Florida

Our travels this spring began in Dahlonega, GA with our 3rd annual visit with Marybet and Hoppy. We enjoyed a brisk walk in the woods on the only day the sun came out. This is a forest where there are some huge, ancient trees. As you can see it was still early spring in northern Georgia.
It was very enjoyable to visit their son, Drew, wife, Christie Beth, and daughter, Loralai in Athens. Loralai was just a week shy of her first birthday. Drew was pleased to add these antique tools to his collection. Mom found them in her basement recently. They belonged to Drew's great-great grandfather! It's a pleasure for Mom to pass family things along to a younger generation.
Hoppy, once again, showed off his grillmaster skills. His smoked baby back ribs were a gastronomic delight. Thanks for a memorable visit.
Next stop - Wellborn, Florida to visit Aunt Jinny and Carmen. Here, too, it was quite chilly but we were able to enjoy some good walks. This is a stork. We also saw an alligator and some turtles.

The porch is a favorite place for us. We could watch the bluebirds going in and out of their house on the fence. Carmen has done an excellent job with the landscaping.

The next morning it was quite chilly again as you can see by my fleece jacket. Our visits are treasured deeply by everyone.

After an overnight at a favorite spot on Tampa Bay we spent over 7 hours driving to our final destination - Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge and Camp. To our delight Jerry asked us to go fishing after dinner. What a treat it was for me to catch these nice mangrove snappers! The fishing around the bridges was usually quite successful so we'll be enjoying some snapper dinners over the next few weeks.

John caught this feisty cero mackerel.

It was fun to catch the delicious-to-eat hogfish.

Our favorite thing to do on Sundays at 4 PM is head to Geiger Key for the BBQ: ribs, chicken, beans, yellow rice, cornbread and coleslaw, beer, wine and waterside tables. Kay and Jerry have introduced us to all their favorite places to eat in the area and we are quite grateful. They are all unique: Coco's (Cuban) Cantina doesn't look like much but is very good; Porky's is outside/waterside in Marathon as is The Stuffed Pig. Of course no trip to the Keys would be complete without a couple of visits to The No Name Pub on nearby No Name Key. The interior is covered with dollar bills and the pizza is legendary. We also especially enjoyed eating fresh stone crab claws, a true delicacy.

This manatee swam up the canal to say hello. All of Florida had a colder-than-normal winter this year and manatees died due to the cold water. In addition to fish and other wildlife, tomatoes and strawberries were affected, too. The cooler-than-normal weather continued during the first week of our stay but the low 70s felt just great to us. The temps returned to the normal 80 daytime highs, 70 nighttime lows during our 2nd week. Just delightful :-)

Many times when we had a fish on a monster fish would come and snatch it half-way in! John decided to take on the goliath grouper we named Big Boy and here he is fighting it for a while. The (500 lb.?) grouper was smart enough to swim behind the bridge foundations and cut the line. We all had a chance to experience its power on our light rods.

Big Pine Key is the National Key Deer Refuge but the deer don't just stay in the woods, they wander through the campground.

Some are so tame and used to being fed that Jerry can feed it a carrot from his mouth!

It was a pleasure to finally have a calm day to fish the reef. The yellowtails were not biting but we had fun with king mackerel as in the picture below. Above is a black grouper. It was disappointing to have to throw them back because the season doesn't open on them until May 1st. John also caught a huge moray eel!

This king mackerel gave me quite a fight.

Jerry had fun hauling in this red grouper.

This trigger fish was fun for me to catch and eat.

Kay and Jerry showed off their expert fishing skills by landing these hard-fighting king mackerel.

This is the view of Kay and Jerry's campsite from the other side of the canal. If you look closely you can see Kay reading in her comfy recliner.

Many birds came to watch us fish, hoping for an easy meal. This is a great blue heron. The pelicans, gulls and cormorants are pesky and aggressive and sometimes get caught in our line or even hooked.

John and Jerry each caught big Jack Crevalles. Maybe you have figured it out from the pictures - the edible fish are usually photographed on shore and the ones that are released are photographed on the boat. We didn't eat the king mackerel but gave them to a neighbor who sells them to the local seafood store. We caught over 25 types of fish.

Interesting perspective of the bridge we fished under. It was always cooler in the shade which also provided sunscreen benefits.

When not fishing, walking, visiting or eating out we enjoyed site 65 for the 2nd year and have reserved it for next year. This campground/lodge/motel is an excellent, family-run place that is well maintained. They have excellent events such as the Easter sunrise service and breafast; Key Lime pie night/name that tune of '50s music; and pie and ice cream night. The snowbirds and regulars are friendly, social people. Water aerobics is fun for me on the mornings we don't go fishing.

This is the view of the ocean from one side of camp on a calm day. We enjoyed walking all around camp, along the water, on the nature trail and along the canal. It was fun to see some iguanas over near the canal. We had a remarkable snorkeling trip this year because we waited for a calm, clear day. A 500-lb. goliath grouper swam right under the boat! There must have been about 2000 yellowtails by the boat, too. I spotted 2 lobsters on the reef for the first time. We saw every type of tropical fish imaginable and in abundance. There were some big barracudas and some medium-sized groupers, too. Not just while snorkeling but on other days we saw many porpoises and sea turtles, quite the sight.

Ibis

Great white heron

This was a long post but I covered everything about our fantastic trip.