrass them, touch them, feed them or bother them in any way.  If you are snorkeling you are not allowed to dive down to look at them.  If you are kayaking, don't float over top of them either.  You are subject to fines of up to $1000 for bothering the manatees.  But there are still people out there snorkeling and we paddled close, just tried to give them some distance.  There are supposed to be around 500+ in the Kings Bay area of the Crystal River alone.
Manatees, commonly known as 'sea cows', are large, slow moving mammals which live in water.  But they are air breathers and come up every few minutes for air.  They are either used to people and ignore them, or they are unaware of us, I'm not sure which, but these didn't even seem curious about all the people and boats.

Visiting Oklahoma and the grandkids

I spent three weeks in Oklahoma, visiting kids and grandkids.  The hands on science museum was visited not once, but three times.  And I always love going to the zoo.  All too soon it was over and I flew back to Florida.  Here are a few of my favorites memories.

Only 3, but that girl knows what she wants.

Loves to climb and play outdoors.

The science museum has a simulator.

and you can see what is happening inside from a video screen.

They are experiencing the simulation of returning to earth.

That is one big table.

This fighter jet cockpit was most popular.

They love me.  They even made me these wonderful pipe cleaner glasses.

He could have spent the entire day building dams and redirecting the water.  

At home the computer keeps his attention.

What is it about boxes that captivate kids?

He's practicing to be the next big rock star.

Key West and the End of 2011

One advantage to being retired military or retired DOD is being able to stay at the many military bases around the country.  My favorite is Trumbo Point at Key West.  Boondocking just a mile from downtown Key West, it's easy to walk down to Mallory Square every evening to watch the sun set, or it's only a short bike ride over to the beach.  

One more item to check off on my bucket list.  

You are about 600 feet behind the boat and about 300 feet high.

All too soon it's over and they reel us in.

This osprey was raising her 2 chicks in the campground.  You sure knew when they were hungry.

The next few pictures are some of the highlights of Key West.

The name says it all.  No tables, no chairs, just a walk up bar.

I haven't been on all of it, but I imagine I traveled 80% of it this past summer and fall.

This is where it begins.

And of course there were the beaches.

I took the picture from the back side rather than stand in line for 30-45 minutes.

You can't miss Mallory Square

Sometimes as many as 5 or 6 street performers are going at once.  You can wander from performer to performer.

Even his dog gets into the act before it's over.

Live music every afternoon and evening.

We spent one afternoon just listening to the music.

The only country bar in town.

This was our first stop on New Years Eve.

Not many people dancing but everyone wanted to ride the bull.

We decided to wander to see what else was happening and found CNN was covering the 'dropping of the shoe'.  The streets were packed.

Yes, that really is someone in the shoe and it will drop to the ground on the last 10 seconds of the year.

But at the other end of Duval and down on the waterfront was the dropping of the wench on a pirate ship.

She made it down safely and we rang in the new year.

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2012.