Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 24

5 February 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter, Florida    

Anhinga drying out.

Marc-  Today we stayed close to Jupiter for doing some shopping and filling another propane tank.  We also went on an excellent guided forest walk learning about the varieties of trees that grow here. Finally there was a bike ride up in the "scrub" looking for birds.  Success in seeing two more scrub jays, an anhinga, and even a black vulture. 

Red mangrove trees line the Loxahatchee river near the campground. This tree can filter out the salt in brackish water.  

Bean from a red mangrove complete with roots.  The bean drop off and floats to shore and then somehow sinks its roots into the shore.

The mangrove beans grow vertically into new trees.

This bush-type vegetation is actually a Florida scrub oak tree complete with acorns.

Live oak trees are also found here along this bike trail.

Flowers along the bike path.

Entrance to gopher tortoise burrow.

Gopher tortoise on the way home to its burrow.

A campground visitor (white egret).

Scrub jay along the bike path.

Northern mockingbird.

Black vulture.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 23

4 February 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida     

Cow display at the Dania Beach Quebec style poutine restaurant.

Marc-  Today was a very special day visiting my French-Canadian relatives who live here in Florida during the Winter.  My aunt Monique has been coning here for the past 34 years.  Her daughter Danyelle and her husband Martin have owned a home here for many years and own a home in Dania.  It was great to see them again.  I also enjoyed the authentic Quebec poutine.

Martin and Danielle.

My Aunt Monique's kitty.

Sunset at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 22

3 February 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida    

Scrub Jay.

Marc-  We were upon out early to meet up for a guided Scrub Jay hike at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.  Our guide described the habitat of Florida Scrub.  It consists of rolling hills with oak bushes and oak trees, pine trees, saw palmetto palms, cactus and other plants. We saw many Scrub Jays and Northern Mocking birds (the Florida State Bird), and there were cat birds and cardinals, too.  Only the Scrub Jays came near us.  They are not afraid of people.  They are only found in Florida in the scrub.  It was a thrill to see them.

The saw palmetto palm.

Prickly pear cactus.

Prickly pear fruit.

Well worth the effort.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 21

3 February 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida     

Fort Lauderdale Beach

Marc-  Our mission today was to go south to Ft. Lauderdale to meet Steve and Paul in their new co-op.  It was a cool 50 degrees but the Florida sunshine helped a lot.  Their co-op is fantastic and well located between the Atlantic Ocean beach and the ICW.  It has a lot of window looking North.  I took a video and will try to post it.  Steve & Paul took us out to dinner at an excellent Greek restaurant:  Ethos Greek Bistro in Wilton Manors.

Earlier in the day we stopped by two quilt shops and came out with just one spool of thread from each. The shops were Quilt a Bit in Greenacres and Once Upon a Quilt in Dania Beach. 

Sue on the beach.

Beautiful beach.

View from the condo.  Note the several boats tied up behind homes on canals.

ICW behind the homes.

Nearby state park.

Strangler fig tree on a live oak tree.  

Once Upon a Quilt in Dania Beach.

Just one section of fabric of many at Quilt a Bit in Greenacres.

Cinderella's carriage in Once Upon a Quilt.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 20

2 February 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida     

Beautiful painting at the campground nature center.

Marc-  Today we continued the campground shuffle where we move to another campsite for two nights.  It is not that difficult but you need to wait until the new site has been vacated and inspected before you can move in.  Then we drove down the coast to visit with Annie Donnelly (and her dog Pocket) from Vergennes who lives in Lake Worth Beach.  She showed us some of the sights including beautiful beaches and parks.  We enjoyed lunch at the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina right across from Peanut Island and then we went for a walk at the John D. MacArthur Beach State Park in North Palm Beach.

Riviera Beach Municipal Marina.

Our lunch spot.

View of the Margaritaville Cruise Ship. It runs from Palm Beach to the Bahamas.

Fishing.

Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 19

1 February 2026

Jonathan Dickinson State Park 

Jupiter,  Florida    

Jupiter Light from US 1 highway bridge.

Marc-  It was 28 degrees here the morning....  burrrrrrr!  That said there was no frost and no icy windshields or roads near here.  I drove out to get a few things at ACE and ALDI without any problems.

We stayed close to the campground today doing camper maintenance and Sue sewing flying geese.

At the end of the day the winds calmed down and we headed out on the river trail.  It was worth the effort.

Sunset on the Loxahatchee river trail.

Near the campground.

These are flying geese, but not Sue's.  These belong to Mary Nunnencamp, and they are the border to a quilt Mary and Sue and several others started at a retreat in Vergennes in November.  Mary lives in Tampa, and we will see her at an American Quilt Society Show in Daytona in February.

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.