Okefenokee National wildlife Refuge

 

While waiting for our boat trip we spotted this turtle.

We were told that a fire started by lightening in the park last year and did not go out until this year.  The fire burnt for over a year.  The park is over 400,000 acres  and over 300,000 of them burnt   The problem was two fold: 1. they are in a drought, 2. the "soil" is peat which just twigs and leaves and when dry it burnt too.  Well there is another problem in that this is a national park so if a fire starts naturally we just let it burn until nature puts it out.  That is why the park burnt for so long.

You can see that nature is coming back really fast with the green under growth.

These are cypress trees that were burnt, but they are very hardy and are starting to leaf out anyway.

The water way we are traveling on was a canal built back in the day to drain the swamp so the man could sell the land for farms.  It did not work out as planned.  Now the government owns the land and we have a park.

We are now traveling in the part of the park that did not burn.

 

This is called the swamp prairie.

We say many birds, this is a young night heron,

Gator, we saw a lot of them.

Young white Ibis.

As the peat decays it produces a gas and when it expels from below sometimes chucks of the peat breaks off and floats free.  As it floats it is a great place for trees and other plants to grow.  These are called houses. You can see some "houses" in the distance.  During strong winds these floating houses will move around,

Gator

This is how deep the water is we are floating in.  It should be somewhat deeper because they are still experiencing a drought.

Our guide reached down in the peat and pull some up for us.  Rog is hold some that has had all of the water squeezed out of it.  It is just leaves and twigs and is very light weight.  It does not smell, other than of the earth, but no rotting smell. 

 

The guide figures these are turtle eggs that a raccoon or other such animal dug up for dinner.

This is another of the tour boats like ours.  Notice how wide the canal is. We had a great tour in the swamp.

The Hitch-hiker/Georgia

As we were traveling down the road all of a sudden we saw this frog on the mirror.  We figured he found a nice place to stay behind the top section of the mirror while we were in Florida .  It took him a good two-two and a half hours to decide to come out from behind the mirror. 

We are traveling down the road at 55 mph and had made a rest stop before he decided to appear.  You can see me in the mirror and the road behind us.  We could not stop to get him off .  We were concerned about bringing him across the border and sure enough they had an agricultural turn out before entering Georgia. lol  He jumped from this spot soon after this pic.  He just bunched up and pushed off, he knew Georgia was coming up and he had to leave. 

Says it all.  We turned off ramp # 7 so we have not traveled much of Georgia yet.  We are staying here 7 days and planning to travel the area.  Then we are going to the northern coastal end after this.

Red part 2

Got the idea from a little red bird, really Rog picked the color.   You need to get out and do crazy things once in a while.  This crazy thing will last for two hair cuts, then maybe purple?

Trip to St Augustine. Great day Sunny and bright High 86 Lo 64

We spent the day in St. Augustine and had a wonderful time.  We need to go back and see more, but time is pushing us on.  It was a beautiful day.  We had lunch at a place on a very narrow street that is  blocked off to  traffic with very old buildings up and down it.  We had fried shrums for lunch.  They were so good.  Rog even at a lot and he does not like mushrooms anyway you serve them.

This is the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, St. Augustine. Florida.  The construction of the Castillo de San Marcos started in 1672 making it one of the oldest standing structures in North America.  Built by the Spain Castillo, means castle.

This in the entrance to the fortress called the Sally Port.  This is the only way in or out of the Castillo.  The walls are between 14 and 19 feet thick at the base and they taper to 9 feet wide at the top.  There are over 400,000 blocks of coquina, all cut and set by hand.  Coquina is a type of rock found on the coast of Florida. 

This is a rather rare form of limestone called coquina, Spanish meaning "tiny shell" This limestone forms the base of the barrier island on the Northeast Florida coast and is the only stone available in this area.

The Spanish incorporated a type of fortress construction called the "bastion" system.  The star-like outline of the Castillo is formed by diamond-shaped projection or bastions at each corner of the fort; this design eliminated blind spots for the guards and also increased the fort's firepower by allowing multiple cannons to fire on the same target, creating a crossfire effect.  Before they would build castles we they would live in all the time.   This is not.  They would all come here if the enemy came to harm them, but they, including the soldiers lived off "base" if you will.  You only came here if you were on duty that week or if the enemy came and then all of St. Augustine would live here until they were safe again.

We are on the top "floor" of the fort.  Behind Rog is the Atlantic Ocean

A lovely couple

The court yard was originally sand.   Here the soldiers would assemble and drill.  If the town was attacked they would come to the Castillo for protection.

Oak trees forming a canopy on the street named Magnolia.

The oldest wooden schoolhouse in the USA.

Yum!!  We toured the plant and ate some good stuff.

This 600+ year old oak is called the Senator, old and crooked.  Notice in the crotch of the tree is a palm tree growing.  This baby was here first, years before any of the above happened.

Bulow Sugar Mill Ruins and Garden/ Ft Motanzas/ Atlantic Ocean

 

You can see and walk into the indentations where the boat would have landed.

 

 

 

Rog out in it

This is the Washington Oaks Gardens State Park.  It was once a beautiful plantation.  Growing sugar cane, cotton, and indigo.  In 1937 it was the winter home of the Youngs, the founder of RCA and in 1964 the wife gave the place to the state. 

 

The live oak trees are very tall and the spread is unreal.

Notice the plants growing on the branches.  They say that they are air plants and do not harm the trees.

So beautiful

This is coquina.  It is a type of sedimentary rock made of sea shells and lime stone.  It is found mainly on the east coast of Florida and small quarries in other parts of the world.  The Bok Tower, in central Florida that we went to and blogged, Fort Matanzas, and Castillo de San Marcos at St Augustine are made of this rock.  Interesting thing about the rock is that it is quite soft. After  being quarried it had to dry  out for a couple of years before using.  It was good for building forts because the  rock was so soft that the cannon ball would sink into, rather than shatter or puncture the walls of the fort. 

 

the fort is across the river and National Parks have a ferry that takes you there.  The fort is very well preserved and interesting.

Fort Matanzas was one of a chain of forts mainly used as a type of radar.  The men would watch on the top level of the fort for incoming ships.  They could see 80 miles most days. which would give the fighting force a good 12 hours to prepare for the battle.  Just beyond the bridge is the Atlantic Ocean where the ships would be entering.  This fort would be able to tell the next fort that someone was coming.  What a view they had the next pic is inland and it is so green and nice.

We had a great day.  There is so much to tell and show you, but I can only tell you to come to Florida it is great.  We are planning on going to see the town of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the kingdom.  We also want to head back down to Daytona Beach and drive on the beach where the NASCAR races started here.  They let you drive on the beach, that will be fun.