We left Okeechobee Lake and headed across miles of farmland to the Gulf Coast. We like traveling through smaller towns that gave us a different flavor of Florida.
The smaller highways go through the little towns so you get taste of the areas as you pass. We didn't Pig Out, however.
Koreshan State Park in Estero, FL
Koreshan Historical site with Victorian bridge Near the ocean we stayed at Koreshan State Park by the Estero River. As a state park Koreshan has an interesting history, because its origins were a settlement for a guru and his followers. 1894 Cyrus Reed Teed brought his flock to this land to create the New Jerusalem for his new faith, Koreshanity. It was their belief that the the entire universe existed within a giant, hollow sphere. This vision came to Teed when he was experimenting with electricity and was shocked into unconsciousness. The land was deeded in 1961 to the state by the last four surviving members. Next to the campground they have some of the original historical buildings and a museum along with beautiful gardens.
You can read more about Cyrus Reed Teed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Teed
Kayaks on Estero River in Koreshan State Park by nature trail You can read more about Cyrus Reed Teed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Teed
Koreshan State Park has camping with full facilities including laundry and hot showers with full hookups. They also have boat ramps and canoe/kayak rentals along with great trails The canoe ride looked like an easy drift and there were some people paddling upstream so you know it was a slow current. No white water in these flat lands, but the gentle flow is quite calming and gives you time to see the great scenery.
The nature walk along the Estero River has to be one of my favorite places to walk that I have ever experienced. There were palms, pines and bamboo. It was a lush combination that transported us as we walked. I wanted to capture the walk so I filmed the return walk to our camper with my GoPro. I and still learning Final Cut Pro and haven't figure out how to include it yet.
The nature walk along the Estero River has to be one of my favorite places to walk that I have ever experienced. There were palms, pines and bamboo. It was a lush combination that transported us as we walked. I wanted to capture the walk so I filmed the return walk to our camper with my GoPro. I and still learning Final Cut Pro and haven't figure out how to include it yet.
Lots of people stopped to say how cute this little trailer was
At Koreshan State Park Campground they have an area by the river that has low branches so they limit the access and do not allow large RVs or Class A. They call it a tent area only so we brought a tent but half of the people had little trailers and there were two Roadtreks in the 5 waterfront spaces. We stayed in the same area that is reserved for tents. We stayed in similar site here a few weeks ago, but this one is directly connected to the trail along the river which is quite a treat!
Estero and Ft Myers Beach, FL
Oscar Scherer State Park, Osprey, FL
Osprey was another beautiful state park by the river. We had a long pull through site with plenty of vegetation and privacy. All of the sites seemed private and some were on the river. We walked around the park and on their nature trail to the lake where they had swimming with a sign to swim at your own risk due to the gators. There were large trees throughout the park so that it was heavily wooded. The Florida parks are almost magical to me in their beauty so we’ve been doing GoPro video’s of even just driving around the campgrounds. They feel like a fairyland to me and I am captivated completely.
Ft Myers, FL
We next headed to Ft Myers and walked the streets seeing the historical architecture and reading some history about the buildings and area. These walks have inspired me to read more about American architectural styles so I can see and understand more as we explore the country.
Fort Myers was one of the first forts built along the Caloosahatchee as a base to fight against the Seminole Indians. It was later abandoned and stood empty until during the Civil War when the Union Army troops occupied it. Ft Myers was established as a town in 1886 and in 1898 Fort Myers first became a nationally known winter resort with the building of the Royal Palm Hotel.
Fort Myers was one of the first forts built along the Caloosahatchee as a base to fight against the Seminole Indians. It was later abandoned and stood empty until during the Civil War when the Union Army troops occupied it. Ft Myers was established as a town in 1886 and in 1898 Fort Myers first became a nationally known winter resort with the building of the Royal Palm Hotel.
Edison and Ford Winter Estates at Ft Myers, FL
Ford, Edison and Firestone at estate In 1885 Thomas Edison visited Ft Myers and a site by the Caloosahatchee River which he liked it so much he purchased land to build a winter home. It served as his place to relax and as a vacation home until his death in 1931. Thomas Edison’s good friend, Henry Ford, used to come up to visit and stay in the guest house next door and when the house next to the guest house became available in 1916, Henry Ford purchased it. There were then three houses in a row owned by Edison and Ford. In 1947, Mrs. Mina Edison deeded the property to the City of Fort Myers.
Edison's lab was quite interesting, but it was his house and grounds that had us in awe. Each house had porches around all sides and then there were interconnected arbors and gardens that included large graceful trees with views to the river. The house was fully furnished with original furnishings. The visitors were allowed to peek over waist high plexiglass which worked well.
Edison received 1,093 patents and is the fouth most prolific inventor in history. In the museum they also had a old model T that was a gift from Ford to Edison alons with a number of his other inventions. Apparently Ford used to keep his autos in Edison’s garage since it was larger.
Edison received 1,093 patents and is the fouth most prolific inventor in history. In the museum they also had a old model T that was a gift from Ford to Edison alons with a number of his other inventions. Apparently Ford used to keep his autos in Edison’s garage since it was larger.
Edison planted this rubber tree thinking he would create something similar to rubber, but instead in the process he discovered latex from another tree on the property.
Skyway Bridge, St Petersburg, FL
Ft De Soto County Park, St Petersburg, FL
Ft DeSoto County Park, our home for five days, is another wonderful Florida park. The park is a chain of five interconnected islands below St Petersburg. It is both a park and a beach where one an swim, picnic, bike, fish, birdwatch, and boat.
I am greatly impressed with each one of the parks. They all have electricity and water in each site, laundry rooms, showers and most have other things such as canoe or kayak rentals and a store. This park claims to be “Home to America’s #1 Beach”. We had a sight on the water that was pet friendly. The best waterfront sites do not allow pets, but this was still wonderful. Our little beach was secluded and just for our campsite since the bushed kept the neighbors in their sites.
I went out to watch the sunset on our little beach one night when Tom had headache from that awful illness we have both had. I was enjoying watching as the sky turned pink and feeling like this was paradise. Just before the sun completely disappeared a great blue heron flew directly in front of me to land to my left about 20 feet away. He then proceeded to feed in the shallow waters. That was a special moment. The birds in this area seemed to be used to humans since the following day one walked directly in front of me while feeding in the same spot.
Paco at Ft De Soto. That light area between the trees is the path to the beach It was chilly our last day at Ft De Soto as the blizzard that froze the east coast moved south. Even the birds were sun bathing. We found the Black Skimmer were laying down sideways and sometimes on their back to warm themselves!
St Petersburg, FL
From our campsite at Ft De Soto we could be in downtown St Pete in 25 minutes. St Pete has a historical section with a park and lake. Along the waterfront there were museums including St Pete Museum of Fine Art, The Dali Museum (has more Dali art than any other museum in the world), and St Pete History Museum. Across the street from the museums and the waterfront the street was lined with outdoor restaurants. It was raining so after going to the Museum of Fine Art we had a great lunch with grilled shrimp. Still gaining our strength from long three week illnesses we decided one museum was enough. We parked directly in front of museum!
I remember houses such as these when I was a child and we went to Snell Isle where my grandparents worked. I'd like to know more architectural styles so I would know if the one on the left is Mediterranean or Spanish but I don't know the formal classification or name. The one on the right is some type of revival. I went to the Haslam's Books which is the largest bookstore in Florida. They had an impressive, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.
Georgia O'keeffe
This painting by Georgia O'keeffe is the signature piece at the St Petersburg Museum of Fine Art. I like some of the other art more such as the Robert Henri art, but they promote this painting heavily since it is well known.
They have a small collection, but it is quite good and includes work by Cezanne, Renoir, Monet, Robert Henri, along with primitive art and a wonderful temporary photography exhibit of old photos of American cities. We both love seeing old photos that capture street scenes with people in action so this was appreciated by us.
They have a small collection, but it is quite good and includes work by Cezanne, Renoir, Monet, Robert Henri, along with primitive art and a wonderful temporary photography exhibit of old photos of American cities. We both love seeing old photos that capture street scenes with people in action so this was appreciated by us.
PoFolks, St Pete, FL
It seems fitting that the blog should end with some regional foods. I've always wanted to try fried green tomatoes so we headed to place we knew was locally very popular called PoFolks. http://www.pofolks.com/ They had about 40 people waiting outside so it was obviously a popular place with the locals. We had to wait half hour for a table so we got to mingle and watch. There were few out of state license plates besides ours.
The menu was an assortment mostly of fried foods. I must say that they did the southern fried food rather well for a chain. I wanted to check out lots of things (check those off my life list) so we got an assortment and the food sat with us for hours.
We had the fried green tomatoes (quite good) as an appetizer with a tangy tarter sauce and then for the main course we had fried shrimp, fried okra (loved it), fried hush puppies (great), black beans & rice, coleslaw, corn bread (soft and cake like), and over cooked green beans. Since my father grew up in the south we had hush puppies and okra once in a while and I acquired the taste for them. The next time that our tomatoes don't rippen I may be thinking of something new to try with them.
The menu was an assortment mostly of fried foods. I must say that they did the southern fried food rather well for a chain. I wanted to check out lots of things (check those off my life list) so we got an assortment and the food sat with us for hours.
We had the fried green tomatoes (quite good) as an appetizer with a tangy tarter sauce and then for the main course we had fried shrimp, fried okra (loved it), fried hush puppies (great), black beans & rice, coleslaw, corn bread (soft and cake like), and over cooked green beans. Since my father grew up in the south we had hush puppies and okra once in a while and I acquired the taste for them. The next time that our tomatoes don't rippen I may be thinking of something new to try with them.
Coming next time...
We are moving our campsite a short distance to across the Tampa Bay to Hillsborough State Park. Yesterday we visited Ybor City in Tamp and enjoyed seeing what was once the cigar capital of the world. It is a wonderful fun historical area and the photos will come with next posting.
Health update - Tom is recovering still and at headache stage, but doing much better. He seems to be a week behind me in my slow recovery. Don't know what we caught, but he's going down that same road with the exact same symtoms. One of us has been sick since we arrived in Florida and now we hope to be well by the time we leave... six weeks later. Despite being sick we have had a great time and enjoyed Florida. We've spent a lot of time in camps relaxing and some days we don't leave the campground. We love the RT and it's not too small even when we are ill. We have never wanted to be in a hotel room and this feels like our little home.
We are still hoping for a kayak trip but it's been cold lately from the east coast blizzard that has moved south. People are wearing parkas, hat and gloves and it was 36 degrees at 11pm last night!!