It's 80 degrees at Tomoka State Park!

 Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - It was a 2 hour drive to Tomoka State Park, which is in Ormand Beach, just north of Daytona.  This park has about 100 campsites, which are nicely spaced and quite private.  The campground has a great camp store, called the Outpost, where you can rent kayaks/canoes, and buy camp supplies.  The store is a wonderful spot to watch the sunset over the river and even sells beer, which we've never seen at a state park before.  

The dock at the Outpost

There is a 45 foot statue in the park, of Chief Tomokie, who was a Timucuan chief

The plaque in front of the statue says he was "slain by Oleeta in defense of the golden cup" (whatever that means).  The statue was erected in 1957.

Enjoying the sun

All settled into site #39

A game of Cosmic Wimpout before dinner

Thursday, February 3, 2022 -  We packed a picnic lunch and road our bikes all over the park.  We found a nice bench on the river's edge where we had lunch and did a crossword puzzle.  We then took the Benny Woodham Trail that winds through the woods, right outside the camp entrance.  This trail parallels North Beach St, (Old Dixie Highway), which going north, is a beautiful canopy road.  We headed south on Beach and found a Dairy Queen (sidewalk the whole way there), which was about 6 miles from the park.  We then did a bit of exploring and found a seafood market and bought 2 crab cakes for dinner.  It was a 15 mile bike ride day!  

Nice spot for lunch

lunch on the river

Benny Woodham Trail

Crabcake dinner

Chef Kev

Crabcakes, potatoes and green beans

Friday, February 4, 2022 - Friday was another beautiful 80 degree day.  Our friends Jim and Jeanene came to visit for the weekend.  It was the perfect evening to hang at the campsite.  We went to the Outpost for the sunset and then grilled burgers/brats for dinner and enjoyed catching up around the fire. 

 

Jim and Jeanene came to spend the weekend with us!

We enjoyed the sunset from the dock

Saturday February 5, 2022 - It was a windy cold day (only 57 degrees, quite a difference from yesterday!).  We went to Daytona Beach and walked the boardwalk and found some skeeball to play.  We then spent the afternoon at the Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS).  It was a bizarre museum, but was a nice spot to explore on a rainy afternoon.  There was a whole hall with Coke memorabilia, a coke delivery truck, lots of old coke machines, and signs.  There were 2 old luxury train cars, there was Cuban art, African art and a Chinese art.  Admission came with a Planetarium show, where they talked about the Hubble Space Telescope and showed pictures from it.  It was a fun afternoon.  We then played games at Jim and Jeanene's hotel in Ormand Beach and had dinner across the street at the Stonewood Grill.

Welcome to Daytona Beach

Making music in front of MOAS

Lots of cool Coke stuff

A Coke bench for my bench collection

We found a Monon sign (the old Indiana railway line, now a bike trail behind our house in Indy) 

Sunday, February 6, 2022 - Yet another rainy cold day, so we played some games in the RV and then picnicked in one of the park's pavilions.   Jim & Jeanene had to head home, but we're looking forward to seeing them soon at their new Florida house (near Orlando). 

Fernandina Beach and the St John's River Ferry

Saturday January 29, 2022 -  It was a sunny "warmish" day, so we decided to go to Fernandina Beach, on Amelia Island, for the afternoon.  We found a pizza place for lunch and then walked around the nice little downtown.  We then drove by the house used in the American Pippi Longstocking movies.  Elaine loved the Pippi movies when she was a kid.  We didn't see a horse on the front porch, so I don't think Pippi lives there any more, but it was fun to see Villa Villakulla.  Next we stopped at the Amelia Island lighthouse. The plaque said that it's the westernmost lighthouse on the east coast of the United States.  

Peg Leg Pete stands guard in front of the Fernandina Beach Harbor.  Amelia Island was a haven for pirates in the 1700's.

Downtown Fernandina Beach

Yummy Arte Pizza in Fernandina Beach

Villa Villakulla

Amelia Island Lighthouse

Sunday January 30, 2022 - It was a really chilly morning, the low last night was 28 degrees!  This part of Florida doesn't normally get this cold.  The rangers had to turn all the water facets on in the campground so they didn't freeze.  By the afternoon it was in the low 60s, so we went for a walk on the beach, and then a bike ride through the park

 

A tortoise sunning itself outside it's nest, next to the beach boardwalk

The tortoise in the sand dunes

pretty water patterns on the beach

Little Talbot has a beautiful, several mile bike trail that runs through the park

Snacks and the Chiefs vs Bengals game

Monday January 31, 2022 -  Another beautiful sunny day, so of course another bike ride.  Right inside the park gate there is a hike/bike trail that goes through the woods and circles around with a ride on the beach and back to the ranger station.  It's about a 6 mile bike ride and more of a challenge since quite a bit of the trail is on sand.  We took our lunch with us and when we reached the beach had lunch and did a crossword puzzle while we enjoyed watching the pelicans crashing into the water catching fish.  At sunset we did a little fishing from the dock in the campground. 

bike ride through the woods

Pretty flowers along the trail   

lunch on the beach

beach bike ride

View of the salt marsh from the campground

The campground road

More pelicans fishing

Beautiful Sunset from the campground

Fishing from the dock

Fishing at sunset

Tuesday February 1, 2022 - On our last day at Little Talbot, we rode our bikes to the St Johns River Ferry (a 12 mile bike ride, round trip) and took the ferry across the river to the Safe Harbor Restaurant.  The ferry connects up the north and south ends of Florida State Road A1A.  It was $1 for each of us to ride the ferry with our bikes and was about a 5 minute trip.  Lunch was great, Kev got a crab cake and some fish bites, I don't really like seafood, so had a really good burger and fries. 

They lined us up, right behind the cars

We were the last ones on and the ferry wasn't very full

Riding off the ferry

Kev's crabcake

My burger

Safe Harbor Seafood

The ferry ride back was a little more crowded