Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 43

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Vergennes, Vermont

Thursday, March 14, 2024 

A nice touch from Hershey.  We will be back.

Marc-  Another long travel day passing through Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont to get back home.  The weather was fine with temperatures in the 60's and mostly sunshine.  There was no snow left in Vergennes and some of our neighbors came out to welcome us back.  The truck and trailer performed well again on this trip.  Mindy and John Donnelly , who cared for our house while we were away, invited us over for a dinner.

Glad to be back.

Our bird-feeder was the only bird in sight.

Sue-  We stopped at Patti's Sewing Quilt shop in Queensbury, NY, just a couple of miles off Route 87.  It's a very pretty shop.  Not big, but very welcoming, and gorgeous fabrics, mostly Moda.  I bought 3 little Christmas kits, about 12 x 12, of a collection of wrapped gifts.  Of course I don't need a thing, but wanted to get something, and really liked these kits.  I would go back there in a minute.  It's about 1-1/2 hours from Vergennes.

Queensbury, New York Quilt Shop.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 42

HersheyPark Campground

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Wednesday, March 13, 2024 

Looks like we made it to the source!

Marc-  Seven hour travel day today crossing North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and we landed in Pennsylvania.  There was a lot of truck traffic, especially in Pennsylvania.  We carried the 70 degree temperatures and sunshine all the way up to Hershey!  The grass is green, the daffodils and cherry trees are out all the way up through Maryland, and the trees are budding.  We also saw our first forsythia in Maryland.  In PA the Weeping Willows are greening up and the buds on the trees are just beginning.  

We headed over to the Hershey store to stock up on our chocolate supplies and enjoy some of their excellent ice cream.  During our walk around the campground, four long freight trains came by on the adjoining tracks.  Ear plugs will be useful tonight.

Cherry Blossoms in West VA

Hershey Trolley

Yummy!

Campground Eucalyptus Tree

Weeping Willow

Daffodils

Birds of the Hershey Campground.

Hershey street sign.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 41

Enfield / Rocky Mount  KOA 

Enfield, North Carolina

Tuesday, March 12, 2024 

Enfield Campsite among the Pines.

Marc-   Today was another 6 1/2 hour drive North up Route 95 accompanied by lots and lots of trucks and a few campers.  It was a warm sunny day.  One fuel stop was significant as it was our first time at a Buc-ee's fuel stop.  Tractor trailer trucks are clearly not welcome here since signs appear at all entrances indicating no large trucks.  This fuel stop and "convenience store on steroids" has 120 fuel pumps and 53,000 square feet of retail store space.  The gasoline and diesel fuel are lower priced that any other that we have seen on the East Coast this Spring:  $ 3.39/gallon for diesel and $ 3.49/gallon for DEF.  We did not pay attention to the gasoline price.  The store has a bakery, a large sandwich making area, a jerky making area, a fudge making area, and all sorts of snacks.  There is also a gift shop, and a large assortment of clothing and travel accessories on display.  We bought little but fuel.  We arrived at our campground shortly before 5 p.m.  Spring has arrived here with apple trees beginning to bud and pine trees dropping their pine cones and spreading their pollen.  The holly shrubs have their red berries.

Apple Tree

Holly 

Loblolly Pine Tree 

This rapidly growing tree reaches up to three feet in dimeter and straight, making it an excellent tree for paper pulp, plywood and general construction timber.  It is widely grown in North and South Carolina.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 40

Richmond Hill / Savannah South KOA 

Richmond Hill, Georgia

Monday, March 11,  2024   

Snowbirds heading North.

Marc-  We made our first 6 1/2 hour journey North today to Georgia.  It was sad to leave the tropical climate and vegetation.  There were no palm trees by the time we reached Northern Florida.  The long leaf pine forests dominate Northern Florida and Georgia.  We walked around this nice campground on arrival and found ducks and birds including mallards, whistling ducks, swans, geese and loads of egrets.  We also found one section of the campground with cabins and blossoming pear trees.  It is Spring in Georgia.

Black-bellied whistling ducks

Mallard duck and white duck (who thinks he is a mallard).

Canadian Geese

Swan

Pear Trees

Sue- We were going to be within 5 miles of The Scrappy Rooster Quilt Shop in Kingsland, GA on our way North today, so we stopped by.  We had been to this shop when we were heading South and staying next door in St. Mary's, GA.  I bought some patriotic fabric there and found that I need more.  Unfortunately, what I wanted was sold out.  I know where I can buy more on line; it just would have been easier to get it here today.  

This is the shop where, on our last visit, we met a nice fellow running the store who is originally from Bridgewater, MA.  He is a long arm quilter.  Today the owner was working, and she is also very nice and welcoming.  She gave me a free pattern for an Easter Egg runner that she had sewn and had hanging in the shop.  I found more of the Alice in Wonderland "Curiouser and Curiouser" fabric line in a bin with 1 yard cuts for $7.99 per cut.  That's a great price for a yard of nice fabric.

I think I have enough fabric now for at least 2 years.  And maybe longer!

1/2 of a beautiful quilt at The Scrappy Rooster 

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 40

 Oscar Scherer State Park

Osprey, Florida

Sunday, March 10,  2024   

This blog is going to the dogs.

Marc- We started the morning off with a three mile hike looking for birds.  We did ultimately find some birds and a very nice Irish Cream Retriever.  The highlight was seeing several young Bald Eagles.  Park Service Volunteers had set up telescopes to view them up close and personal so to speak (you could look then in the eye).  Later we took our bikes out for a trip on the Legacy Bike Trial (an old railroad trail that has been professionally converted for bike use) to the Historic Village of Venice.  We were only off of our bikes to cross the drawbridge over the Intracoastal Waterway and to see the downtown shops.  This is one very nice downtown with flowers at every corner and Palm trees and parks.

Woodpecker on a dead tree.

Eagles Nest

Eagle in flight

Young bald eagle coming back to its nest.

Sue's phone app. "Merlin" found the sounds of the above named birds during our hike.

We did not see any up close but we did hear them all.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 39

Oscar Scherer State Park

Osprey, Florida

Saturday, March 9,  2024   

Resurrection Fern

Very cool plant that finds a place to live.  Almost every live oak tree here in Florida seems to have these ferns growing on their horizontal branches.

Marc-  Sue will explain our morning visit to a very nice Quilt Shop in Venice.  We then prepared for guests coming for lunch.  Afterward we all went on a shady hike in the tall oaks and palm trees along the creek that passes through the Park.  It was 84 degrees in the sun so we welcomed the shade and the cooling breeze coming up the creek from the Gulf of Mexico.

We did see several yellow and orange butterflies along the trail but they were impossible to photograph.  I am having difficulty loading videos.

Our friends:  George, Fred, Em & Ann

This State Park is really an oasis in a developed part of Florida.

(Google Photo)

Sue- This morning we went to Crazy Quilters Fabrics & Notions in Venice.  It is the smallest quilt store I've seen.  There are 2 ladies working there and Agnes, their security poodle.  Believe it or not, Agnes wears pearls (pink ones).  Why we didn't ask to take a photo of her, I don't know.  We also forgot to take a photo of the outside of the store.  I think one of the ladies told me it is a 900 SF store, but when I think back to my 650 SF apartment in the Fenway, I wonder if it is really 900 SF.  Regardless, they have as many pretty fabrics as they can cram in, and the ladies are very nice.  Agnes warmed up to us quickly.  I bought fabric for a table runner class I'm taking with Kay B. when we get home.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 38

Oscar Scherer State Park

Osprey, Florida

Friday, March 8,  2024  

In search of the elusive Florida state bird:  Scrub Jay.

Marc-  We headed North up Route 75 in fairly light traffic and easily arrived at Oscar Scherer State Park in under two hours (Route 75 traffic is notorious for traffic accidents causing long delays).  We set up the camper and almost immediately joined the Gilmartin Family for their irregular New York Times Crossword puzzle session on Zoom.  We did two puzzles in about an hour.  Afterward we took a walk on one of the hiking trails.  Our friends Ann Lewis and George Kyriacou invited us over for a wonderful dinner at their home. A great meal good time was had by all.  

NY Times Crossword Puzzle

We are here for three nights.

Southern Camping Trip 2024 / Day 37

Koreshan State Park

Estero, Florida

Thursday, March 7, 2024 

So we went in to the woods...

Marc-    Today's destination was the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers with Donna & Frank, who thought up this adventure.  This is in fact an 11 mile long nature preserve consisting of a slough or flowing wetland inhabited by owls, various wading and migratory birds, alligators, turtles river otters, snakes and frogs.  We saw a swallow-tail kite, double-crested cormorants, great egrets nesting in trees, turtles, and a ring necked snake.  The trails consist of connecting boardwalks through the very wetland.

Later we all met up with our friend Roberta for a wonderful meal at the Deep Lagoon Seafood Restaurant on the Caloosahatchee River.  The restaurant is next to a Boston Whaler boat dealer.  These high end fishing boats all have massive outboards motors with some having three six-hundred horse power outboards on the transom.

It's Florida so everything keeps growing year round.

Exotic plant growing on a Cypress tree.

Turtles

Cypress Trees

Cormorants

Another turtle

Screech Owl 

"Grandma Cypress"

Iris

Frank, Donna & 2 snowbirds