Florida Vacation: Part FIVE

This is a continuation of a series of photos of our recent trip to Florida.

More blogposts with pictures are below this one, if you haven't seen them yet.

As I mentioned before, our weather was not as warm as we wished it would have been when we were down there. All the local people and even people returning to the same area from years past stated it has been an exceptionally cold winter there.

(Great! Just our luck!)

Of course, we were glad just to be there visiting my daughter so any good day without snow was good for us Michiganders!

But we DID get plenty of THIS:

(That was a shot right outside of our hotel room door, showing the rainy night).

So, when we actually got no rain, no matter WHAT the temperature was, I was determined to get some photos!

Of things like:

the wonderful Palm trees:

And gorgeous little birds:

And water causeways:

They said Manitees came into this causeway, which I wish we would have seen.

But no luck! (Maybe the next trip?)

What was neat is that the people that owned our little hotel on the beach also owned two more little hotels across the street which were both on the water causeway. We therefore had access to fish on the piers on the causeway for free and to go Manitee spotting.



These great boats were right across the causeway from the piers.

I could just imagine living there and laying out on the boat. (Pure heaven!):

A girl can DREAM, can't she???






These are Sea Oats. They are protected in Florida:




Down on the pier, we spotted this little bird under the dock:

He waited around, and it wasn't long before he went fishing:

GOT it!!:

Although Gulf Boulevard is a main street paralleling the ocean (and therefore full of hotels, restaurants and shops), we went for a few walks away from the main street into some neighborhoods to admire their flowers and landscaping.

Beautiful hibiscus flowers:

And beautiful birds. This little guy is the same kind that we saw fishing at the pier:

That is it for today's pictures...

I am trying to stick to only 10 or 11 per post, so you don't get too bored!

Have a great day!

Florida Vacation Photos: Part FOUR

This is the 4th in a series of vacation photos to Florida.

If you haven't seen the first three blogposts, drop down after this one and enjoy!

After we arrived in Florida, the weather cooled down from the 70's to the 60's and we got plenty of rain and fog.

But one of the nicest days came and we drove to St. John's Pass for the day.

We have been there before and it never disappoints for pictures of Pelicans, docks and little shops to browse in.

But for me, its always about the birds.

I LOVE Pelicans and all the tropical birds in Florida.

I loved this little tugboat, too:

Geez, too bad I couldn't enter my own photo contest, because dang, it has RUST on it.

Most of St. John's Pass is developed around the theme of Pirates.

They have pirate cruises, pirate restaurants, pirate shops....and of course, pirate boats!:

And gorgeous pelicans.

Everywhere!:

And perched on every free pole:




This looked like a baby Pelican who still has to grow into its beak, but I am not sure:
But did you SEE his cute little bird face?????


Some men were cleaning fish on the dock and throwing the remains into the water for the Pelicans. It was a feeding frenzy!:

Evidently, the bird network called out about the buffet, because they kept flying in to fight over the feast:



It was such fun watching them fight over the fish and splash about:

They have this HUGE wingspan. This guy was drying out his wings and just hanging out:

Awww.

The life of a Pelican!:

Although I don't think I would want to eat fish remains

all the time.....

How about YOU?????

Florida Vacation Photos: Part THREE

If you haven't read Part One and Part Two of

our Florida VA-Kay photos,

just drop down to the two previous bloposts

and enjoy.

For the rest of us, let's continue, shall we?

We wanted to book in a small hotel, with a kitchenette.

I had gone on line and spotted a 60's feel, quaint little hotel

right on the beach.

St. Pete Beach.

Which is really close to Madeira Beach, where my daughter lives.

I had read all of the reviews that former guests had made regarding the little gem called Plaza Beach Hotel.

They said it was quaint, and clean, and reasonable.

They were right!

Smack in the middle of all the high rises on Gulf Boulevard on St. Pete Beach, we pulled into this little hotel:

Isn't it adorable?

And it was clean!

The room had a full-sized refrigerator, a kitchenette, a nice big room and cute bathroom.

And we could be on the beach in less than 60 seconds!

So we threw our suitcases in the corner, changed clothes and ran straight out to see the view.

Here is looking left down the beach from the hotel:

And, here is looking right from the front of the hotel:

To this northern girl, it was all I needed! Wonderful, bright sand and ocean as far as I could see!



Notice, there wasn't many people?

It is because it was COLD by Florida standards.

The first day, we hit 70F degrees.

It was downhill from there for a few days (which I will talk about later), but still,

it WAS the ocean!

And it was a heck of a lot warmer than Upper Michigan.

We did not mind an empty beach at all. We took many long walks on the beach, admiring the scenary:

And these Cuties:

Don't you just love their black crew-cut hairdo?





And they had THESE.....
Just ready for relaxation and a good book....





Until you spied one of THESE:

An Anole.
They are everywhere.
But don't worry.
The picture makes them look HUGE.
Actually, they are very tiny and very fast.
And more scared of YOU than you are of THEM.
I thought they were kind of cute.



We saw lots of fun flowers and plants to look at and photograph while we were there too.
Like this one, growing wild.
I used to have a houseplant like it:



And one of the FAVORITE things I like about Florida
is its BIRDS.
(There are many blogposts coming with photos of the birds).
(Because I just can't help myself!)

When we took ocean walks, we saw a lot of different kinds of seagulls:

They would chase the waves.

So would I, if I was a bird.

Wait.

Come to think of it,

I DID chase the waves...



And did I mention the Anoles????

Stay tuned for more photos........................

I hope it makes your cold winter day seem warmer.

It is really cold here with minus zero temps. at night this week.

So these can be an escape for a few minutes....

Now, excuse me while I tighten up the Snuggie around me, and go back to my book...

Florida Vacation Trip Photos: Part TWO

For those of you that didn't read yesterday's post, you may want to drop down and look at that first....

Now for the rest of us...let's carry on, shall we?

We blasted by car through several states, pretty farm lands, but it was flat.

Highway I-75 heading straight down from Michigan to Florida

is pretty boring.

The first intesting thing we started noticing were miles and miles where they must have had to blast through rock to make the highway.

We liked seeing the layers of rock:

And then we got into the Cumberland Mountains, which were like huge rolling hills!:

We thought of how beautiful it probably is in the spring and fall.



Then, it got flatter and flatter as we approached the Florida state line:

AT LAST...we were approaching the Florida border!!!

It was still in the 60's, but that felt a lot better than the 30 degrees we had left just a few days before!

My husband spotted the state line and a sign for the Florida Welcome center rest stop.

I wanted to go further before we took a break, but since he was our driver for the last two days, I had to listen to the Pilot.

So we pull into the rest stop, and THIS

is the first thing I see!:

Nope.

We weren't in Michigan any more!!!

I wasn't sure I wanted to get out of the car.

But THEN:

I saw THIS!:

I LOVE Oak trees with hanging Spanish Moss!

I took several pictures of the trees there and wandered around like a silly tourist with the camera clicking away.

You can't blame me.

At almost every turn there was Spanish moss begging to be photographed.

Some had entwining ferns:

Some looked like it had been hugging the trees for years:

And then, we rejoiced to see the first tropical plants on the whole trip down!:

And then, before leaving the Spanish moss there, I saw this lovely arch of it!:

And FINALLY:

Our first palm tree!:

It was so good to see tropical vegetation, because we knew we were finally almost there.

On our way out of this lovely road stop, there was a lookout that pointed over Florida countryside.

I really liked this old, dead tree there:

We stayed almost an hour there, taking in the tropical plants and snapping away photos.

We climbed back in the car, knowing we were closer to our destination, refreshed and happy.

Stay tuned for our destination photos next!

*P.S. Don't forget to go out and get your photo for entry into the first ever Retirement Chronicles Monthly Amateur Photo contest! January's theme is "Anything Rusty". Submit your entry by Jan. 31st, midnight.

The Vacation to Florida Photos (Finally!).....Part ONE

Finally!

I am ONE HAPPY WOMAN.

We picked up our computer yesterday and I was a busy little bee downloading all of my vacation photos into my EXTERNAL drive (yep, this old dog CAN learn new tricks) and now I can show you the long-awaited vacation photos of our trip to Florida

that we took before Christmas.

For those of you that don't know, we live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (we residents are known as YOOPERS..get it? from the U.P.).

So to get to Florida, we have to travel from mid U.P. going west and then south to get to the mighty Mackinac Bridge and cross where the Great Lakes meet

to get into the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

So off we started.

Before we got 100 miles from home, we were driving down the highway and saw a HUGE bird up in a tree.

We looked at each other, and my husband (knowing me WELL)

said:

"So I am going to have to turn the car around now, aren't I?"

God, I love that man.

And we did.

So I could get THIS picture!:

He was just hangin' around the highway, watching traffic.

My husband waited in the nice, heated car while I braved wind and cold

to get more photos of him:

Gosh, he was gorgeous.

It is my theory that I wasn't the ONLY photographer that he has been patient with.

He didn't seem skiddish at all and just sat there and posed.

Of course I took many more photos of him other than the ones I am showing you today.

But here is one more (because I just can't help myself):

Ok.

And just ONE close-up.

Because when you are THIS handsome, you deserve a closeup:

My husband was afraid I was going to be so distracted I would step out in the middle of the highway and get hit by a semi. So he was glad when I finally returned to the car and then I begged him to turn up the heater on the car because I don't think I could feel my fingers anymore.

About two hours later, we were in the south part of the U.P. and cruising along US 2, which parallels beautiful Lake Michigan:

As you can see, when we left on our trip, the U.P. did not have any snow yet.

Here is another shot of Lake Michigan:

As you drive along the Lake, you wait for a glimpse of the huge Mackinac Bridge.

I wanted to get out and get a picture of when you first see the bridge from the highway, but my husband wanted to keep on rolling (since the eagle photo shoot put us behind schedule), so since I had to travel with him for the next two weeks, I figured I better let him have that one, so everybody in the car would continue to be happy. :=}

So, when we got to the bridge, I took this shot through the car window:

Continuing on the bridge:

Almost half way!:

I loved this dark exposure of being almost under the arch with the dark, cloudy skies:


And the rest of the day, we made it all the way through lower Michigan and stopped for the night about 20 miles from the Michigan/Ohio border.

Since we didn't see anything thrilling all the way through Ohio, I didn't take any photos there....
tomorrow I will show you some shots from Kentucky and Georgia....
and then after that I will post all the Florida photographs.

I am so happy that I have my computer back, safe and sound and that they found all of my old photographs. I have them stored safely on my external hard drive, so we should be good to go now.
Remember everybody:
think about submitting a photo to the photo contest by Jan. 31st...this month's theme is "Something Rusty"......