More cold...and Manatees at last!

We left Carrabelle Beach, Florida yesterday. It's beautiful. We'll have to come back some time when it's above freezing.

This is the 1/2 inch thick ice that fell off our roof in Carrabelle Beach... FLORIDA!!

Late Tuesday afternoon, we noticed that our furnace had stopped working. Assuming we were out of propane, we loaded the tank into the truck and drove 25 miles to the nearest propane station, filled 'er up, and came back. Still didn't work. Turned out we had a failed regulator in the system. It was 7:30 at night, temp dropping past the freezing mark, and we had no heat.

Well, went to the warm clubhouse and settled into the comfy recliners, where I promptly fell asleep for the night. I elected to stay there. Stacy went back to the trailer, piled all the covers on the bed, and slept like a baby for the night. When I shuffled back to the trailer in the morning, it was 23 outside and 34 inside. Ahhhh, Florida!

Wednesday, we packed up Irv (our trailer) and drove west to Navarre Beach, near Pensacola. On the way, the great folks at Camping World (the mecca for those on the road) replaced our regulator and we are again "cookin' with gas".

We finally found the fabled white-sugar-sand beaches of Florida. We drove past mile after mile of them on the way.

While we were in Carrabelle, we drove to Tallahassee one day. It's the state capitol and home to Florida State University, whose Seminoles would beat the Auburn Tigers that very night for the BCS college football national championship. It was too cold to walk around, but we did a driving tour.

Boardwalk to Carrabelle Beach

Carrabelle Beach (NOT one of the fabled site sand beaches, but beautiful still)

On the way to Tallahassee we went to Wakulla Springs State Park where we -- FINALLY! -- saw Manatees in the wild. Wakulla Springs is the largest of the warm water gulf springs where Manatees spend the winter. It emits 200-300 MILLION gallons of water each day! There must have been 30-40 of the big mamas swimming -- well, mostly just lying around -- with their babies in the crystal clear water. But it was VERY impressive, these 1,000-3,000 lb. mammals surfacing every couple of minutes for a new breath of air. They are not terribly active animals, and are most closely related to elephants and aardvarks. It says when they migrate, they move at 2-10 miles per hour. I guess they don't go far.

Historic 1930's resort retreat, a lodge, swimming and boating. Very pretty. And, did we mention, COLD!!

Yes, that white blob is a manatee surfacing!

A lovely vintage lodge, still in operation, right above the Springs

We also had some unbelievable seafood, both in little gulf side restaurants and on our own grill. I put a fish called Tripletail (aka Blackfish) on the Weber one night and it was absolutely fantastic! They told us that 90% of all Florida oysters come from a little port called Apalachicola, just up the coast from us. Honestly, oysters from the gulf are the best I've ever tasted!

The bridge to St George Island....BEST OYSTERS at the Blue Parrot Cafe!!!

When we stopped in Panama City to get the propane problem fixed, we went for lunch at a place called Hunt's Oyster Bar. Now this place was the real deal! I'm sure we were the only tourists. We sat at the bar in front of three surly guys shucking oysters. Jack's were raw (6 for $4.50), Stacy's fried...and they were fantastic, with all the gritty atmosphere you'd expect.

Stacy just loved these signs and wanted to put it in somewhere. So here it is for your musical enjoyment. :)

So, now we are parked in a beachfront spot in Navarre Beach. More to come.