Saturday, March 9th
We left this morning on our way to Gainesville to see the area and ride bikes! Our home for the next three weeks is at the Santa Fe Palms Resort.
Week 1
Monday and Tuesday we rode bike trails. First the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail which had beautiful views of the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.
Next we rode the Lake Butler to Palatka Trail through a canopy of trees with pretty marshland views!
One of our best friends in high school lives in Gainesville and we are really looking forward to seeing her! Wednesday Sue and Jim came to the campground to chat, tell us some things about the area and make plans to do some things together in the coming weeks!
On Thursday we rode the Palatka-St. Augustine Trail, a ride through rural farmland and Hastings…The Potato Capital of Florida!
Micanopy is a small town south of Gainesville we wanted to see. We arrived at the lunch hour Friday and could not resist eating at the Pearl Country Store and Barbecue.
Gretchen with her Junior pork sandwich,
huge but very tasty!
Downtown Micanopy is very quaint and an antique lovers heaven! Our next stop was Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park visitors center. There is a tower there that lets you see the extent of the prairie. The Gainesville-Hawthorn trail we rode Monday is on the horizon of the photo below.
Saturday morning we went to Devils Millhopper State Park to hike down the sink hole. We were expecting a full pool of water but it only had a little water in one spot. A volunteer indicated it was full in February but has been going down lately!
Our next stop was the Harn Art Museum at the University of Florida. What a wonderful museum. We learned a lot about Asian art forms! Also, they had a surrealism, contemporary and Florida impressions exhibits.
We had dinner with Sue, Jim, their daughter Katie and Herb (Sue’s brother). It was so fun to chat with Katie and catch up with Herb, who we have not seen in five decades. We might have chatted a bit about the old days in Schuylkill Haven!
Sunday was a riding day and we did the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway just south of Ocala. It is a very smooth ride through pine forests in horse country!
It was a unique day! I forgot my wallet and was driving without a license! Gretchen normally doesn’t take her purse so we had no money. We were counting our car wash quarters in case we needed to get gas and we lost our bike keys. Of course this had nothing to do with getting old!! We did make it back to the campground with no problem!!!
Week 2
Monday, we went with Sue and Jim to the Florida Museum of Natural History. In the lobby, you can stand by a little pond and watch wild animals come by for a drink. It is very cool! The thing that impressed me the most was huge display (floor to ceiling) of butterflies from around the world in a long two story hallway!
Today we are heading to Trenton to ride the Nature Coast State Trail. We planned to ride the section from Trenton to Cross City. We rode to Old Town just beyond the Suwannee River bridge. We turned around at that point since the towns were not on the trail. We did ride to Fanning Springs which was about two miles south of the trail but there was no access to the town from the trail.
Suwannee River
Suwannee River Bridge on Trail
A beautiful, cool Florida day and we are heading north to ride the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail. It was a relaxing ride, mostly under a tree Canopy on smooth pavement! We logged 29 miles to the end in Baldwin and back. Loved the trail!
Caboose in Baldwin Park.
Thursday was mostly a day for chores. We did go to center city Gainesville. It appears to have really gone down hill and they are just starting the process of rehabilitation.
Today we went to see the Baughman Center on Lake Alice. It reminded us of a chapel we saw in Kansas so we had to see it. It is a stunning, elegant, contemplation space on the University campus.
- Across the street from the Center are the University Bat Houses. Currently, there are 450,000 bats that reside in the Houses. Nightly, they consume 2.5 billion insects (more than 2,500 pounds) including moths, beetles, mosquitoes, flies, gnats, leafhoppers, midges and winged ants. No we didn’t go to see the fly out in the evening!
Tonight we went to a wonderful wine bar with Sue and Jim. A food truck was offering a Venezuelan menu and our selections were delicious! It was a fun evening with the Rolands!! AND, AND, AND….we got Jim to smile for a photo. You can’t deny it Jim, I detect white teeth…a definite indicator of a smile!
Saturday’s weather called for thunderstorms so we decided to check out Cedar Lakes Woods and Gardens. Sue and Jim said it was not that great but we needed something to do! It was not maintained at all. We drove in the entrance about a quarter mile and then turned around and left. We did not think it was worth the admission fee. Good call Rolands! We did get to stop at the Williston town festival with food and craft venders!
Sunday we went to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville. They have a beautiful campus and it was pledge Sunday!
In the afternoon, we went with Sue and Jim to the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. It was packed for the annual plant sale and fundraiser. It was a beautiful garden to stroll around the trails with the spring flowers just beginning to blossom.
The Rolands came to the campground for dinner. We had a fun time sipping good wine (thanks Sue and Jim) with Hors d’Oeuvres. Oh, Jim…what was that surprise beer you got? For dinner we had chicken stew and Gretchen’s chocolate chip cookies.
Week 3
Monday we rode the Ichetucknee Springs to O’Leno Trail. We liked the idea of a bike trail connecting two state parks! But it was in terrible condition; poor pavement and no hint of maintenance! Tuesday we drove to Inverness to ride the Withlacoohee State Trail. It was a wonderful ride with a host of cyclers, plus access to cafes and bike shops in the small towns. We rode all of the trails we planned to and looked 160 miles in Florida! Fun time!!
Wednesday morning we went with Jim to the Sweetwater Preserve and hiked the La Chua Trail. It is a beautiful, peaceful spot with many birds and we even saw a few alligators! We learned an alligator fact; above 93° F all eggs hatch as males, below 86° F as females.
For lunch we went to SweetBerries, one of Sue’s favorite cafes. Jim and I tried Cactus Chili for the first time! We still don’t know what cactus tastes like!!
Thursday evening we went to the Rolands for dinner. Sue made a wonderful chicken meatballs and couscous dinner.
Also, we discovered Sue is quite the crafts woman as show by her cross stitch masterpiece that took her 12 years to complete! It was so good to reconnect with Sue and get to know Jim better. We absolutely loved spending time with them. Thanks guys so much for showing us around the Gainesville area, for your hospitality and regional gifts you gave us. We truly hope we will see the two of you in Lynchburg! BTW….I count four photos in which Jim is smiling enough to show teeth!
Week 4
Easter weekend we traveled to Yamassee, SC and then on to Myrtle Beach. Maggie has been really sick with an allergic reaction to something. We don't know if she will be able to do much this week.
Monday, we went to Kelley's after lunch. Maggie felt like she wanted to get outside and walk a bit. We went to Garden City and walked the pier. She said that made her feel a little better!
On Tuesday we went to Brookgreen Gardens. We ate lunch in the restaurant and then walked around the gardens. The spring flowers were in full bloom!
We went for a backcountry tour of the Brookgreen property in a really bouncy, really, really bouncy truck! We learned the property consists of four adjacent plantations, totaling 9,200 acres! The plantations grew rice and indigo. The current gardens are all on the Brookgreen Plantation; the other three are undeveloped. The tower below is taller than the trees. Each plantation had a different one so river boats could stop at the right plantation to pick up rice!
After leaving the gardens, Maggie needed a rest time before they came to the camper for dinner. Maggie loves the KOA. We continued our tradition of making S'mores for dessert!
Wednesday was Kelley's birthday...46 years young! We went shopping for all of the free things Kelley gets from her store memberships...cake, flowers, coffee, etc. For dinner we made scallops with a sage sauce, green beans and cake for dessert! It was fun being with Kelley on her birthday!
Alas, we had to say our goodbyes since we leave for Virginia in the morning. Great spending time with you guys!
Final Note We had no problems with our new camper. We found it to be most comfortable and our initial organization of space worked well. Also, we love our electric bikes!
