The boat…
The Captain and the First mate (finally getting a chance to drive in years)…
sunrise from the boat before we left the slip
Father and son bonding
Sean hooked a grouper but we could not keep it– throw back 😦
The turtle we saw swimming out in the Gulf!
Sean is his fishing garb!
Sean getting hungry!
We were pleased to arrive in Charleston knowing we have a place to rest our heads for three nights! A beautiful room on third floor with a stained glass window, four post queen bed and lovely wooden desks and dressers to place our things on. We are enjoying the romance of the inn as well as the relaxed but fun atmosphere of the Holy City as its called. Our day trip to folly beach today was perfect and we are taking a ghost graveyard tour tonite!!! We will def be ready for our sherry nitecap tonite!!! Stay tuned!!!
Got up early Sunday for a half day of fishing out in the gulf just off of Boca Grande. Sean’s dad, Ralph, grabbed ice, drinks and made us sandwiches. We pushed off about 7:20am with a small short rainshower that cooled off the morning.
We stopped for bait– live shrimp and then headed out of the Bay/Harbor. The boat rides so nice and smooth, it was an enjoyable ride. I lathered up in suntan lotion and enjoyed the breeze on my face from the water. It really is the best place to be on a hot August day in Florida! We saw some flyiish fish, which Ralph said he had not seen in a while. They look like rocks skimming across the water (almost) but they were slender, long and had a blue color to them. We went out to the mile buoy so we were right past the channel. As we pulled up there was a turtle– a loggerhead? just hanging out drifting in the water— very cool I had never seen one in the wild- only aquariums!
Sean’s first catch of snapper was not a keeper but he hooked it as soon as he dropped his line. I did have success hooking 5 fish with 3 of them keepers! No one went empty handed for the day and we had about 10 fish caught for dinner.
We made snapper fish tacos and the fish tasted delicious! No fishy taste and so fresh!
Great dinner to end our stay in Punta Gorda! Sean’s Grandma ate with us and we got to spend time with her. She is 96 years old and is in amazing shape! She has some great stories from the past and remembers alot from her parents growing up in Brooklyn to her and her sister living in Copiague (originally!) She loved the pictures from the wedding and the video trailer as well. We knew it would be tough for her to make the trip but we are glad we were able to see her only a couple months after being married. Planning to make her a small album so she can have it to look at while she is in her condo in Florida.
We did another evening stroll through the condo complex and got another sunset pic along with shots of the supermoon. Then we retired for our next adventure awaiting us– departing for Sanibel Island on Monday morning!
More to follow and pics too!
Here are some pics from our lil walk at Rainbow Springs Park. It was so humid and the palm trees and cycads numerous. We thought this must have been similar forest and temperatures for what the dinosaurs lived through. It really felt prehistoric when we walked through the trees. The water from the spring was a beautiful aqua blue which you will see. If we had more time it would have been a great kayak or canoe on the river. The waterfalls are manmade as this was once a travel attraction complete with amusement rides and animal enclosures. They have let it revert to nature and the springs are a “watering hole” for the local community. As a science teacher, this is a GREAT field trip to explore the geology and nature in the park and then give the students an opportunity to relax and play in the springs. You could even tie in the history of Ponce De Leon and his search for the Fountain of Youth- which these springs were referred to as. There is also a shadow image of the large but harmless banana spider– too bad my camera just would not focus in on the beautiful yellow coloration of this spider. Turns out the male is MUCH smaller than the female and the female may eat the male after mating. My kind of gal! LOL
Today was a fun travel day down through Georgia and Florida.
We got up in Savannah and had breakfast- like I said THE famous Best Western waffles along with some sausage and yogurt. We decided to do a quick walk through Savannah city and went to Forsyth Park and then found the Mercer William house that the book and movie “Midnight in the garden of good and evil” was based on. Walked back along the riverfront for a few more pictures and then headed out.
We decided we just had to stop at Peach World, exit 58 on I-95 in Georgia (where else?) and proceeded to get a bunch of peaches and peach related goodies—salsa, cider and the most awesome peach slushy ever (and the only one we’ve ever had).
Took another detour thanks to the “10,000 places to see before you die” book which told us that Florida has over 600 natural springs— so we found one not too far off the road to Tampa— Rainbow Springs State Park—the water is about 70-74 degrees because it comes from underground aquifer and the water bubbles up and is over sandy bottom and algae that make the water sparkle in an aqua color—much you would expect to see around a tropical coral reef. Apparently these are the very springs that Ponce De Leon referred to as the Fountains of youth when he toured Florida. I wonder if we were to reach all 600 how much younger we could look!
We saw banana spiders pointed out to us by a young spider girl and tried to get pics. We saw beautiful horse farms and Arabian horses throughout Ocala.
It was a nice ride. Drove through a typical late afternoon thunderstorm near Tampa and arrived at Punta Gorda around 9:20pm. Sean and I both remarked that the drive wasn’t that bad. We broke it up probably just about right with our stop in Savannah and with the driving we put in our previous road trip as well as weekend jaunts to Killington, we were primed for 7-11 hour drives.
The weather is very hot and humid but we hope to do some boating and sightseeing in Punta Gorda and Boca Grande. We might even prepare more peach slushies to stay cool!
Arrived around 7pm in Savannah at the Best Western on Bay Street. Right near the riverfront. WE showered and headed out to the riverfront to search for dinner. We didn’t walk too long and found the River House- with good seafood. The watermelon tomato salad was delicious– watermelon tastes GREAT with blue cheese and balsamic vinegar— try it– really!
Had a lobster/crab bisque– which was tasty- caesar salad a bit too dressed– however the Savannah bourbon tea definitely made everything better!
We walked along the riverfront and checked out some shops– bought a few souvenirs for family!
Now off to the “famous” Best Western breakfast (waffles) and then we will get ourselves ready for the next leg which is to travel to Punta Gorda– I think about 6-7 hours of driving. Like going to Killington in a lil traffic- should be a breeze (we hope)!
Blogging about our married travels now! First major road trip-our minimoon if you will of the southeast coast. First stop Savannah,GA! Sean hopes to be there before Jets game…guess we’ll be making few pit stops!
Amazingly, Sean and I were so stretched for time at the end of our trip that I did not get to post about Arches or the drive as much as I wanted.
When we left Salt Lake CIty (Park City actually) we had a 4-5 hour drive to Moab. We were encouraged by Erin to go to Milt’s Stop & Eat for great burgers (which they were)!
On our drive south we were in awe as the landscape changed from the mountains to more desert and sage brush-y type terrain. The colors of the rock began to change into the typical Utah and Arizona red rocks and towering turrets that enveloped us as we drove on narrow US 6. Took quite a few pics but as usual just does not do it justice. More windmills along the road and one interesting pit stop where a father driving a pick up had his wife and 2 kids with their dog all LAYING DOWN in the cab! They were anglo saxon so I don’t know what they were possibly hiding form but I thought it rather odd for them to all be hiding in the back part of the truck!
After hitting Milt’s in Moab town we drove back into Arches where we passed our wonderful America’s Park Pass and began the steady climb up the road to the most amazing rock forms nature has created!
The geology of the area is incredible and I remembered many of the formation names from my GEO class, but it still gets lost in my mind when I look at the rock forms and try to absorb the sheer beauty and size of them.
We made sure to have tons of water as the temp was 110 and truly hot– like an oven hitting your face when you open the car door.
I tried to play around with my camera after I realized I coud get some nice dusk and twilight shots by the camera filtering out certain colors of light and enhancing the blues and purples.
Posting pics and more to come. I bet you thought the road trip was over but I am savoring every minute by adding little tidbits of forgotten memories every now and then to the blog.
🙂 
thelennonsoehltrain 