Florida

My boss is going to Key West and famous photographer that I am, he asked me if I had been there, so I looked for some of my fabulous photography to show him.
I did not find many interesting pictures of Key West. We were only there a few hours and had been clicking away all day on the highway and it seems we were mostly just fooling around taking pictures of each other. This one reminds me of the vivid colors you will see there and all over the Keys.

If you drive up the Overseas Highway, you will be very close to Everglades National Park. It is worth a visit if you have time. I wish we had known about Dry Tortugas National Park. I would love to go back just to go there.

The thing that makes Florida so unique  to me are the amazing varieties and abundance of plants and birds. Right before we got this picture, that heron was standing on that turtle.

Near Everglade National Park is Key Biscayne National Park. It is also worth a visit. I love that you can see Miami from there.

We stayed at Key Largo.

Sunsets are spectacular. This is Lido Beach.

We liked Hamosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. It is primarily a wildlife rescue park and they have a lot of education demonstrations. We had never seen Manatee.

We loved the Keys, but the most exciting thing was the drive. There is not a way to get a photo of it that really shows what it is like except an aerial view. There are some of those on the Internet

I enjoyed the Glass Bottom boat at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. My companion could not recommend it, however, if you have a problem with sea sickness.You can also scuba dive on the reef.

This is my favorite: Bahia Honda Key. It is also a state park between Key West and Key Largo. This is an old railroad that  that was destroyed by a hurricane.

No Jumping from Bridge

We stopped at Gaineswood, a national historic landmark in Demopolis, Alabama for an interesting tour. It features Greek Revival Architecture and original antebellum furnishings and art. Now, if you think you know what antebellum means, but aren't absolutely confident in your opinion (like me) I looked it up and it does mean what I thought it did: pertaining to the period before the Civil War. We also picked up a brochure at the visitors center called "100 Places to Eat in Alabama Before You Die". Kora's Place in Demopolis was on the list, so we had to find it. It was a little soul food family buffet and Kora was serving chicken and dumplings, collard greens, black eyed peas, fried catfish, cornbread and peach cobbler. It was as delicious as it sounds. Kora has a beautiful collection of paintings of African American religious art that we enjoyed while we ate.

During the whole trip the roads were full of blooming trees. The most common colors were white,red, pink and lavender.

We stopped at O' Leno State Park in Florida where had lunch and a little hike. Located along the banks of the scenic Santa Fe River, a tributary of the Suwannee River, the park features sinkholes, hardwood hammocks, river swamps, and sandhills.

As the river courses through the park, it disappears underground and reemerges over three miles away.

We didn't see an alligators, but we found a friend from Texas!

The sign says: "No Jumping from the bridge"! This bridge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was a work relief program for young men from unemployed families during the depression from 1933 to 1945. As part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, young, unemployed men worked on conservation projects in rural areas for about $1 per day. The corps operated numerous conservation projects, constructed many buildings and trails in city parks, state parks and national parks that are still used today.

"Civilian Conservation Corps Boy" is the name of this statue. We had just got back in our car and closed the door, when the rain started. It rained all the rest of the way to Sebring.