February 10 - 11, 2017 Salt Springs & Daytona

Randy by Salt Springs


 

We moved south due to not being able to get reservation at Stephen Foster State Park (or any other state park) over weekend and we couldn't get into Disney campground till Sunday. We stayed at Fisherman's Cove RV in Tavares, FL.  We didn't care for the campsite which was on the side of a hill, but it was just for 2  nights. We did find a great Italian restaurant to eat at and went to Brownwood which is a shopping and entertainment area for a development called The Villages which is a group of communities in the Florida area.  In the center of the area is a square were they have live music surrounded by restaurants and shops.  Joyce found a spice shop and it was fun to see all of the spices and teas they sold. Most of the vehicles around the square were golf carts.  I don't mean golf carts I mean FANCY golf carts.  We saw a Mustang and Thunderbird, just a few to mention. Everyone just drove their golf carts up to the square, and the carts were parked EVERYWHERE!

Fisherman's Cove

Orange grove

Gotta have a golf cart

Too cool

Mustang

Brownwood entertainment and shopping

Center of Brownwood sqaure (live music)

Spice store

Walls of spices and teas

The next morning we decided to drive up to the Ocala National Forest with just the truck to check out some of their campgrounds.
Salt Springs campground is a nice area with springs that fed out into a lake.  This campground is a "walk-in only".  What that means you have to be there and if there are any open sites you get one.  You can't reserve these.  It makes it difficult to get a site if you are 5 hours away when one opens up.  Once you get your site you can stay there for 21 days without moving. So it is difficult to get into even with one of the rangers giving Joyce some hints. One of the campgrounds we checked out, we felt uncomfortable trying to just get the truck thru the sites. Another campground that had been recommended, only accepted RVs under 34 feet. Our fifth wheel is 35 &1/2 feet, so we didn't even drive thru.

Springs that feed the lake, the water was so clear.

Great Egret

You can see the water coming out of the caverns that feed the lake. The springs are 74 degrees.

Had some BBQ

We ended up heading east for the Daytona Beach area which is on the east coast of Florida.  This is the Atlantic Ocean side.  We made it to the beach so Joyce could say she had her feet in the Atlantic Ocean this trip.  Daytona Speedway was nearby and Joyce wanted me to go by it.  I was there when I was a teenager.  We drove around the roadway that circles the speedway and stopped at the museum where they have tours of the race track.  We got there too late for a tour, but looked around the souvenir shop. Joyce offered for us to go to the races but I didn't want to spend the money for the tickets let alone for the campground fees which they raise HIGH for Race Week.

Welcome to Dayton Beach

Joyce got her feet in the water again.  Look at that smile.

Oops!  Got a little to far out, a wave got her.

Daytona Beach pier

Daytona International Speedway

Drove around the speedway (outside)

Don't think I can fit through that window anymore

Another penny for my collection

Ready for 2017 race season

Tunnel under the track

View from road around the track

It wasn't in our game plan but seeing the Ocala Forest and then the other extreme Daytona Speedway (just an hour away) was amazing.

Next day we hooked RV back up and headed down the Florida Turnpike for Fort Wilderness Campground at Disney...

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, White Springs, FL

Stephen Foster museum

In looking for campground in Florida on the Reserve America reservation website Randy ran across The Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park. It offered the Stephen Foster Museum, Carillon Tower, Craft Square/Gift Shop and a view of the famous Suwannee River. Randy saw they had pianos and knew Joyce would enjoy those and the "Folk Culture". We stayed checked in February 5th and checked out on the Friday the 10th.



The museum featured dioramas from some of Stephen Fosters songs such as "Way Down Upon de Swanee Ribber", "Oh! Susanna", "My Old Kentucky Home". He wrote over 200 published songs and though they don't believe he was ever in Florida it was suggested and land donated as a memorial to him. The Carillon Tower is home to the worlds largest tubular bell instrument, constructed and installed in 1957. Both the museum & tower offer a collection of antique pianos. They also have craftsmen demonstrating various arts and traditional crafts usually Thursday- Sunday. It also had cabins to rent for those canoeing or kayaking on the river.

Carillon Tower

All during the day the Carillon Tower chimes every quarter hour and plays different songs of Stephen Foster on certain hours.  Who knew you could be camping in a park enjoying something like this.This pic was taken on one of our bike rides from the campground.

We arrived on Sunday at the park.  The site had been raked smooth and was ready for us.

Camp host with his 4 rake drag

The most level and smooth site we've had

Site #26

  After getting setup in our site #26 we went to the museum to listen to a Dulcimer concert they were having from 1:30 - 3:30.  They played the hammer and mountain dulcimer & played Wednesday-Sunday.  The main performer has won various awards for his playing. They were campground volunteers. Jan also played the guitar and piano. Such talent! It inspired Joyce to get her mountain dulcimer in tune & ready to get serious about learning to play her hammer dulcimer!

Dioramas circled the main entrance in the beautiful museum.

One of the many antique pianos. This one had a rare Von Ranko' keyboard.

Joyce enjoying the Hammer and Mountain dulcimer concert

We returned to our site and Joyce cooked boneless pork chop, roasted potatoes and green beans.  We ate outside and enjoyed a campfire.

Suwannee River Journey

Stephen Foster never been here

Joyce had asked a Ranger what the WONDERFUL smelling (which the bees also loved) flowering bush below was called. The Ranger said they'd been asked a lot but none of them knew. After going thru a lot of online research Joyce finally found the name! 

Bee on a Pinxter Azalea plant.

Beautiful Rhododendron flowers

Home sweet home.

Our campsite...loved the woods behind us!

Joyce cooking pork loin in her electric pressure cooker

The finished product

Pork loin, scalloped potatoes and lima beans...mmm carb overload!

Almost forgot to add Joyce's homemade pizza on the grill

The whole campground was beautiful and well maintained.  We really enjoyed our stay here. Again wish we could have stayed longer but the weekend was booked up. We rode our bicycles and toured the museum.  There were small little home buildings were craft people shared their wares. We met park volunteers that work here till April then they move to Sherando Lake campground in Virginia to work thru August. That is a camp area we'd looked when staying with Joyce's sister a couple of years ago. It's only about 30 minutes from Laura's. Anita & Randy (the volunteers) loved the area so much they return to work there each year. We can't wait to try it out next time we're in Virginia!

Silver Springs, FL - Saturday, February 4, 2017

I wanted to take Joyce to Silver Springs (next to Ocala, FL) where they have glass bottom boats. They are one of the worlds largest artesian springs & the water flows out around 70 degrees. When I was a kid we traveled to Florida over the Christmas break when I was in school.  I can remember riding the boats and there were statues under the water.  So Joyce & I camped right across the road from the park at Silver Springs RV Park.  We took the 1 1/2 hour boat tour that went down the Silver River.  We saw alligators, Osprey, many other waterfowl and fish. As it clouded over the sun, the temp cooled to around 62 and we were glad for our jackets.

The answer to you question; Yes there were still 3 statues down in the deep spring pool.  Several movies & tv shows had been made here in years past. People could kayak, boat and even paddle board up into the park.  But I don't know if I would want to paddle board after our boat captain told us of a large alligator rolling another alligator and having him up on the bank.

Glass bottom boat

Red-belly turtle sunning.

One of the many blooming flowers.

Joyce enjoying the sweet fragrance

Traveling down the Silver River

Joyce loved the blooming azaleas in February!

Looking at fish through the glass bottom boat

Osprey

Female and male Wood ducks

Alligator sunning himself.

A little to close for comfort...an Anhinga on same log as gator.

This palm tree make a large loop.  They say if you stand inside of it you will get 5 years of good luck.

Randy looking through the bottom of the boat

3 of the statues are still there-movie props from years ago.

Male Anhinga

Little Blue Herron

Female Anhinga & White Ibis

Cormorants are excellent swimmers.

One cormorant kept swimming under our boat to catch the small fish we disturbed.

The boat captains favorite Anhinga.  He called her Lucy.

(Spanish Moss) Wondering what I would look like with long gray hair