Car Camping

Car camping used to be more popular than it is today, but that did not stop us from doing it. We were, as to be expected, the only folks sleeping in their car at the campground, but I did not mind it at all. In fact, it was super fun, albeit chilly. Actually, the temperature was more than chilly, but we were snug as a bug in our Pilot.

Alas, where to begin? How about the journey? You've probably already guessed that we took back roads rather than the interstate. On this kind of trip, with no set schedule, I can't bear to just zoom there, I want to see what there is to see. And see, we did. Google Maps told me the destination, Keystone Heights was 136 miles from home. I made it there in a little more than that, with the only part of their map we used was the actual road the campground was on. Let's just say that if a road had a 4, or a 2 in the designation, we took it. 41, 46, 441, 42 all were traveled, along with 17 and 21. Some of it was familiar to Bruce because he comes from a camping family. I do not. Taking a detour, we made our way to Clearwater Lake, a place where he camped as a youngster. Although he claims not to have much of a memory, don't believe him for one minute. He remembered the place as if it were yesterday. Shady and lovely, the spaces were mostly occupied by Northerners who spend the winter months in our Florida campgrounds, snug as a bug in big RV's. The lake is lovely, surrounded by big pine trees, with a white sandy beach.

An apt name, Clearwater Lake:

very unusual to say the least. Using the journey as a bit of a recognizance mission, he wrote down the numbers of the most appealing campsites. Continuing on, we made our way through Crescent City where we stopped at a cute little antique shop:

Retro indeed. Unlike some shops of this type, everything was beautifully organized with the merchandise easy to see. There were lots of goodies to choose from, but in the end, I chose only one thing:

Isn't it cute? I paid the full price, $12.99, despite my timidly asking if it was the best price. Once home I discovered the price was more than fair for this covered dish from Universal Cambridge, an Ohio company formed in 1934. I need another bowl like I need a hole in the head, but what the heck?

I may not have gone too many miles out of the way, however, as far as time is concerned, instead of arriving at the campground by around 11, it was nearly 2 when we arrived.  The park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the depression.

In a radio speech from April, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had this message for the CCC:

"Idle through no fault of your own, you were enrolled from city and rural homes and offered an opportunity to engage in healthful, outdoor work on forest, park, and soil conservation projects of definite practical value to all the people of the nation. The promptness with which yu seized the opportunity to engage in honest work, the willingness with which you have performed your daily tasks and the fine spirit you have shown in winning the respect of the communities in which your camps have been located, merits the admiration of the entire country."

And here we were, 75 years later, engaging in a healthful outdoor activity, thanks to those hard working men. Throughout our countries most recent financial struggles, there have been many who thought reviving this type of work would be beneficial, however, to date, nothing has come of that idea. I wonder if there was such a thing as unemployment checks back then?

A late lunch was quickly consumed. While I was getting that together Bruce went about making the bare spot as cozy as possible. He finds this part very relaxing. The sun was high in the sky, with nary a cloud, making the middle 50's temperature very comfortable. Following lunch we went for firewood at the ranger station. Strict rules, and I mean strict, disallow campers from so much as picking up a twig for kindling! We found some outside the park along the road, filling the bag which previously housed the quilt. Finally we went bicycling to see more of the park. Because of our recent dry summers, we had been told beforehand the main lake was dry with no fish. The kayak stayed home for that very reason, however, there is water there now.

On the other side of the lake, reached by struggling uphill, followed by flying downhill, the cabins built by the CCC are lakeside.

Cute! Not so cute were the other dried up lakes:

Yup, this whole area was once covered by water:

I hate to say it, but we need a hurricane to replenish our lakes and rivers--natures way of achieving balance. Bruce, unlike myself, has not had the time to get his legs in shape for bicycling, so after viewing the area, we headed back to the site. Here's how much room we had in the Pilot:

The two layers of quilt felt very good indeed once the sun went down! Reading and relaxing until dinnertime filled the remainder of the day. Bruce fired up the cookstove and we let the beef stew simmer. Our closest neighbors told us that for the last few nights a family of deers walked through the forest behind our site, however, on our night there, they did not make an appearance. Because we've had so many warm days, it is easy to forget that it is still winter with the trees only just beginning to get their new leaves. I wonder what this will look like in a month?

 Although we didn't need it, Bruce put the shade shelter over the back for practice:

Adjacent to the left side of the picnic table is our bag of kindling which by the time we left was all used up. Dinner on the picnic table--dessert by the fire:

He's charring mine, just how I like it! How about you--charred, or lightly browned?

This all sounds like fun doesn't it? Well it was, but perhaps the most wonderful part of the trip was the sky that night. Earlier I mentioned the cloudless sky. Combine the little crescent moon, add to that  nearly freezing temperatures, along with a remote location---what you have is the perfect recipe for stars.

Never, in my entire 59 years of living, have I seen so many stars. It is no exaggeration to say that the entire sky was filled with points of light! Then too, because there were so many, the sky still looked blue. Bruce used the lantern to read a bit while I gazed at the stars through the car window. I was completely STAR STRUCK! Although we slept comfortably, every now and again when I woke up, I used the opportunity to look at the stars. Guess what? You'll have to take my word on this because I have no photographic evidence, not even a poor shot. Why not? I wussed out--too cold to try to figure it out!

This post has gone on forever hasn't it? Sorry about that, however, there's one final funny story I must relate before I leave you....

As we prepared to go to sleep, Bruce locked the car, for no other reason than that's what city folk do. Turns out, this was not the way to go. Soon after we were snuggled under our covers, the car alarm started blaring! Yikes, where are the keys to shut if off?? Hitting the red button did not one thing to stop the blaring--finally, after hitting all the buttons it stopped. Whew! Wondering what the neighbors in their big RVs were thinking about those crazy car campers we once again snuggled up. Not so fast Gail and Bruce. A few minutes later it happened again!! After shutting it off, it happened AGAIN! A lesson for future car-campers out there--do not lock your vehicle when you are in it! By the way, I was giggling like a school girl--Bruce was not.

Jealousy

I'll admit it, I'm just a little, well maybe more than just a little, jealous of everyone going places while I'm still sitting here blogging. Bruce is in California for the week, Angela has gone to spend the month in Wickford Village, RI, and now Corrine comes over asking if I'll pick up their newspaper while they go to Las Vegas! As well, Matt and Tom just had their whirlwind tour of the East Coast, arriving home safely yesterday morning. I'm quite anxious to hear Tom's impressions of his first visit to New York City.

I could go somewhere, except for one tiny problem-our little Baxter. Normally I would have Angela watch him, but you can see that is not going to work. While driving yesterday afternoon, I heard this incredible story on All Things Considered about how many Europeans just leave their pets BEHIND for a month! Seriously, I could not believe my ears hearing how in France people think of pets as pretty much disposable--particularly when they get in the way of their vacations. As you know, I do not treat Baxter like a child, no clothes, no play dates, that sort of thing, but there is such a thing as common decency.

I left Sue out of the first paragraph, but she too is on her way to their second home in Montana. See, why I'm jealous? Sue lives nearby, although exactly where her house was I did not know until Sunday morning. Turns out, she was on the front porch reading the newspaper when I turned the corner onto her street, which as it happens, is behind the church we attended three times a week for years and years while the children were growing up. Sue is a collector AND a seller of vintage goods. That's why I saw her at Community Thrift--she combs the shelves for the whole, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" thing, finding items she knows her buyers will like. In fact, she goes there so often the cashiers know her by name. As we were checking out, after realizing we knew each other, my cashier picked up the pig, asking if Sue had seen it and wondered why she didn't buy it! I, on the other hand, was seriously jealous, there's that word again, of the garden cart Sue found before I did, with the astonishingly low price of $2.50! I did find, what I'm pretty sure are, some orange Carnival glass little dishes.

Two for $3.93. I told you they used weird prices. Who sells something with the price ending in three?
I need more little plates like a hole in my head, but, there's a little sentimental value going on with this purchase. In February of 2010 I wrote this post about the Carnival glass vase my mother-in-law willed to me. Now you understand.

While Sue was at the market visiting on Sunday she told me she was worried I'd put her house on my blog, because she too is on that slippery slope when it comes to outdoor decorations.

The early morning light had everything aglow! See, she does have a bunch, however, they all are useful!

There was a time when most of our life was lived on, or just off, of Lake Margaret Drive which Sue's street feeds off of. As I mentioned, we spent countless hours at what was then named, Fort Gatlin Alliance Church:

Situated on the corner of Lake Margaret and Bumby Avenue, much has changed since our days there, most notably it is now a Vietnamese Alliance Church! For about 25 years the brick planter housed a beautiful wooden sign Bruce made. It really was striking, and my goodness, it held up for such a long time.

The pastor's home was just on the other side of the church, across the parking lot, and a small pond, which used to have more water than this!

Surprising that it is so low, but the Great Blue Heron seemed to like it just fine. Surprising because we are getting some rain again. Matter of fact, yesterday morning I was all set to head to Nordstrom to begin my Christmas shopping when the rain came pouring down. So much so I couldn't leave the house for an hour! I'm talking three inches in that hour! From the look of the sky as I type, could be more coming today.

And then there was the Fort Gatlin Swim Club, also on Lake Margaret Drive. When the children were so very young, our finances were somewhat challenging. Never one to spend more than is prudent, we did not use our air conditioner for years. I know, sounds cruel, but you do what you have to do. Or, at least I do. Anyway, one day Bruce came home after seeing the club and thought perhaps we could keep cool in the summer there. And so we did. What a God send it was in more ways than one. These days it is now owned by Orange County and the pool area is hardly recognizable.

Back in those heady days there were three diving boards, including a high dive, and a huge slide which provided countless hours of fun for my boys.

Furthermore, the back of our house faced Lake Margaret. Then they built the Wal Mart at the corner of Lake Margaret and Semoran Blvd where we purchased the very new and exciting Nintendo with Mario Brothers. We were pretty much set for years, barely having to leave that road! And, because I took these photographs while on my bike ride, we still haven't gone very far.

As I typed that about the air conditioning it struck me that some would think I was mean back then. And, so too, my children might have agreed with that sentiment, however, with four boys to feed and clothe, spending money on being comfortable was not something I felt we could manage. My theory is that if children never experience any discomfort while young, as adults they will have a hard time adjusting to the harsh realities of life. In other words--You Can't Always Get What You Want!

Aha--a lesson for me. I may want to go on holiday somewhere, but hey, I've really got all that I need right here. Who could ask for more? Or should is probably more like it. :)

p.s. Only kidding about the comments on my toad misfortune!

Where to Begin?

I imagine by now you are all dying to know about the trip. Well, here we go.....

Yesterday morning Bruce and I awoke at 4:00 EST; apparently our bodies were convinced it was 9AM GMT. First thing I did was look at my pictures, which truth be told, are not terribly exciting. For one thing, with London's busy streets it is hard to just stop and take a photo. Furthermore, mostly we were on missions, either following our London tour guide (Matt) or the three other tours we took. Because we'd never taken a tour before it was a new sensation--following the Pied Piper. Did I mention I could not keep up with our city boy? It was a darn good thing he wore some very colorful shirts!

Instead of a true narration, I'm going to divide this into three sections. Sights, impressions and photographs. Ready? This could get long.....

Where we went and what we saw:

• Broadway Market
• London Fields
• Hackney Museum
• Saw where Matt works 
• Spitafields
• Poppies Fish and Chips for dinner
• Banksy work in Matt's neighborhood
• Regent's Canal
• Geffrye Museum
• Columbia Road flower market
• Independence Day picinic
• Soho for dinner
• Monday is mostly a blank for me except for dinner at Pizza Express and Tift Merritt concert
• Paddington station to Bath
• Royal Crescent in Bath and other sights
• Celebrated Matt's birthday at Demeuths (wonderful meal)
•  Stonehenge, Avebury, Castle Combe
• Our only iffy meal of the whole trip at Crystal Palace
• Cotswolds Discovery Tour
• Transport Museum
• Buckingham Palace
• Mayfaire
• Green Park
• Dinner at Leon
• Street Art Tour with Griff
• Dinner at Nandos (fantastic)
• War Horse at the National Theater
• Drink at Princess Louise pub
• St. Pancreas station to Leicester
• Wonderful lunch and conversation with Ray and Jane Flude (Tom's parents)
• Gifts galore
• Dinner at the station--another yummy meal
• Remembered Monday--London Museum
• South Bank
• Courtald Gallery
• Westminster Bridge crossing
• Docklands
• Olympic Park

Impressions:

• The food was SO MUCH better than I expected!!! 
• After a few days, Bruce discovered that we paid in pounds, what we pay in dollars.
• The buses, trains, and underground were all amazing in their efficiency. We even navigated one day on our own.
• You have to move fast or you can get run over! As mentioned above I was usually lagging behind but no one was pushy or rude. 
• It's possible to live in a quiet neighborhood a few bus stops away from the center of the city.
• Bikes are wildly popular.
• Matt and Tom are terrific together.
• London is a wild, vibrant mix of people.
• The English countryside is beautiful in person. I've seen a hedgerow for myself now.
• Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!
• The weather changes hourly, although, there was more rain in Florida during our absence than there was in England.
• Matt's flat uses space so cleverly.
• It is hard to underestimate how old much of England is. Seeing the Roman Baths is mind boggling.
• I'm no good at breezing through museums, which Matt discovered for himself. We probably spent more time in the Museum of London than most folks. Thousands of years of history will do that to a curious person. 
• Service in all the restaurants was terrific, unlike here where the staff usually has attitude.
• A very noticeable lack of tattoos and breast implants.
• Bruce remarked on the beautiful complexions he noticed.
• Very little honking on the streets which is striking because there is a wild jumble of buses, taxis, cars and cyclists all sharing very narrow roads.
• London feels very safe. It may not be, however, we were never concerned even at night.
• Street markets are very, very popular.

Photographs:

You can well imagine I took a lot of photographs. Indeed, 1224 on my two cameras. Some on Bruce's because one evening my battery died and I'd neglected to pack a spare. As I imagined the majority are typical tourist photos with no saleable future. I'm posting some with explanations today, however, you may be seeing more in the foreseeable future as I spend more time looking at them. Off we go.....

The obligatory Stonehenge photo. Although most everyone has seen a photograph before, in person it is extraordinary.

 

These are not in order of appearance btw. One of our favorite street artists, James Cochrane from Australia.  Imagine doing this with spray paint!

 

Bruce and I disagree on the street artist Stiks whose work is pictured below. I love the simplicity, he thinks it's silly. Nevertheless, he makes his work with only six lines and color and to me the expressiveness is extraordinary.

Matt attempted to photograph his parents on several occasions with me spoiling most of them. At any rate, here's one from Bath.

Although Matt had a blow dryer for me to use, I didn't make much use of it, thus my hair is kinda crazy. A light sweater or rain jacket over my sleeveless dresses was all I needed.

A darling picture of Matthew with his birthday desert at Demeuths in Bath, which serves vegetarian/vegan fine dining. Next time I'll show you the extraordinary cake Tom made before we left London.

Years ago I was a collector of David Winter cottages which prepared me for our Costwolds trip. Now that I've seen the area in person I realize all the more what a great job he did replicating the darling homes and businesses of the region.

This is an example from Bibury. A lovely stream held some swans, ducks, and what I learned from Tom, a morehen, or at least that's what I think I remember. We were both amused and amazed by the antics of one of the mute swans as he harrased the ducks:

A regular terrorizer! Here is the morehen with a brand spanking new little chick, actually there were two newborns and some unhatched eggs as well.

We had lunch in a traditional pub dating back hundreds of years (my memory escapes me) and after my ploughmen's lunch I wandered a bit on the two streets of the village coming across this charming place:

The English love to walk in the country with multiple footpaths marked. We took one through a
sheep meadow which was just delightful as long as you watched your step! That husband of mine is just so darn photogenic isn't he? He was making sure I was coming along:

That was our foray into the countryside and I can't say enough how delighted I am we took those tours. The sole problem for someone like me is I had very little time to take anything but tourist shots.


Back in the city, this kind of display is in front of shops on each block near Matt's flat:

On our last night there I finally stopped buying about a three pound basket of nectarines for one pound. Having just returned from a little visit to Clemons this morning, I can tell you that it would have cost about three times that here. Curious, however, I suppose the competition is great.


A walk on a Thames bridge over to the South Bank offered this view of London which is jam packed with cranes. Construction projects everywhere which was a nice bonus for Bruce.

We enjoyed lunch then meandered along the Thames. This charming scene is of little beach shacks, decorated by local artist which are set up for the summer.

There is a really cool water jet fountain, which apparently if you are very clever, can be stood in without getting wet. This young boy wasn't that lucky! 

After this relaxing walk we headed out to the site of the Olympic park which offered us this view:

The red sculpture is being constructed for the games, an Anish Kapoor design. Tom is working on the transport for the millions of expected visitors. 


Speaking of Tom, our trip to meet his parents was delightful. The comfortable train trip was just under two hours, followed by a taxi ride to their home. And what a lovely home it is! The hospitality shown by Ray and Jane was tremendous, as was the vegan lunch. Everything about the inside of their book filled home was charming. Double doors lead out to a wonderful, controlled chaos garden as described by Jane.

 Tom loving up one of the cats:

I now understand more fully Angela's garden obsession. I'm freely admitting to a bad case of jealousy! I only wish this were the size of our yard.

Jane and Tom must be pointing out something very interesting to Matthew!


After our trip to the London Museum, Matthew had to have been thrilled that I wanted to go to the Courtland Gallery because there was virtually no way I could spend hours there. Although their collection included works by Picaso, Degas, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Serault and Pisarro, what really sticks in my mind is this interesting piece shown in the Gravity special exhibit.

Suspended by what appears to be fishing line, these are bricks collected from the shoreline of the White Cliffs of Dover from the lasting remnants of houses that have collapsed into the sea over the years. Really, really cool.


After seeing War Horse at the National Theater we went to one of London's prettiest and oldest pubs, The Princess Louise:

We were not there for too long because when it's time to close, they are very serious. Ringing the bell for last call and within the half hour, the bell rings once again and it's time to leave!


By now you may be exhausted reading all this and frankly I'm exhausted writing it! Seriously, I do know it's a lot and believe me, I won't go two weeks without blogging again. Our flight home was made all the better by the special treatment Bruce receives for being a gazillion miler with Delta. Here is the appetizer for lunch:

Can you believe that? Looks like lunch to me! Watching movies, eating, drinking, reading and sleeping our way home, we finally arrived around 9:30 at night. The first thing Nancy said when she saw me was, "You poor thing, you look so tired!" She was right, it had been a very long day.


Forgive me my errors please; it has taken me so long to do this I can't go back!

Another Day in Paradise

When I left Bruce at the job site on Tuesday he asked if I knew where I was going. I told him I would head towards the beach and see what happened. I took the causeway over to Jensen Beach because I wanted to re-visit the site where I found the "Life's a Beach" carved into the boardwalk hand rail. Guess what? Possibly (what am I thinking using the word possibly when I should have said probably?) reflecting the current mood of the country, someone wrote over it with "life's a bitch"; so much for improving that shot!

While there I met a retired lifeguard who told me about Bathtub Beach on the southernmost tip of the island. This is exactly what I love--being out & about and finding new and interesting places to explore. On the drive there you come across a very interesting place called Gilbert's Bar House of Refuge. One of ten houses of refuge for shipwreck victims built along the Florida coast in the 1870's, it is the only one remaining. Because the population was so sparse in those days sailors might survive the wreck but once on land they would die of starvation. As a result of a public outcry the U. S. Life-Saving Service began which in later years merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to become the U.S. Coast Guard. A little history lesson for all of us.

The keeper of the station and his family would comb the shoreline after a storm looking for victims to aide. Daily logs provide a small glimpse into life back then. What I like about going into these old houses is seeing the products used at the time--you know, the various medical remedies, and cooking products. As well, along our shores there are warnings about sea turtle nesting season with fines posted for interfering with the nests. The man responsible for that began his work alongside the House of Refuge. Don't you just love that name?

As far as Bathtub Beach goes it is an interesting place as well.Popular with families with small children because of the reef that forms a lagoon safe from tides. After several hurricanes and some stormy weather it is not very nice today because about 10 feet of sand has washed away revealing limestone and very old tree roots and stumps, a weird sight for sure.

Following the advice received from the docents at the HoR, I went to downtown Stuart nearby where I took this photograph. A charming little downtown, although I didn't have a long time to roam as Mr. Bruce was ready to be picked up soon.

He left yesterday morning for Pennsylvania and hasn't quit working since. Remodeling jobs happen alot at night; apparently after a seven hour drive from Allentown to Erie, PA, he arrived at midnight only to stay up most of the night with the crew. I just got off the phone with him as he was driving to the airport in Pittsburgh with me providing the directions thanks to Google Maps. I only hope he sleeps on the plane coming home. Ironically I was reading an article in the Times when he called about how salaried employees are working harder than anyone these days. Bruce could be the poster child for that piece.

I may have missed the deadline on the rivers photo contest; I sent in a package, whether it gets there on time is anybodies guess. Oh well....

It looks as if I will probably have a gallery show along with another artist in January....more details to follow. The link above is for the gallery as seen on the Travel Channel's website--Creative Spirits Gallery. This much I can tell you, the thought makes me nervous. Travel Channel