Florida - In search of warmth

The hippie wedding over, Oscar & I joined the wedding couple on their honeymoon (!?) in search of warmth. We went south and stopped in at Manatee State Park, near Chiefland, Fl. As you can see from our attire, it was a bit chilly yet. Even the manatees were too cold to make an appearance.
So . . . we kept motoring south to Ft Desoto Park, south of St Petersburg, voted best Florida park in 2005. Absolutely beautiful! Here we are arriving at Ft Desoto Park.

Each campsite is separated from the next by a dense layer of tropical vegetation. Oscar insisted I snuggle the Wonder Egg between some palm trees at the end of the site. It looked right at home, for a Texas egg, that is . . .

It was still cool so I took Oscar to the dog park so he could run around, warm up, and meet some new friends. Here he is saying hello to Karen, who is dressed like an Eskimo even though she's from Virginia.

Right away Oscar started organizing games with the other dogs. This game was called "chase the flag on the dog" and Oscar is explaining it to one of his pals. Can you see the flag?

That flag was quick! On the right closing in rapidly is one of Oscars bet new buddies, non other than Doogie Bowser, DDT,E (Dandie Dinmont Terrier, ESQ)

And it maneuvered rapidly too . . .

When evening came, Oscar was content with enjoying the sunset.


On the following day, Oscar said we'd find warmth at the beach. Kinda makes sense, but no luck.

Chuck, Oscar & I went to Ft Desoto to see Battery Laidley. Its mortars were used to guard the entrance to Tampa bay in 1902. they could propel a 1046 lb projectile 6.8 miles and penetrate 6 inches of an enemy ship's steel plating. Chuck shows just how huge those guns were.



Oscar insisted I get a closer look inside one of the big guns . . . as I was looking, I heard the small chuckle of a little dog going "He, he, he . . . this'll teach YOU to ask me to swim in alligator infested ponds!" Sensing a pending loud noise, I quickly withdrew my head only to see Oscar standing with a lit match. Good thing he was too short to light the fuse. Phew . . . that was close. (I thought we'd settled that thing about the alligator)


Still seeking warmth, we bid farewell to the honeymooners headed out for Myakka State Park.

Didn't find heat on the ground so I took to the top of the trees in the Canopy Walk hoping for a temperature inversion. No luck.

On one of our walks, Oscar & I came across some cool cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's. They can be rented out by folks enjoying the park's trails and bird habitat.

The canoe rental concession had little business due to the cold temps . . . brrrrrrr.

On our last day at Myakka, we came across this unlikely pair soaking up some rays as the days were just starting to warm up. I asked Oscar if he'd like that swim now and he simply harrumphed. (Picky dog . . .)