The winter season is winding down

The calendar changed from winter to spring last week, and the migration form southwest Florida to northern states has begun in earnest.  RVs pull out of here every day as the snowbirds head back to their northern summer homes.

The wildlife is still around, though . . . egrets and herons, including this Great Blue Heron that was enjoying the solitude of the new lake in the back of the resort.

He only had to share his space with a couple of Wood Storks.

 

 

Tom and I have had a few interesting wildlife encounters . . . last week, a fellow camper reported a large turtle on one of the sites on the lake.  We made our way down there, and found her laying eggs in the grass between the site and the water.

Several weeks ago, we were driving through the construction area in the back of the park when we happened upon a very large tan cat . . . we were shocked to see it, and determined that it was a panther.  Wow!  That was really cool . . . and I wish I had my camera with me!

We’ve gone back to the same area several times since then, but haven’t seen it again . . . just footprints . . .

We’ll keep looking for it, until we leave . . . and I’m going to keep my camera handy!

Meanwhile, last night was the resort’s Farewell Dinner Dance with the Chicago Mob.

(can’t get very good pictures with my phone in the low light!)  The band was really good, and very entertaining! 

Luckily, Bryce’s basketball game was on late, so he was able to help Bob with the dishwashing.

Bob is always glad to have Bryce’s help . . . and he likes to goof off a little, too!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch out, Bryce . . . you’re going to get wet!!

We’re starting to get ready to move on, too.  Nicolas made our reservation up at the base for the last week of April, and we’ve been busy planning our stops on the way there, as well as a little vacation with Nicolas after his graduation  We’re really looking forward to it!

It’s been really hot down here in southwest Florida this past month – it’s felt more like mid-summer than early spring!  A cool-down was predicted for this weekend, and we were actually looking forward to a few cooler days – we could give the A/C a break! 

Tom and Bryce took advantage of the cooler day today to wash the RV, and I gave the inside a good spring cleaning, and packed several things away . . . it was a long overdue cleaning day!

Tomorrow . . . we’ll take some time for fun!

Venice with Friends

 

Our neighbors from back in Ann Arbor, Harriett and Rita, spend their winters in Bradenton, and we’ve been wanting to get together with them.  So, we finally made arrangements to meet at Sharky’s on the pier in Venice.

 

 

 

We arrived a little early to check out the beach.

It was a beautiful day, and there were quite a few people enjoying the beach.  We were watching a family with 3 little kids who were running in and out of the water, screaming – it reminded us of Nicolas and Bryce when they were little.  It turned out that they were from Toledo – small world!

As we were talking, the Dad got excited – he spotted a shark!

It turned out to be a dolphin . . . still cool!

We walked along the beach, hoping to find a few shark’s teeth, but we weren’t seeing much in the sand – guess you have to get in the water to find teeth!  We did see a few fishermen,

and a pelican doing some fishing, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked back towards the pier, we ran into Rita and Harriett.  We made our way over to Sharky’s,    

and got caught up while we waited for our table.  The last time we saw them was at Nicolas’ graduation party, so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Eventually, we got seated at a nice table on the patio, overlooking the beach.  Sharky’s has a good selection of seafood and sandwiches . . . Tom and Rita were the only ones eating seafood, but there was plenty for Bryce and Harriett and I to choose from.

Everything we ordered was really good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner was great, and we enjoyed visiting with Harriett and Rita . . . now I just have to keep Tom away from garage sales . . . or he’ll be starting a new enterprise!!

After dinner, the girls were heading back to Bradenton, and we took a little walk along the pier.  We had a great view of the beach from up there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a beautiful beach . . . we may have to come back again to spend a day there!

We saw egrets, 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and pelicans,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a nice view of Sharky’s.

Leaving Venice, we took the scenic route – Tamiami Trail – all the way back to Ft. Myers.  It took us through the towns of Northport, Port Charlotte, and Punta Gorda . . . and a fair amount of rush hour traffic.  After stopping for an ice cream cone in North Ft. Myers, we crossed the Caloosahatchee River just in time for a beautiful sunset.

A beautiful end to a beautiful day!

One of our favorite areas of Michigan

When I was young, my family camped several weeks each year at Young State Park on Lake Charlevoix, and tom and I also camped there many times in the past when we were in a tent, and our pop-up, and even with our Class C motorhome.  Our current beast of an RV, though, is much too big, so we had to find an alternate location for enjoying our favorite area of the state.

 

We heard about the East Jordan Tourist Park on another blog, and decided it looked like a great spot for us.

After crossing the Mackinac Bridge, we made our way south and east to East Jordan, at the southern tip of the south arm of Lake Charlevoix.

We had just arrived when the sky opened up and we ended up parking the RV in torrential rain!  That’s only about the 2nd time we’ve had to do that!  Fortunately, we were on sandy soil, and the water drained away quickly – except for a big puddle in the road that all the campground kids loved riding their bikes through . . . Bryce, too!

We didn’t quite get the beach weather we were hoping for while we were there, but we didn’t get anymore rain either . . . just clouds and temperatures not quite warm enough for the beach.

There was a nice beach, though . . .

with playground equipment,    

and resident wildlife.

This little city park is very popular, and it was full the entire time we were there – many of the campers stay for weeks, and come back year after year.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even with all those people, though, it was very quiet and peaceful.  East Jordan is a cute little town, with several shops and restaurants, a grocery store,     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and even an ice cream shop where you might be lucky enough to get a free cone . . . if your mother named you right!

One afternoon, we needed to take Nicolas up to Petoskey to meet with a recruiter, so we left a little early to visit Charlevoix on the way.

On the way, we passed the Ironton Ferry. 

 

Since we were already on the Charlevoix side of the arm, we didn’t need to ride the ferry, but we have many times in the past.  This picture is from our trip to the area in 2001 . . . at least one of the boys was happy to be riding the ferry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In downtown Charlevoix, we walked along the new waterfront area,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

admiring the new look and the expanded harbor area.

They can sure fit a lot more boats in the harbor now! 

There are some really beautiful cottages along the water,

and some beautiful boats, too!

We got some lunch at Subway, and walked through several of the shops along the main street. 

 

Soon we arrived at our favorite shop – one that has been bringing my family to Charlevoix for decades . . .

only to find that it has closed!

We were so sad and disappointed!!  Another family member has opened a new shop across the street, reportedly using the same recipes . . . and their candies were pretty good, but it just didn’t have the same “feel” to the shop!

From downtown, we walked under the drawbridge and along the channel that connects Lake Charlevoix to Lake Michigan,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and down to the beach.    

The boys and I were on the hunt for petoskey stones!

The water surprisingly wasn’t too cold, although the waves made it difficult to search for stones without getting wet!

It turned out to be a pretty nice day!

We continued north on US-31 to Petoskey, and were glad we had chosen not to come through here with the RV . . . there was a lot of traffic, as expected, but also plenty of construction!

We still had some time to kill before Nicolas’ appointment, so we drove on up to Petoskey State Park to see if we could find some more petoskey stones.

The beach was beautiful,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but there wasn’t a rock in sight!!

Before we left the park, we drove through the campground loops.  Like most of Michigan’s state parks, this one is primarily suited for tents, pop-ups and small RVs, but there were about 10 sites in the very last loop that were open enough for large RVs, even ours.  I’m not sure we’d want to stay in Petoskey, anyway . . . too crowded!

We had time for one more stop on the way to the recruiter’s office . . . at the Kilwin’s Factory Store – YUM!  We got there just in time for a tour!

We saw toffee and taffy being made,

and the chocolate-coating machine . . . although it wasn’t currently working, it was getting cleaned.

At the end of the tour we got to sample a delicious “tuttle”  (like a turtle) – yum – and got a coupon to use towards a box of tuttles, but we didn’t buy any . . . it was time to get to the recruiter’s office.

Nicolas had a nice meeting and gained some helpful information about bootcamp, and then we headed back to the RV for dinner. 

We made one last stop at Fisherman’s Island State Park, and found a few more petoskey stones.  I even found one that will make a perfect pendant for a necklace!  I just have to figure out a way to polish them!

We may not have had great beach weather for our days in East Jordan, but we still had a very nice stay . . . and it looks like the weather was going to improve for our next stop!