Crystal River

The Crystal River is similar to many of Florida's coastal rivers...short (this one is seven miles total) and spring fed and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. There are hundreds of springs feeding the Crystal River with a flow of two billion gallons of fresh water a day into the river. The Crystal River is named for its crystal clear waters which enable manatees to be seen from above. The manatees love this river with its relatively warm water of 70 degrees. So do the gators!
Bo and I loved our boat ride today on the Crystal River. We followed the river down to the Gulf of Mexico where salt water enters the river...the fresh water floating on top of the heavier salt water. Such a magnificent landscape!


Local Fishery

Approach to Gilligan's Island




Reality Check

Way Down on the Suwannee River

The Suwannee River is the second longest river in Florida and has one of the largest undeveloped river delta-estuarine systems in the nation. Our explorations there yesterday elicited new sights and sounds, as well as amazement at the natural diversity of this many faceted ecosystem. The waterscapes seem endless and endlessly varied...marsh, wetland, swamp, sea prairie, keys, beach, and many transitional areas too.





Water World!


















What would Smoky Bear Say?!

Red Letter Day!

Today was an eventful day for seeing birds and other wildlife in the swamps of Florida. At the beautiful and pristine Wakulla Springs, we saw our first manatees in groups of three and four. I like to think of them as lil manatee family groups, although the manatees weigh up to 2000 pounds each.
We also were fortunate to view a bird that has just this year returned to Wakulla Springs State Park after an absence of seven years. Seems that the hurricanes in the 1990's caused high water which destroyed the apple snail habitat which is the main food source of this bird, the Limpkin. This one Limpkin is the only one who has returned (so far).
To top off the day, we saw another Life List bird for us...the Red Cockaded Woodpecker.





Check out this encounter with a manatee...it could have been me!

St Marks NWR

Today we spent all day at the St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, hiking and birding. This refuge is one of the oldest in the United States. It was established in 1931, encompasses about 70,000 acres, and varies in elevation from sea level to 30 feet above sea level. Despite the small elevation differential, there are many different habitats including swamps, tidal marshes, piney wood flats, and hardwood hammocks. It all depends on water levels and whether it is fresh or salt water. We saw 30 different bird species including the Eastern Towhee, and the new to us, Fish Crow.
For dinner we enjoyed soft shelled crabs which are eaten whole, including legs. Yummy!



Bo in a Blind!

Florida!

After lingering in Louisiana and enjoying the heck out of it, we finally made a dash to Florida in a one day blitz of 238 miles leaving Mississippi and Alabama in our wake with nary a backward glance. Spent our first night in Florida at the Big Lagoon State Park on the Gulf Coast south of Pensacola in a big ole thunder, lightning and downpour rain storm, made even more exciting because we were camped in a wetland!
Another 200+ mile day brought us to Panacea on Ochlockonee Bay (south of Tallahasse) where we will spend a few days seeing the environs. Today we got on the bikes again for a 30 miler on yet another wonderful Rails-to-Trails bike path. So much fun to ride without traffic! I didn't even use my rear view mirror and I listened to my Ipod...such a dare devil!



Alternative transportation!

Birds of the Aviary at the Audubon Zoo, New Orleans

It sure is fun to be up close and personal with these exotic birds. I don't know the names of many
of them...so if you are able to ID them..please inform me! Be sure to checkout the green eye of the
Great Egret. Enjoy!

Click on the link for my birdy show:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102502208877571134076/BirdsOfTheAviaryAtTheAudubonZooNewOrleans

Cycling the Tammany Trace

 The Tammany Trace is a 27 mile cycle path along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain that traverses wetlands and pine woods. It is as flat as a pancake and straight as an arrow.  Bo and I enjoyed riding it this morning, especially since we have not been on the bikes in over a month.

Bo on the straight & narrow.

Thanks Rails-to-Trails Conservancy for your part in making this
bike path happen, especially in Louisiana where cycling on the
streets is the domain of those who are certifiably nuts!  Cars have the legal right of way over every other form of transport, even pedestrians.

Views from the bike path

Time to turn around

Louisiana bayou country

Leaving NOLA

We have just about worn ourselves out with pre-Mardi Gras partying here in New Orleans. Not that it hasn't been a blast, but now its time to move on to a venue of less food and drink, and more exercise!  Yesterday we did an Insiders New Orleans Tour where we saw secluded private courtyards and aristocratic homes. Topped that off with a visit to the aviary at the amazing Audubon Zoo. Then ended the day with a seafood dinner at the Redfish Grill in the French Quarter followed by yet another Mardi Gras parade!  Whew...no wonder we are pooped!

Ever seen a white alligator??

New Orleans - Pre Mardi Gras

New Orleans is a city of sights, sounds, and smells. As I prepare this blog entry, a band is practicing nearby for one of the many upcoming parades. Mardi Gras runs for about three weeks with parties, balls, parades and endless drinking and eating! John and I have been in the French Quarter for just two days and we are already exhausted! I have added photos of just a few of the many sights of the French Quarter. The sounds of New Orleans range from the ships and barges on the Mississippi River to the constant clinking of ice in glasses to the bands on every street corner. Street musicians are as numerous in New Orleans as Starbucks are in Seattle. Aroma of the French Quarter is heavy on the puckey from the mule drawn carriages, with scents of cigar smoke and spilled beer.

We toured the areas of the city most heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Turns out that the city of New Orleans is in a basin (below sea level) between the mighty Mississippi River and very big Lake Pontchatrain. So when it rains here, the rain water has to be pumped UP and out of the city to the lake. After Hurricane Katrina, there was 13 feet of standing water in New Orleans that was not totally pumped out for 2 months. Downtown New Orleans was closed for a year. Imagine that!!

Birth Place off Jazz!

Music is everywhere in NOLA!

Mardi Gras Lite

Bo and I enjoyed the Mardi Gras parade and festivities in Lafayette, Louisiana on Saturday night. The streets were lined with folks gawking, singing and dancing as 23 floats and 6 marching bands passed by. The costumed 'riders' on the floats tossed out bead necklaces, stuffed animals, toys and bric-a-brac to the crowd. Ya had to be watching cause the bead necklaces where thrown with force and I got clobbered a couple times. It was a crazy, fun time. And No!, we did not see any boob flashing.

Party On Dude!

Bead Laden Floats

Float riders tossing bead necklaces.

Swamp Boat Tour

To a couple of ole Northwesterners (turned Californians), the freshwater swamps of Louisiana are quite exotic. Our boat tour of a Louisiana swamp was through a classic swamp landscape of bald cypress and water tupelo trees draped with cascades of Spanish moss. The floral and fauna are all new to us. Our skilled and humorous Cajun skipper steered us through the tannic brown waters and into close proximity to alligators, turtles, nutria (giant swamp rats from South America), a great blue heron rockery, and many other birds. A swamp is typically a flooded area off of a bayou. A bayou is more like a creek with a continual water flow, however sluggish that flow may be. So a true swamp will dry out every year and this gives new plants and trees a chance to establish themselves. Thus a swamp is a forested wetland, characterized by the natural growth of trees.




Swamp Sights

Visiting Bird City

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler! We are passing a very good time down here in Southern Louisiana. We spent the day in a beautiful 200 acre garden filled with magnificent live oaks trees and early spring blooming camelias, azaleas, and magnolias. This garden is on Avery Island that has been owned by the McIlhenny family since around 1800. Such a great story of how in 1892 Mr McIhenny realized all the great white egrets had disappeared from the island. The great egrets had been decimated by plume hunters to serve the fashion world of the day. Mr McIhenny captured seven young birds and put them in a man-made nesting area of bamboo on pilings over the water. From then on the egrets returned to this protected area every spring to nest and raise their young. Now the area is called Bird City because 20,000 egrets show up each spring.


Daniel Bo


Magnificent Live Oak Trees




Full Bloom Beauty

Cajun Culture

It is almost like being in a foreign country here in Cajun Country. Bo and I have difficulty in understanding the language, the food is hot,hot,hot!, and the trees and plants are a twist on the floral we have known and loved. Yet we are loving it!
Last evening we had our first Cajun supper at Randol's restaurant in Lafayette. It was a five star alarm meal for me!! For appetizers we had deep-fried boudin balls and gator bites. (Yes, alligator!) I had crawfish etouffee while Bo downed three pounds of boiled crawfish in a cajun sauce. All washed down with local Abita Springs beer.
During our meal, we were entertained with live Cajun music and dancing. Fun and lively time was had by all.


Bo prepares to devour 3# of crawfish.





Cajun music and dancing.