Heading North With the Geese

It is difficult to leave this.....

And this......

And even this homely wood stork, to head north again.

But our life back home called to us.....and so we headed north. Our first day was a 13 hour slog from Melbourne, Florida to Emporia, Virginia. Lunch on the road is real basic. A thermos full of coffee, naval oranges, yougurt and our all time favorite as seen below.

Once you get to the D.C. Area, the traffic picks up and of course you run into the invariable road construction delays. But in a bit, there are several beautiful bridges to cross. We have to circle around Baltimore Harbor simply because we carry propane tanks and therefore cannot travel through the tunnels. We cross the harbor over the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I have written about this bridge and Fort Carroll that you can see alongside of it. I must admit that I gave you some incorrect information. Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner while on a truce ship negotiating the release of a friend during the War of 1812. Britain had captured Washington D.C. and was trying to capture Baltimore. The Americans held on to the harbor after a ferocious battle. The story goes that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the song when he saw the flag still flying above Fort McHenry not Fort Carroll. This particular bridge was named for him.

Further north, we crossed over the Delaware Bridge. The Delaware River is a massive and important east coast river originating in the Catskill Mountains of New York. It drains over 1400 square miles and is 388 miles long finally emptying into the Delaware Bay.

Luckily we avoided the commuter traffic in both Washington D.C. and New York City. Rt. 95 runs along the east coast of New Jersey.....all through the extremely, industrial sections. In other words, it is difficult to see the beauty amidst the factories, warehouses and housing developments. When we were finally able to see little glimpses of NYC, we were surprised to see a tower rising where once the Twin Trade Towers stood. It towers above any of the surrounding skyscrapers. This is what is being called the "Freedom Tower" and replaces the towers destroyed in September 2001. Its official name is One World Trade Center. It is slated to be completed in 2014 and will rise to 1776 ft. This number is significant to all Americans...1776, the year we declared independence from England.

 

And then we crossed the George Washington Bridge, squeezing in between delivery trucks, ten wheelers, taxis and commuter cars. There are two levels, the one on top for through traffic and the one below for local traffic. All I can say is ....I am glad that John drives this stretch of the trip. It can be very intimidating!

 

 

Driving north through Connecticut and Massachusetts we began to see hints of open spaces and winter farmland, hardwood forests and rivers. We love being on the road, the adventure of seeing new places and meeting people who share our love of exploring. But there is really no place like home.....we have passed this sign hundreds of times on our way north and still get the same wonderful feeling. There is nothing better than returning to Vermont.

 

There is always snow in Randolph.

And finally the best road sign of all.......we are just about home, just a few miles north through the Champlain Islands to our home in North Hero.

So my friends who have been traveling with us and sharing our adventures..... This is the end of this blog but join us again in August when we head to the Pacific Northwest. To all of you who have emailed comments, thank you. The comments help us keep connected when we are on the road. We appreciate all of your thoughts.

 

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Visiting a Local Treasure

Florida has an amazing number of beautiful and diverse state parks. Over the years, we have had the pleasure of visiting and often camping in various parks around the state. For the most part, the parks are well maintained, kept clean and renovated when needed. For a few years now, we have wanted to visit an offshore botanical park called Lignumvitae Key. It is located on the bayside of Lower Matecumbe Key. It is one of the highest keys at 5 meters above sea level, 280 acres and 3 miles in circumference. Look carefully at the photo below....there it is!

Along with its neighbor Indian Key, it has a colorful history. In 1760, Spanish records listed it as being covered with a good stand of timber and therefore named Cayo de la Lena or island of wood. Cayo/ Key translates as island around these parts. Indeed it was covered with mahogany, gumbo limbo and lignumvitae trees. Lignumvitae meaning tree of life.....Columbus thought a brew from this tree might cure syphillis. Lignumvitae wood is extremely dense and was later used to make the bearings on submarines. Through the years, this Key was settled by various families who planted coconuts and pineapples but didn't stay very long. Life on a Florida key at that time was quite difficult. The lack of fresh water and mosquitoes drove them away. In 1919, Lignumvitae Key was purchased by William Matheson, a wealthy industrialist. He had a coral rock house built for his full time manager. A windmill supplied power and a cistern collected rainwater running off the roof.

Notice the cistern on the right below and the pipes running down from the roof.

Matheson, himself, never lived on the Key. But he did introduce a variety of exotic plants and animals to Lignumvitae Key such as Angora goats, peacocks and 60 Galapogos tortoises. He also decorated the front lawn with 6 cannons recovered from the British warship, HMS Winchester which had run aground nearby in 1665. Remember....the Keys has a long history of salvaging off of ships in distress.

The interior of the house shows what it looked like in the early and mid 1900s. Although, the entire roof was blown off and the interior strewn all over the area when a hurricane struck in the 60s.

 

 

The Matheson family sold the property to 3 Miami tycoons in 1953 and the Key was managed by a very colorful couple named Charlotte and Russ Niedhauk. Charlotte and Russ chose to live a solitary life and fell in love with the Florida Keys in the early 1930s. They were caretakers on Elliott Key when the 1935 Labor Day hurricane ripped through this area, but spent the rest of their lives caretaking the Lignumvitae and Indian Keys. When they were too old to continue caring for these little islands, the State of Florida purchased both, and set about restoring and preserving them. Over the years, it has meant tearing out invasive species and reintroducing native trees and plants.

Friday morning under clear blue skies, John and I set out from the boat launch on Indian Key Fill to visit the Lignumvitae Preserve and Botanical Park. There was a 15 mph northeast wind that made the 1 mile stretch a bit of hard work.... Not impossible but not relaxing either. We had 3 wide and deep boat channels to cross but mostly the trip traversed salt water flats about 1 to 3 feet deep.

 

The park ranger welcomed us and we were able to walk about the wide yard and visit inside the coral rock house built by Matheson in 1919. We were impressed with the park ranger...he really knew his stuff and was very informative as well as friendly.

Over the past few days, we have been able to take several wonderful treks into the mangove creeks in this area of the Keys. We have also met a kayak guide couple who have written a few books about guiding in and around Florida. They are camping near us and it has been fun chatting with them about routes and launches. They lead overnight trips in the Keys, the Everglades, along the Calusa Blueway which is on the west coast. They also lead a 100 mile kayak trek from Key Largo to Key West. Their book, "Florida Keys, a Paddling Atlas", is a wealth of information. If you are interested, google their names, Bill and Mary Burnham, kayak guides. Just a note though.... I would prefer not to have to ever again sleep on the ground in a tent. So overnight trekking is not a possibility for me. I love sleeping in our little Casita....memory foam mattress...heavenly!

 

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Key West..final stop on Rt. 1

John and I love visiting Key West. This little gem of a city has a unique and unusual culture much of which stems from its long and colorful history. In pre Columbian times it was inhabited by the Calusa people. The first Europen to set eyes on the Keys was Juan Ponce de Leon....you remember, he was looking for the Fountain of Youth. In later years, the area was claimed by Spain but had no government control. An assortment of settlers arrived, fishermen, pirates, salvagers and even descendants of Loyalists who had fled to Burmuda during the American Revolution. Key Limes, breadfruit, tamarind and even pineapples were planted. Salt was produced and sponges harvested. Cigar makers arrived from Cuba. In 1822, Lt. Commander Matthew Perry planted a U.S. flag and claimed Key West for the United States. In 1823, a U.S. naval anti pirate squadron took charge and was tasked to end piracy and slavery. In 1889, Key West was the largest and wealthiest city in Florida...probably due to all that salvaging. Henry Flagler completed the railroad to Key West in 1912 and rich Americans began to arrive for vacations. Later on Labor Day, 1935, most of the Florida Keys railroad was wiped out by a ferocious hurricane. It was replaced by the Overseas Highway in 1938.....Key West became the end point of the east coast, Rt. 1.

Key West is a lovely town to walk or bike. Yeaterday we chose to bike around. I love exploring the small and interesting neighborhoods. Some houses and structures date back to the early days. Most houses are small with beautiful gardens, high walls and interesting gates. The streets are tree lined and offer a shady cool ride on a bike. The neighborhoods are densely built but creative gardens and fences give a lovely illusion of privacy. Ernest Hemingway lived here for quite some time. President Truman spent time here during the winter months. We avoid the main drag... Duval Street. It is crammed with tourists, bars and cheap souvenier shops. There are lovely galleries down side streets and excellent restaurants for lunch or dinner. Key West has an unusual population of chickens and cats. Don't be surprised to see elegant roosters strolling along main streets or hens with delightful clusters of chicks hurrying under garden gates. It is all part of the flavor of Key West.

 

Just picked up a fresh baguette!

Below check out this amazing Banyan tree. There are a number of huge Banyans in Key West.

 

 

Today, the wind switched from the northwest to the southeast....uuuummmm, lovely and warm finally. We went for a kayak around Boot Key... 6 miles... A beautiful morning. We pulled up on a little beach littered with empty horseshoe crab shells.

 

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Cooking on the Road

Some might wonder what we eat when traveling for weeks at a time. We never eat fast food, we travel with basic ingredients and what we consider necessities....Cabot cheese, a few dry salamis, crackers, yogurts, navel oranges, almonds and cashews and a 5 gal container of water. When we stop for gas, we can whip up a pot of espresso quite easily and fill our coffee thermos. Once we arrive at our destination, we shop locally for fresh veggies and fruit. John and I have been watching our carb intake for many years now so we mostly eat salads, veggies, meat and fish. We have a gas/ electric refrigerator in our little travel trailer and we keep a bunch of little steaks and chicken breasts just in case the fishing isn't great. One year we ate fresh fish that John caught just about every night, the next year he barely caught any. We look for little farmstands but have found that in Florida, the farmstands carry the same items we might find in our favorite, Florida grocery store, Publix. Publix also carries local, frozen shrimp and fish.

Before we began to spend several weeks at a time traveling, John renovated the food prep area of the Casita. He added a relatively long counter with built-ins below for dishes and cookware. We added a small convection oven for baking and roasting and we have a microwave that is stored in one of the lower cabinets. All in all, the kitchen works quite well and since I enjoy cooking, it is one of my favorite parts of the Casita.

 

Wine-thirty begins between 4:30 and 5, with some snacks and a glass of wine. The weather usually cooperates and we can sit outside enjoying the view and watching pelicans and ospreys.

Later I begin to fix dinner.

Yesterday, when we visited Key West, we found a great little French bakery, lots of pastries which we avoided but it is hard to turn down a good French baguette. I can say that it is quite rare to find a good, chewy baguette down here, so we bought one to go. Today we made leftover steak sandwiches for lunch..yum!

 

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Live Oaks and Seminole Wars

The largest stand of Live Oak trees is located here in the Ormond Beach area. Live Oaks grow from Virginia south to the Gulf coast. They are considered to be evergreen trees and provide habitat and food for a number of animals and plants. Spanish Moss, Resurrection Fern and parasitic Mistletoe grow amongst the branches. Some famous Live Oaks are as old as 1500 years. Here in Bulow State Park near Ormond Beach, grows a magnificent Live Oak called the Fairchild Oak. It is 500 years old, 68 feet tall and spreads 300 feet wide.

In the early 1800s, Charles Bulow, youngest son of a prominent Charleston family, purchased 2,200 acres along the Halifax River. 300 slaves, borrowed from his brother in Charleston, cleared most of this area to plant indigo, rice, sugar cane and cotton. "Bulowville" was a large and spacious plantation house and one among 16 plantations along the St. John's and Halifax Rivers. In December of 1835, local natives who were angry about the forced removals of their people to the West, burned and destroyed all 16 of these plantations. History is fascinating to me.....but I often wonder why we fail to learn from deeds and events in our not too distant past.

Thursday was a lovely day to head out to Ormond Beach. It hasn't really been warm here... A bit chilly with a north wind but we are happy just being able to hang out on the beach. John had fun doing a bit of surf casting and I read....another good book.

Tomorrow we are planning to spend the night at Cousin Susan's house in Hobe Sound and then head to the Keys on Sunday.....just chasing the warm sun.

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The Big One...it didn't get away!

John loves to fish. He doesn't get much time to fish in Vermont. We always have too many house projects and other obligations. Here in Florida is where he really can spend as much time as he wants..just fishing. He fishes from his kayak in the rivers and creeks and he surf casts when we are on the oceanside. Yesterday we explored the Tomaka River Basin which consists of the Tomoka River and several creeks which surround the Tomoka State Park. I go along for the ride...I take my camera to look for birds, unusual plants and critters along the shore. It is easy paddling for both of us. When we launched our kayaks, we saw a manatee poke his snout up out of the water for a quick breath. These inland rivers and creeks are where manatees spend the winters. They are extremely dependent on warm water and will travel longs distances to find a warm hole to hang out in. They are difficult to spot because of their dark coloring. They often have water plants growing on their backs so they look like submerged boulders. We try to stay clear of them, not because they are aggressive. Quite the opposite. They are gentle but very clumsy and will accidently bump the underside of a kayak.

John had a few bites as we headed up the river and I saw a few birds, brown pelicans, ospreys, ahinghas and commorants. Suddenly John had a huge bite on his line and this is what he pulled out.... A good size trout.

We had a lovely morning. It is not really warm here but we can still wear our shorts and sandals. What more can you ask for really.

John built a very cool trailer for our kayaks. We can walk it or pull it behind our bikes. It is so much more convenient than carrying our kayaks or driving to the launch site.

February 28... Our 43rd wedding anniversary. It seems hard to believe!

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Vermont to Florida...Down the East Coast

We left early Saturday morning trying to keep ahead of a nasty ice/snow storm heading our way. It is never easy to leave Vermont in the middle of winter. The weather and road conditions are at their worst. Vermont is always beautiful no matter what the season. Yes, a bit bleak and the clouds hang low over the mountains but still, there is beauty to be seen around each turn. Not so as you get closer to New York and New Jersey. Along the highway you see remnants of the industrial age, power plants and factories belching smoke, neighborhoods with dingy apartments and developments stretching block after block. Crossing the George Washington bridge we had a spectacular view of the New York skyline.

I like to imagine what this part of our country used to look like before start of the twentieth century. Every once in a while you can see an elegant house, still standing after so many years, sometimes kept up but often crumbling and surrounded by big box stores or long fallow farmland.

I am a self confessed history buff. I am always curious about the history of a place or region. Place names conjure up vague history lessons from my school days or a book I have read. The ipad is a wonderous tool for anyone who is as curious as I am. While driving through New Jersey, for example, I researched its role in the Revolutionary War. I discovered that New Jersey played a significant role in that war. George Washington spent more time in New Jersey during the war than any other place. Here are a few significant dates: 1775, G. Washington was named Commander of the Continental Army, 1776, Declaration of Independence was signed, Dec. 1776 G. Washington crossed the Delaware to capture Trenton, 1777 Winter encampment at Morristown, N.J. The list of historical places in New Jersey goes on and on. Now when I drive through New Jersey, I will remember what took place here so many years ago and try to overlook the industrial waste sites.

We have not had a significant war on our soil since the Civil War but all down the east coast, you will notice reminders of those days when battles were being fought and people were killing and being killed. Crossing the outer harbor on the Key Bridge, you can see Fort Carroll. This is where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner during the War of 1812. The fort is now a national monument.

Passing through Wahington, D.C. you can just make out the Washington Monument as you cross the Potomac River.

Now we enter, what I call, "The Corridor of Death". We pass exit signs such as Manassas....1861, the first Battle of Bull Run and in 1862, the second Battle of Bull Run. We pass the exit for Fredericksburg, in 1862 the Battle of Fredericksburg took place there. All along this stretch, significant Civil War battles occured: 1863, the Battle of Chancellorsville, 1864, the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Battle of the Anna River and the Battle of Spotsylvania....32,000 dead. The costliest battle of the war. Imagine that number....it is horrifying. In 1865, during the final months of the war, the Battles of Petersburg and Richmond took place. To me, this area should be a constant reminder of the waste and futility of war. We teach our children to solve problems with words not violence and we as adults should practice this same wisdom.

OK, on to the fun stuff of our trip. We saw green grass in New Jersey, buds on trees in Virginia, bugs on the windshield in North Carolina and full grown green leaves as we drove past St. Augustine....72 degrees and raining as we drove through Jacksonville. But the sun was peeking through when we arrived at Tomoka State Park on Monday at 2 pm. Time to put on sandals and take off our fleeces.

Take a peek inside our van.... Fishing poles, beach chairs, bikes and a motorcycle.

We are looking forward to some great kayaking. The park is located in Ormond Beach and surrounded by the Halifax and Tomoka Rivers....a perfect place to begin to relax.

 

 

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