Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 18

31 January 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida   

Tropical seas quilt.

Marc-  Our first mission today was to refill a propane tank before the temperatures tanked to 29 degrees overnight. Mission accomplished thanks to the friendly Ace Hardware of Vero Beach.  We came north to Vero to visit with my cousin Armand, his daughter Michelle and his son Michael.  They live in Latham, New York when not here enjoying Vero.  

We also went to two Quilt shops.  Sue found fabric for a quilt she wants to make.

Sebastian, FL

Amazing spiral pattern quilt on display.

Excellent detail.

Hummingbird.

Melbourne, FL

Sue - I forgot that 2 years ago when we went on a Winter trailer camping trip that I was rating the quilt shops we visited in this blog.  But I ended up saying they were all really good, so it was a bit pointless.  The shop in Sebastian is one we went to 2 years ago and it was a bright shiny friendly place.  It hadn't changed.  I was looking for a pretty much all black background fabric.  Not pure black but black with "a little something."  I also wanted rainbow fabrics without much of a pattern.  I didn't find it there.  They told us they had another shop in Melbourne that was 3 times larger.  After we had lunch with Armand, et al, we headed to Melbourne.  I looked for quilt shops on my phone and saw that Sew Much Fun was open until 6, assumed that was where we wanted to go, and it wasn't.  It is a completely different name, but that didn't sink in.  Turns out Sweet Time Quilting in Melbourne closed at 3pm anyway.  

Sew Much Fun has only been open a few months and took over from another quilt store.  It's pretty good sized, has friendly people, is not quite the bright fresh beautiful place Sweet Time Quilting is, but I found what I wanted.  I wasn't thinking about getting batiks, but that's what I got.  A Robert Kaufman rainbow fat quarter assortment, and a Robert Kaufman black background with a little something in it - Marc says blue and I say green - a hazy little something that I can barely see.  I need to make a disappearing 9 patch quilt for a guild challenge, and this is what I plan to make it with.

Tomorrow morning it's supposed to be 29 degrees.  The farmers are very concerned about their crops, and people are concerned about their pipes.  Peggy & John Brewster, and Craig & Donna Lewis are  getting snow in Myrtle Beach right now.  This is nuts.  When we came back to the campground today the staff told us to leave our faucets open a bit tonight, as well as our gray water tank.  We will certainly comply.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 17

30 January 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida  

Gopher tortoise near our campsite.

Marc-  We continued our exploration of the area both inside and outside the park.  Our first adventure involved taking a guided river cruise up the Loxahatchee River (river of many turtles).  The Captain explained that this river has seen tremendous change beginning in the 19th century when Jupiter Inlet was created.  The Inlet allowed for the influx of salt water during high tide when the flow of the river reversed.  Large stands of bald cypress and palm trees died off in the brackish water area of the new estuary.  These were replaced with extensive growth of mangroves that survive well in salt water.  Upstream parts of the river retained their traditional bald cypress and palm trees.  The water color and clarity changes from perfectly clear aquamarine near the inlet to dark brown murky water stained by the mangroves to the crystal clear water upstream with the bald cypress and palm trees.  There were many of birds along the banks including great blue heron, night heron and anhinga.  

Anhinga perched on a mangrove root.

Swamp lilies.

Air fern.

Bald cypress and palm trees.

Turtles.

                        The mid point of the cruise was stopping to visit Trapper Nelson's outpost.  

Nelson constructed a number of cabins such as this for tourists. 

Hunter, our Park Ranger.

African sausage tree.

Bleeding heart vine.

Trapper Nelson boathouse docks (made of cypress - a hardwood resistant to rot).

Great blue heron.

After the cruise we went in search of a quilt store in the developed part of Jupiter.

Route 1,  ICW drawbridge.

Cool pinwheel design.

Colorful design.

"The Dress," a Laura Heine pattern

Eventually we returned to the Park and climbed its tallest peak, Home Mountain  (86 feet above sea level).  We also enjoyed riding our bikes this afternoon.

Looking west from Hobe Mountain.

Tonight's sunset.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 16

 29 January 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida 

Loxahatchee River at Jupiter Inlet.

Marc-  We started off our day with a 4+ mile hike in the mixed forest area North of the campsite near the river.  A great day to be outdoors, 60-70 degrees and sunshine.  The pine forests here go out as far as the eye can see with a palm tree underbrush.  Near the river the forest becomes a tropical wetland consisting of bald cypress trees.  The trails are excellent.

Miles and miles of well spaced pines.

Cypress.

Large dredger working in Jupiter Inlet. 

The floating dredger discharge pipe goes out the Inlet then along the beach to deposit sand on a not-so- nearby beach.

The jet in the center of this photo is the watery sand mix being shot out on the beach.

Loggerhead Marine Life

 Center in Jupiter.

Then we visited the local turtle hospital in Jupiter.  This is a fantastic place on the edge of a large oceanfront park known for nesting turtles. Both the facility and the staff were excellent. They have cameras and viewing areas for the treatment rooms.

Not sure what surgical procedure was taking place here.

The staff explained that the Kemp Ridley's Sea turtles migrate to Cape Cod and then have trouble coming back when the weather turns cold unexpectedly.  The turtles are stunned by the cold water and wash up on the beach.  This year has been really bad on Cape Cod and the New England Aquarium can not handle all of the turtles, so fly them to southern turtle facilities.  The turtles we saw in the tanks were doing well and they will be released nearby.

Hatchling sea turtle being hand fed squid.

Hatching time at the beach (a sculpture).

Colorful fish in the big tanks at Loggerhead.

Lastly we visited a Hobe Sound facility near our campground.  Excellent water and beach access right on the ICW.

How am I going to get those coconuts?

Beautiful Hobe Sound.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 15

 28 January 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida

Sunset at the Loxahatchee river near our campsite.

Marc-  Today was an excellent travel day: dry roads and sunshine.  We migrated South through half the State of Florida from the Georgia border to Jupiter.  This is our first time camping at this rather large park.  Our campsite is five miles in from the highway on the banks of the navigable Loxahatchee river.  This river is tidal and flows down to Jupiter Inlet and intersects the ICW.  We passed near near on our trip aboard Coda to and from the Bahamas last year.  We found the area remarkable for its white sand beaches and aquamarine waters.

The red triangular icon mark our campsite.

Jupiter Lighthouse.

View of the beautiful water here from the lighthouse.