Florida Road Trip, January 2017

A wedding invitation was the motivation for this January road trip. Who can resist a Florida beach wedding in January?

Day 1: We left Madison on January 1st (a Sunday) hoping to get far enough south on day one to avoid a coming Midwest storm. We made it to Paducah, KY. Great city, but of course everything was closed on New Years day (Sunday) and the day after. Oh, well.

Day 2: On to Nashville to visit Parnassus, the bookstore owned by Ann Pachett one of my favorite authors. Great space. Bought a couple signed books, but was disappointed that there were no dogs under foot. The weather was warm. Pansy's in planters.

My first destination: Ann Patchett's Parnassus bookstore in Nashville.

Drove on through North Carolina but chose not to stop in support of the bathroom boycott. Made it to South Carolina in the dark and rain. Long Day. [Travelers note: always have box wine with you.]

Day 3: Pushed on to the Georgia coast and serendipitously stopped to explore the Harris Neck Wildlife Area. Tested out my new lens on birds and alligators. 

Baby alligator!

Crossed a spectacular bridge near Brunswick, GA. Stopped near the border of Florida in St. Mary's.

Day 4: Drove down the east coast of Florida. The Florida rest/welcome center serves samples of orange- and grapefruit juice. Nice touch. We got off I95 to cruise A1A for part of the trip south. Had good coffee and "Ausie Pies" at the Kookaburra in St. Augustine!

Made it to Dania Beach, Florida around 4:30 where we checked into our rooms at Sheridan Suites Apartments. We meet up with Sharon and Gary (parents of Andrea the bride) and Tom and Susan. We walk to Publix for supplies for our 6 day stay. Snacks by the pool. Andrea and Jonny stop by for a visit. They seem happy and confident.

Day 5: Slow Thursday morning. Drive to the boardwalk to people watch and soak in the sun. It is HOT! We eat Mahi tacos for lunch. In the afternoon we pick up Heather and Greg at the Ft. Lauderdale airport (Terminal 2). Dinner is at Giorgio's and our table is right on the water. I had the special: seafood over pasta. Loved it!

Day 6: Did some wedding errands on Friday. Visit the nearby Anne Kolb Nature Center. It's a lovely area with great boardwalks for viewing the intercostal birds. It's raining a little. 

Greg got pretty close to this one!

When we get back to the apartment we learn of the shooting at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. It is happening at Terminal 2 where Heather and Greg were just 24 hours before, and close to where Sharon and Gary are RIGHT NOW! picking up Juan, their son. They get caught in traffic but arrive back safely with Juan.

While the wedding family goes to the rehearsal dinner, our family seeks out another local restaurant. We find Jimbo's Sandbar also on the water. Live music. I have catfish tacos. No one falls in the water. Fun place, weather is changing.

Back at the ranch, we learn that Jonny and a couple of his groomsmen, who work for the police dept. were not able to leave their work responsibilities because of the shooting at the airport. (But he will get his wedding day off!)

Day 7: The wedding day was cool and overcast. A morning rain passed through. Heather and I paint our toenails blue to go with our "Beach Formal" dresses. 

The wedding was dry, but windy and filled with laughter and love. The posed shot I missed was Jonny holding Andrea above his head! (They are both crossfire junkies!) The reception and dance turned cold and wet, but not before people had plenty of time for fun. The pictures tell the story.

The venue: Dania Beach State Park, Florida. 

The newlyweds: Jonathan and Andrea!

Mom, brother and dad share a post wedding moment.

It's what mom's do.

Becca was there, of course!

Jim as "beach fancy" as he gets!

Paella for everyone!

Andrea makes the rounds.

Heather gets a salsa lesson from Juan.

Day 8: A post-wedding brunch at Ana's house (mother of the groom) gave us a taste of Florida living.

Yes, that's a boat behind the palm trees. We're not in Wisconsin anymore!

Sister and Brother share some time and laughs.

Later that day we find a restaurant for watching an evening Packer game on a large screen. They win. We are not popular. (I can't remember who they played.)

Day 9: Monday we take Heather and Greg to the airport and then drive to Flamingo Gardens. My personal highlight was watching the otters get fed. I love otters. This is not a zoo, it's a botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary.

Barn owl as an ambassador for the facility.

Do I smell fish?

A sharp turn. So cool to have the underwater perspective!

An otter dock. Life is good.

Day 10 and 11: We pack up, say our goodbyes and drive over to A1A to stay off the freeway and head south. We eventually make it through Miami and head to Everglades National Park. We camp two nights on the edge of Florida Bay. Spectacular sun rises. Woke one morning to splashing, looked out the tent door and saw a dolphin jumping. Great way to wake up! Went to program on manatees. Took boat ride to get to some back country. Hiked along some trails. Great alligators on the Anhinga trail. It's a fascinating area with many challenges.

Daybreak on the Florida Bay.

Lingering with campsite coffee as we watch the morning birds.
(Yes, we drip our  high-test coffee through a filter held by a plastic funnel into a very old thermos.
Almost as good as home. And quicker!)

Crocodile on the canal (salt water).

Alligators on the Anhinga Trail (freshwater).

The moon sets in the west. . .

. . . just as the sun rises in the east.

Day 12: Decided to drive up the center of the state to avoid some coastal congestion. Hmmm. Road construction and lots of cars. Pretty boring day.

Day 13: Goal was to get to Paynes Prairie (recommended by KZ). Got the last campsite. Hiked. Interesting place, but decided not to stay longer. On way north we decided to seek out the path on the north edge of the prairie. Wow! hundreds of alligators, lots of birds, turtles, horses, buffalo and 10,000 sandhill cranes. This is one of their southern stations. It seemed like such a perfect bookend: in the spring we saw hundreds of thousands of cranes heading north through Kearny, NB and here we saw their winter home. They make quite a racket!

No audio to share the cacophony of 10,000 cranes!
And no fancy camera and lens. I was walking light with only my phone.

Bill (our nickname for all great blue herons) was just by the side of the path. 

Day 14: From Paynes Prairie we head east. Drive to Manatee Springs State Park. No room in the campsite, but we walk around. Cool places to dive. (Who knew!) Actually saw a couple manatees. Stayed in Wakulla and ate at a recommended fish shop, Posey's. Jim had mullet and I had a heap of shrimp. (I don't think we've eaten anything but seafood on this trip.)

Day 15: We drive along the Florida panhandle. The beaches are enticing. We get the last campsite at a state park on St George's Island. The white sand beaches and seashells win me over. There's a towhee at our campsite and lots of yellow-romped warblers.

Jim dozes on St. George's Island.

I read my book group book, A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler.

We walk the beach and look for shells.

We appreciate all the park does to preserve this special place.

Day 16: We continue west. The density starts to build and we head north at Panama City. Although it is very congested, there are still public access places to the beaches and the views are beautiful.

Day 17: Our first planned stop on the northbound drive is the civil rights memorial in Montgomery, AL. The sculpture was designed by Maya Lin (Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC) and the park and a museum are operated by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization I've supported for a long time. Their work has just gotten harder.

Civil Rights memorial, Montgomery, Alabama.

Next stop is in Lynchburg, TN and the Jack Daniels distillery. The charcoal filtering most fascinated me. Good tour, good tasting. Jim is driving! It's raining and cool.

A statue of Jack Daniel outside the springs that provide the water for the whiskey.

My favorite on the left (#27). $100 a bottle. I passed.

The tasting is in an area with the single barrel batches. Nicely done.

Day 18:  We stop again at Pahduca, Ky and visit the National Quilt Museum. (No photos allowed.) Amazing works of art. 

And then on to our final stop in Champaign, IL to visit Kathleen a friend from library school. Cool house with William Morris wallpaper. We start hatching plans for future trips.

Day 19: Arrived back home in Madison on Thursday. We have driven over 4,000 miles. Warmish. Grey. No snow left on the ground. Quite ready to sleep in my own bed.

Book Group Winter 2017

Book: A Spool of Blue Thread
Author: Anne Tyler
Meeting: Wednesday, January, 2017 at Ginny's
Did not attend. Florida Road Trip

Great story of family history and dynamics. I remember reading a review when it first came out and at that time I could not deal with reading about aging parents. I'm glad this was one of our picks. Laughed out loud in places. That doesn't happen often. 

Book: H is for Hawk
Author: Helen Macdonald
Meeting: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at Jennifer S's
Dessert: Chocolate nut bar with ice cream

A more difficult read than usual, this memoir of raising a goshawk as a therapy for grief with a layer of insights into T.H. White's life proved frustrating and not always fun to read. I didn't mind the bloody details of rabbit and pheasant deaths. The sections on White (who unsuccessfully raised a goshawk and who later wrote the King Arthur stories adapted by Disney) were disturbing and I did not like revisiting the grief of a parent's death but I am glad that I read it. Go figure.

The Year Ends

I have been silent on this blog that was to document my activities and feelings as I age. It's been a tough fall. I was so hopeful that we as a country could continue on the path toward equality and justice while being good to the earth. Well, that's not going to happen. How much can one do? And how should that energy be directed?

My forays into volunteerism brought more ambiguity. But, I feel that I have been successful working with a special student at the Literacy Network and beginning in January I will become a personal tutor instead of working in the class setting. This gives me more control and us more flexibility with scheduling. I'm optimistic.

Today as I write this Jim is teaching his last tennis lessons at Nielsen. As he says, "I'm being retired." The University is being so short-sighted. The outpouring of kindness from his students is fun to watch. The Korean tennis group gave him some very cool tokens of appreciation. (I'll try to remember to add a picture here.) 

I've become a regular at a pilates class. The timing and convenience/location all make it work for me. Funny, how important that is. I still need to get more active. A diagnosis of Osteoporosis is yet another slam to the aging body.

Mother Nature has given us all the winter I need in just the month of December. We're heading to southern Florida on New Years Day. Sickness be gone! 

What lies ahead for two retired curmudgeons living in a small house is anyones guess. 

Book Group: Sept - Dec, 2016

Book: Make Your Home Among Strangers
Author: Jennine Capó Crucet
Meeting: Wednesday, Sept 21, 2016 at Jane's
Dessert: cranberry walnut pie with ice cream (of course)

This was a joy to read. It sucked me in from the start. A Cuban-American girl gets a scholarship to an exclusive liberal arts college in New England. Her struggles at home (near Miami, Florida) and at school made me think about the challenges of first generation college students. She makes mistakes (didn't we all?) but I really like the character (semi-autobiographical) although not everyone in the group did. This is a definite thumbs up for me.


Book: Euphoria
Author: Lily King
Meeting: Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at Jennifer H's
Dessert: apple crisp w/ ice cream

Loosely based on the life of Margaret Mead, this rather fast paced book left me wondering. The group discussed what was real and what was made up, but it leaves me feeling like I'd rather have read a good biography.

Book: Bad Feminist
Author: Roxanne Gay
Meeting: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at my house
Dessert: purchased cranberry pear tarts from Humble Pie w/ frozen custard

Overall I enjoyed this collection of essays/blog posts that look at women's place in current society from the perspective of a person much younger than me. I had a hard time relating to some of the pop culture references, but a lot of it rings as true as feminism was to me in the 70s.


Book: La Rose
Author: Louise Erdrich
Meeting: Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at Julies
Food: Julie invited the group to come early for seafood stew and home made bread. Cookies for dessert. Delicious.

Louise Erdrich is our group go-to author. When she publishes a new book we read it. No one needs to pick it. La Rose did not disappoint. It's a multi-generational picture of the families surrounding a current day tragedy. An accidental shooting results in a son being given to the grieving family. I feel it is our duty to read American Indian history to understand the complexity of the genocide perpetuated on them. So, the book isn't fun to read, but it is important. I was happy to be immersing myself in the story that takes place so close to the Standing Rock tribe that is protecting their water rights right now. 

Apostle Islands, Wisconsin Summer 2016

Jim and I met Heather and Greg in Bayfield, WI for a late summer vacation. After lunch at a funky 50s-style restaurant we took the ferry over to Madeline Island.

Our rented cabin was quite deluxe with many amenities including WiFi wich can be hard to find up there. We took advantage of the nice weather to explore Big Bay State Park.

Saturday was a rainy day. We made the most of it. Heather and I finished binding the books we had started on my last trip to Minneapolis. I hope I'm brave enough to write and draw in mine!

We explored the town of La Pointe visiting the Madeline Island Historical Museum where Ojibwa basket makers were demonstrating their art. Gallery hopping, dinner in town and then a fierce game of Catan rounded out our day. We woke to sun on Sunday and after packing up we did some hiking. 

After a good lunch of fish tacos and sandwiches Heather and Greg boarded the ferry and headed back to Minneapolis. Jim and I went to set up our campsite at Big Bay State Park. 

The park includes a beautiful beach and the water was swimmable!

We took one hike along a boardwalk that parallels the beach. Another took us around the southeast edge of the park along the cliffs. The waves were crashing. It was quite lovely.

We biked to town, but probably won't take our bikes on trips like this in the future. The ride seemed more required than desired.

Our next camping spot was the city park and campground in Bayfield. We secured a beautiful site overlooking Lake Superior. What a treat! 

Although we don't need electricity for camping, I found the provided outlet handy for recharging my new lantern.

Bayfield is home to many area orchards and we were lucky enough to run into one that was selling Colorado peaches! Yum! They were the best! Can't beat peaches on your morning granola!

We took a cruise of the islands that are part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The islands are not very accessible. One can take boat rides to a couple of the islands to hike and camp and there are some kayak opportunities, but the lake can be pretty intimidating. We learned a lot about the local history of the area and enjoyed our evening tour.

The sea caves on Devils Island were spectacular.

As the evening progressed the light became golden.

The lighthouse on Raspberry Island was glowing. 

 And we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

We took day trips to other parts of the park. On the western side we hiked at Meyer's Beach above the sea caves that are a winter destination if the lake freezes over. Many kayakers took in the sites from water level. We had some beach time and found a fish shop with smoked lake trout and whitefish (Halvorson Fisheries in Cornucopia, WI). Another treat!

As we headed south we stopped for a hike at Houghton Falls Nature Preserve. It is a magical area that leads to a great lake view. The history of the area is fascinating!

And once again I saw the "Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program" sign and gave thanks for those who have been forward thinking to preserve these special places. That program has been all but defunded in our current legislature. It is so sad.

Our last couple days were spent at our cabin. Great weather, no bugs.