After our Caribbean
cruise we headed south of Miami. We visited the Coral Castle while we were
there. The Coral Castle was built over a
26 year period by one man, yet only a few children reported seeing it being built.
It’s an interesting place with a fascinating history. We finally stayed at our
timeshare on the beach in Jupiter, FL after having owned it for 26 years. We
loved it and will definitely go back! We did enjoy our visits with many of our
friends and relatives in FL.
We headed back toward
Orlando and picked up our canoe and trailer from storage. We went out canoeing in
the Crystal River area, looking for manatees but they had moved into the Gulf.
The last time we were here it was in January and dozens of manatees were enjoying
the warm spring water in Crystal River. We also canoed the Ichetucknee River
and went for a dip in the headspring. From here we went to the Okefenokee
Swamp. Our first day there the mosquitoes were in a feeding frenzy. The breeze
picked up and the next day in the swamp was beautiful and bug free. Next we
explored the mountains in northern Georgia. We hiked part of the Appalachian
Trail and met several hikers attempting to hike the entire 2174 mile trail.
Pat at Coral Castle in FL
Crested Caracara
Barred Owl
Canoeing in the Okefenokee Swamp in GA
near Helen GA
from Biltmore Gardens
Biltmore Estate
Linville Falls in NC
In North Carolina we
toured Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate (built before there was an income tax!). We
took the free audio tour and walked the grounds and gardens. We moved to a
timeshare in Boone, NC for a week and hiked trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway
during a rainy week. We returned to our
place in Lewisburg and stored our canoe and trailer until the next trip
south. There were numerous wild fires to
the east in VA, so we headed north and camped at Watoga SP for a few nights. We
listen to the ranger at Droop Mountain SP describe the Civil War Battle that
occurred there. We also spent a few hours at Manassas Battlefield and learned
about the first battle of Bull Run. We
stopped in to see Tom, Marie and Nick, but managed to knock the refrigerator
vent cover off the roof of the RV while negotiating a tight turn into a parking
space. Tom repaired the cover to road worthy status. We watched as Nick led his
basketball team to victory. Carol and Cordale arranged a cookout to welcome us
back to MD.
