Florida Vacation (Feb. & March 2009)

I just love driving south this time of year!! Escaping from the frozen north and driving until its warm out is a very magical experience, and one that I look forward to immensely!!

These pictures are of the mountains on the way down I-77. Before you scold me for taking them while I was driving, I put the camera strap around my wrist and then just put my hand out the window and snap away!! :) I don't look until later. I would stop, but there really isn't a place to pull over (without getting run over by crazy truck drivers!!) Anyway, I love the drive and the freedom of the road. This time I didn't make any reservations anywhere. I just went. I figured I'd roam where and when I pleased :) So nice!!

This is downtown Jacksonville, Florida (again taken from the the car). I'm pretty happy with how well it came out!!

The bay downtown St. Augustine, FL. I love this town. Its small, but big enough to have all kinds of cool things to do. It has a very European feel to it. Kind of reminds me of what Spain would be like. I've never been there, but I can imagine can't I?

This is the old fort back from 1672!!! Its pretty amazing to think its been there that long!!

Beautiful palm tree near the fort.

Most of the streets in the old part of the city are for walking only or are very pedestrian friendly :) There are tons of shops, restaurants, coffee shops and art galleries everywhere you look. I could live here in a heartbeat!! :)

At the beach in St. Augustine, I got to watch some people fishing with a huge net! They caught a ton of fish. It was pretty neat!!

They also caught a stingray in the net! Of course I wanted a closer look. I got stung with a stingray or two in California a few years ago and am now always on the look for them when I'm swimming!!! Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle those feet!!! :)

Look at that HORRIBLE barb!! Trust me, you DO NOT want to come very close to that thing with your bare feet!!! Hurts like nothing I've ever felt!! Took 3 months to heal up the cuts from it too!!

He bent and then broke off the barb and then let the thing go. I'm sure it hurt the poor fella', but at least it won't sting any unlucky swimmer in the future!! :)

Don't they look evil? They are pretty neat creatures. Their eyes look like a dog's eyes and they actually look AT you when you are close to them!! Creepy!! I've held them and fed them in Grand Cayman and they are not hostile or anything, just don't step on them!!! :)

I love driving on the beach down here!! Its the most amazing stress reliever ever. I could drive for miles along the beach looking out at the sea. And, if I want to stop and explore, I just park and get out and there I am!! :) Very nice!

Happy feet!

St. Augustine Lighthouse

After being in St. Augustine for a couple days, I decided to drive over to the Gulf of Mexico and hang out over there for a while. I havn't explored that much over there, but did go to Sanibel and Captiva Islands a couple years ago and LOVED it!! So, I drove over to Fort Myers and got a hotel and then from there drove all over that area. The Ocean is so beautiful over there. Its much more like the Carribean and the water is so clear and blue!! Turned out it was 82 degrees and gorgeous and I loved every minute of it!!!

This is the path to the beach on Sanibel Island. It feels like the tropics on that island and I absolutely love it there!!!

























A lot of the beaches there are so wide open and undeveloped! So beautiful!!

He was quite suspicious of me, but let me get really close! He kept his eye on me at all times though :)

Sunset on Sanibel Island is absolutely unreal! People drive out onto the island just to witness it in person. Truely worth the trouble to see one of God's better creations in action!

Sanibel Island Lighthouse. Not one of the most beautiful lighthouses I've ever seen, but interesting anyway.

The gorgeous clear blue water off Sanibel Island. Makes you want to jump in right?

That water is so beautiful!! I could sit and watch it for hours as it crashes onto the shore. Mmmm! So nice :)

Sanibel and Captiva are famous for the sea shells that are deposited on their shores. It is pretty amazing the shear amout of shells that you can find!!

There are some gorgeous house on the island!! These ones face out towards the ocean and are absolutely spectacular!!

This is what the people in the house above get to look out at!

On the way home last Sunday (March 1st, 2009), I ran into a crazy snowstorm in South Carolina! At first, I just thought it was a fluke and it was just going to be a few flurries. Obviously, I wasn't listening to the radio!! They were going to get hit with a BIG storm and I was right in the middle of it!!! This picture was of me still wearing my flip-flops getting out of the car to get gas. Needless to say, I had to ditch the flip-flops for some more appropriate footwear!! Oh, and a coat! :)

This was when I began to think that I may have to stop driving soon! It got so bad out that people were just driving wherever they could. You could no longer see the lines on the road and the people down there DO NOT know how to drive in that stuff!! :) So funny if it wasn't so scarey! :)

I finally stopped in Mooresville, NC at this awesome Holiday Inn Express that I love to stay at. I got a great night of sleep and then took off for home in the morning. What a trip right?