More Great Florida

When last these intrepid RVers reported in, we were in Cedar Key on our way to Candy Bar Bingo in the campground clubhouse.  I had never heard of this form of bingo but we were told that we were each to bring a candy bar to throw in the pot.  Then winners would go up and claim a candy bar as they won a game.  So first we had to go shopping for candy bars which meant some debate about giant Hershey bars vs. medium Lindt bars vs. tiny Toblerone.  Of course, anything worth doing is worth doing to excess so we got 3 for bingo and one Butterfinger “just in case”.  

Off to bingo!  We joined the dozen or so other bingo players, many with adult beverages which required me to ride my bike back to Chuck for a bottle of wine and several glasses.  We put our bars on the candy table and the games began!  The first 3 winners each took the candy bars we brought.  Guess we shopped well.  We still had the Butterfinger “just in case”.   We played “C” bingo, and “X” bingo and “four corners” and any number of other permutations.  Soon I won and scored a multi-pack of mini Kit-Kat bars and shortly after that Robin won and snagged a baggie with a variety of mini-bars.  The evening ended when we played “fill the card” for the pot where we each had thrown a dollar.  We missed winning that but had enjoyed our evening.  That Butterfinger did come home with us.  Unfortunately we aren’t going to be there next week for Hillbilly Bingo.  I’m thinking the next church fundraiser should be “Bottle of Wine” bingo.  We’ll see.

The next couple of days were pretty low key involving a slightly scummy Laundromat, though the clothes got clean, a fight at Walmart about returning a defective air mattress and a couple of really good dinners at one of our favorite restaurants.  

The Blue Desert Café is one of those gems you occasionally find.  With only 20 or so seats, it’s manned by 3 women; one in the front of the house hosting, bussing and serving.  Another 2 in the kitchen cooking, prepping and washing dishes. Everything is made in house from scratch and the service is relaxed as you wait for the dishes to come out.  The food is fresh and flavorful including pizzas, pastas, seafood.  It's so good we went two days in a row.

Thursday was going to be our last sunny day so we headed for the Cedar Key docks to schedule a sunset island tour.  It was beautiful, lots of birds, dolphins, island history, and at the end, a clear sunset.  It was a great way to see part of the Nature Coast of Florida. 

"Sit right back and you'll hear a tale....."

Pair of ospreys on the nest

Cormorants

Bird beach

Dolphins

Cedar Key from the water reflecting the sunset

Sunset

 Friday was a run to Gainesville which has the closest Trader Joe’s.  We were low on wine (down to 1.5 cases) and health and beauty products.  A few favorite snacks helped fill the basket.

Saturday we moved about 200 miles heading north and west and ended up at Three Rivers State Park, 50 miles west of Tallahassee.  It’s another great state park and after one wrong turn we found our campsite and set up overlooking the lake.  There’s no WiFi and virtually no cell service, but the scenery more than makes up for it. 

Campsite at Three Rivers State Park

 Interestingly, the line between Eastern Time and Central Time runs through the middle of the park, so all opening and closing times specify which time zone you should notice.  Connected devices (like cell phones) switch times in mid-park.  

Your faithful Blogger with a glass of inspiration

Sunday dawned rainy and gloomy but that didn’t stop us from going 20 miles west to Florida Caverns State Park where rangers guide tours through a limestone cavern.  It was a very “real” cave, no paved walkways or handrails, just the paths hacked out by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1938-1942.  

Dedicated to the CCC workers

Using pickaxes, 5 gallon buckets and wheelbarrows, they mapped and then excavated the cave to create the tourist attraction.  They also built the visitor’s center and other outbuildings.  They made $1/day or $30/month, and they were expected to send $25 of that home to their families and live on the remaining $5.  Their construction has all held up well and the cave tour was fascinating.  In places we bent double and turned sideways to get down the trail.  I did realize that spelunking was not in my future.  I couldn’t imagine crawling around alone down there without a guide and headroom.  Luckily it’s unlikely anyone will ask me to do so.  Here are just a few of my 200+ cave photos.  It's hard to appreciate the color and scale in these pictures so if you're ever in the area, it's well worth a visit.

Next stop, back to Gulf Shores, AL and one of our favorite campgrounds to date; Bay Breeze.  Initially we were going to spend a week there before heading on, and then we realized that would have put us travelling on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), which, in this part of the world is a really big deal and screws up traffic all over.  So we’re staying there for 10 days (yippee!) and we'll head out on Ash Wednesday.  Where are we going?  Good question.  We have 10 days to figure it out.  We’ll keep you posted.