Aqua

There’s a color of the water in the morning at St. Andrews that isn’t blue or green or really any of those colors like aqua, cyan or turquoise. When you pair it with the pinks, roses, and purples of sunrise, the combination is relaxing and exciting all at the same time. I am afraid the camera doesn’t really pick it up, but I can use the memory to relax and find my “happy place” in the future.

A walk along the ocean is always fun to see what creatures you’ll see. There were herons, jelly fish, and crabs.

Geocaching Issues

I guess the theme of this post is relaxing pictures. I was having a hard time with geocaching lately. I found 0 of 6 geocaches. Sometimes the geocache disappears due to construction, someone cleaning up the area, or weather (floods washing away the cache). Sometimes the coordinates are far enough off that it is difficult to find. Sometimes there are muggles in the area and I really don’t want to crawl on the ground while someone is watching. Sometimes I’m just not persistent or smart enough to find where it’s hidden.

But I did find some neat views while searching.  BTW, I found 2 of my last 4 geocache searches so I’m doing better now!

Blackwater River State Park

River water is black when the tannic acid from plants colors the water. It’s not something I would drink, but it’s perfectly fine to swim in. Given the hot temperatures in Florida (mid-90’s), it felt great! The cool part of this river is that there is white sand beaches on every curve of the river. It’s pretty startling to see the dark water and the white beaches.

The park has several walks through swamp areas. It's a great park to visit!

Better Stories from St. Andrews State Park

Nothing like a rainbow over the marsh, though it’s not the sharpest or biggest rainbow.

The beach erodes quickly St. Andrews. The ranger said they bring in sand every 2 years to keep a beach but it has only been a year and much of it is already gone.

Lots of deer in the park. I wonder if these are the deer I’ve seen in the past (1, 2). I saw a mother with two babies in previous visits. The first time was when the babies were still suckling, then I saw them feeding along the road. The babies are growing up! 

We had an egret walk through our campsite. This one seemed to be conceited as it walked with its beak in the air.

Creepy Coincidence

Most nights I dream. Most of the time the dream fades away as I wake up. Rarely, a dream sticks with me enough or is vivid enough that I tell someone about it. Last night I dreamed about a copper colored snake. The snake was in our RV here in Panama Beach. In the dream it leapt out to bite John. As I woke up I was trying to call 911 and was planning on calling the rangers next to identify the snake and get it out of the RV.

OK, it was just a dream. When I woke up for my morning bike ride, I have to say that I spent time looking around for a snake in the RV or right outside. But I forgot it as I took a ride out to the beach. I was talking to a ranger a bit about beach erosion when she noticed a snake near the path. It was a copper colored snake! The good news was it was a King snake and safe. The fact that the snake really looked like the one from my dream freaked me out! But did you know all the rangers have a snake grabbing stick and a bucket in their carts? They moved the snake to a spot away from the pathway.

 

Lovebugs and Cleaning Windshields

Last year at this time (September) we were hitting lovebugs in our windshield. They’re back! Their mating is romantic and all, but it’s a pain to anyone driving in this area (North Florida). The rest areas were full of people trying to clean them off. Gas stations were full of people using the squeegees to try to wipe them off. Mostly this just smears windshields.

John heard a great hint from a lady who heard it from a trucker…use dryer sheets. He buys cheap dryer sheets and uses plain water. Spray the water on the glass (chrome, plastic, etc.). Let it set a few seconds and also mist the sheet with water. The bugs and goo come off with very little work at all with the sheet and it doesn’t damage anything. An extra towel is needed to shine up the window with perhaps more water. It works extremely well (but is still a pain!).

This lizard (or whatever it’s called) is very cool with a split tail.