Gettysburg Farm Campground

Our drive into Pennsylvania from Virginia was very picturesque. We followed Hwy 301 over the Potomac River on into Maryland. I don't mind saying that my butt went a little water tight as we kept climbing the incline on the bridge to the middle of the river for what seemed like far too long. The sensation is a little different sitting so much higher in a motorhome. All of a sudden those railings between us, the edge of the bridge and the river far below looked a little weak. But we made it in one piece and then from there it was pretty much clear sailing on Interstates on up into PA. Traffic was moderate but moved right along the whole way until we turned off I-83 at York, PA onto Hwy 30.

This was our first time at Gettysburg Farm and we really like it. It is located west of York at 6200 Big Mount Road and is an actual working farm. The park was about half full. Big gravel sites with full hook ups for our motorhome. It is early in the season and things are just getting going. In fact, some of the work camper staff only arrived last week. Lots of animals and things to do for the children. We even ran into some people we met at Thousand Trails parks in Florida the past two winters.

Yesterday, Chris and I drove into the Amish area in Lancaster county and visited the village of Bird-In-Hand. We were here two years ago on a tandem cycling trip to Hershey and really enjoyed the experience. We ate at the Plain and Fancy Farm on route 340, half way between Bird-In-Hand and Intercourse. I won't bore you with my warped sense of humour but there are a few place names around here that bring a smile to my face. Fabulous food and plenty of it is all we can say. We took advantage of two $3 discount coupons that we found in a local brochure, so the price for dinner was really quite reasonable.

After that we toured the back roads for a few pictures and then stopped at the Amish Village in town for a tour of an authentic Amish farm. The photos you see here were taken at the farm which is now right next to a Target store mall on route 340.

We learned yesterday that we may have hit a wrinkle for crossing the border as well. It appears that Lazydays did not send the required documentation to the border crossing at Ogdensburg, NY in a timely fashion. They overnighted it yesterday so it should be there sometime this morning if all goes well. Everything I have read online at RIV.ca says that documentation must arrive at least 3 days prior to the vehicle being imported into Canada. We plan to cross on Wednesday afternoon, so hopefully that will be enough time for them to let us proceed on our way. If not, Chris will head back to Ottawa in our toad, so she can work on Thursday and I will wait at the border until I can cross. Stay tuned.

George Washington Birthplace National Monument

Yesterday, we had a great time touring around Westmoreland State Park and George Washington Birthplace National Monument. Both sites are within 30 minutes of this Outdoor World. Click on the title to link to the National Park Service for more information. Our ranger guide was a fountain of information and had done extensive genealogical research into the Washington family. The grounds are amazing and right on the banks of the Potomac River.

We returned to our site by mid afternoon and I just had to give this Dri-Wash I bought in Chesapeake Bay a go. Walt Fulton, who we met in Peace River last year was a few sites down at Chesapeake and I was always amazed how his coach and rig sparkled. Dri-wash is a waterless cleaning compound that works wonders both inside and outside our Phaeton. Spray on, wipe off with one micro fibre towel, and then buff with a second micro fibre towel. Results are fast and awesome. We did the whole coach up to about 7 feet high, but only because we didn't have a ladder with us. Then we tackled the Vue which was filthy. Wow! I think our photo speaks for itself.

Today, we are heading to Gettysburg Farm in Dover, PA which is another ODW park. We are going to be daring and try taking Hwy 301, I-695 and I-83 through Washington, DC and Baltimore as well. It's Sunday, so perhaps traffic will be light.

I thought readers might also like to know that I am working on a new blog as well. Ken and Faye suggested a title to us that Ken's son Mike came up with and we loved the idea. Some of you will no doubt remember the Peyton Place TV series from the 60s...... Yep, we will be introducing "Phaeton Place", but likely not until we get back to Ottawa when I will have more time to get things set up properly. Thanks Mike for a great idea!

Venice Rookery - Part Deux

My new Gitxo GT3541XLS tripod arrived Monday evening around 5 pm via UPS. I set it up with the new Wimberley II head complete with flash bracket and mounted my 5D2 with the 500mm lens. This tripod handles this camera/lens combination with ease. I only need to extend 3 sections on each leg to bring the tripod to my eye level. Can't imagine ever needing the 4th section unless I am in some very difficult terrain.

I scooted over to the rookery in Venice again this morning to put my new set up through its paces. A bit nicer day than the first trip there last week. There was a small photo excursion group already at the rookery. The leader was a girl named Laurie from Oregon and she had a very nice Nikon set up with a wicked frame rate for continuous shooting. I was a little more selective on the pictures I took this morning than the last time. Tried working more on composition instead of just taking lots of pictures. This great blue heron landed about 10 meters away from me. It was foraging for nest material and flying back and forth to its nest for about an hour while we all stood and took pictures. I think the heron knew full well what we were doing.

Weather turned ugly this afternoon. Quite stormy on the way back and then what had been out in the Gulf finally blew into Sebring around 6 pm. Lots of wind and rain. Hopefully the awnings stay on the windows. The power has been out for about 40 minutes so far but I've got the inverter running so no lack of power in our Bounder.

Bite Me!! (Everglades Style)

Here are a few more photographs from our recent trip to the Keys. This cruise ship was at the pier in Key West. The colour of the water and sky were amazing. It left Key West after sunset and another cruise ship arrived early the next morning at sunrise.

This corner store window caught my eye on way back to our bed and breakfast.We stopped in at a Gator Farm on Hwy 41 on the way back to Sebring and enjoyed a great air boat ride into the everglades. I saw this baseball cap in the gift shop. Nice!!

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

We were up early yesterday morning to catch the sunrise in Key West before heading back to the mainland. This is a shot of the dock on the east side of Key West as the sun was starting to come up. About a 10 second exposure, that is why the water looks so smooth.

Our next stop was at John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. The title of this entry will link you to their website. This is a renowned snorkeling and scuba diving paradise. We opted for the glass bottom catamaran boat tour instead. The 2.5 hour return trip took us over some very shallow reffs and we both enjoyed seeing all the colorful reef life. The above shot is red mangrove which grows everywhere in the shallow off shore waters. An above water plant, mangrove has the ability to absorb nutrients from the salt water through it's formidable root system, convert it to fresh water, and then excrete the salt through it's leaves. Pretty amazing.

The main aquarium is under reconstruction at the moment but we enjoyed a quick tour of the smaller ones. This colorful lobster seemed to be very curious about my camera as I brought it up to the glass.

Key West

We left Sebring just after 5 am this morning and pulled into Key West about 12:30 pm. We followed Hwy 27 south to 977 before continuing into the Keys on US 1. Mile 0 of US 1 is in downtown Key West. We stayed at a great B+B, Budget Key West at 1031 Eaton St, in the old part of Key West. We arrived early and unfortunately our room wouldn't be available until 3 pm, so we grabbed our cameras and left to explore old town on foot. Friends had recommended taking the Conch Train tour, which we did. It lasted 90 minutes and gave a detailed tour of the old part of Key West. I was a little taken aback at the $29 per person cost for the tour at first, but Bruce, our driver, was fabulous and in the end we both thought the tour was definitely worth the money.

We got back to our B+B around 4 pm to check in and found we had been given a complimentary upgrade to their best suite. Nice king size bed, jacuzzi tub, free wifi, the works! Very comfortable and the desk staff was superb. Looking forward to an early breakfast tomorrow morning which is included in the price of the room. After freshening up, we headed for Mallory Square to grab a quick bite of supper before sunset. We both enjoyed fish and chips with a cold beer at Two Friends Patio Restaurant. Then off to the pier walkway just off Mallory Square to watch the sun go down. A few pictures included of the sun before it splashed down for the night. We watched a great busker act in Mallory Square. Chris even got volunteered to assist the juggler. After his juggling act, with an operating chainsaw, machette knife and hand grenade........yep, this guy lays down on a bed of nails with no shirt on, and had Chris stand on his chest with both feet!!!!! The crowd was mesmerized by this guy. Chris was shaking like a leaf but received a huge round of applause for her efforts. She'll have her own rendition of what happened with photos on her blog, Caveside.

We walked around the water front for a bit more before stopping for a slice of key lime pie and a coffee on the way back to our B+B. Hope you enjoy the photographs. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Lake Placid Arts and Craft Fair

Chris and I headed for Lake Placid on Sunday afternoon to take in the local arts and craft fair in Devane Park. We had a great time wandering around and admiring some of the many interesting items for sale. The park was very busy. We ran into our good clown friends Silly Willy and Fluffy quite unexpectedly. They had been out of state on a family matter and we thought, surely there can't be two sets of Silly Willy and Fluffy clowning in Florida, so we sauntered over to check them out. Sure enough, it was indeed them, entertaining everyone as they do so well. We were very glad to see them both. Please note, that I used Lightroom to desaturate the colour from the background behind our clowns, making it black and white. My way of showing how much colour these two bring into everyone's lives. Great job you guys! We also ran into Jim and Jane who we will be going to Alaska with this summer. Amazing who you see. There were a few wild animals on display, including this bald eagle. Love the stare.The last picture was a series of signs stuck to a felt board that I thought would make an interesting photograph.

Florida Flywheelers

I spent a very enjoyable afternoon at the Florida Flywheelers antique engine club located at 7000 Avon Park Cutoff Rd in Fort Meade, Florida. This is a sprawling 240 acre property which has many pieces of vintage farming equipment on display. Much of the equipment has been fully restored which makes for an excellent parade of antique tractors. There were lots of antique engines, pumps, saw mills, and a period village with many old buildings on display as well.

Here are five guys putting a dismantled Model T Ford back together in running condition in less than 4 minutes!Get a load of this bad boy 1952 Ford.

I've got more photos but this will have to do for today.

Karen, I'm sure Elson and Merv would like to see some of these old tractors. Tried as I might though, I just couldn't find an old Case tractor like you guys used to have.

Chris Is Here

Chris arrived Jan 10th to spend her days off with me. We had a great visit which included several mornings of pickleball here at Tanglewood. Yesterday, some of our friends from Peace River came over to play. We played until 11:15am and then cleaned up so we could head on over to Homer's Buffet for lunch. They offer a great smorg for $8 each.

Today, we took it easy and decided to go back to Highlands Hammock State Park for an encore visit. The park is only a 10 minutes drive from Tanglewood and costs $4 per car to get in and stroll the grounds. It was cooler and overcast today which made for some great photographs without the usual harsh shadows we see when the sky is clear and the sun is shining brightly.

Here is Chris sitting at the base of a 1000 year old oak tree. The tree measures an astounding 36 feet around at the base.

This is a shot of towering cypress trees refected in the swamp water along our favourite trail inside the park. (Edited in Photoshop CS4)

We met a couple of ladies in the car park who told us which trail to check out if we wanted to see some alligators. We had to drive a short distance to the north edge of the park and follow along a river before we saw a couple of small gators sunning themselves in the shallow water. You'll have to check out Chris's blog to see pictures of the gators though. She had the longer telephoto lens and managed to get some nice shots. I stalked this great egret as it fished in the river for it's lunch. This is a hand held shot at 1/20 second, so I am pretty pleased with how crisp the focus is.

Hope you like the photographs. If you do please leave a comment at the end of this post.

Sebring International Raceway

We played some awesome pickleball matches this morning at Tanglewood. A lot of very close games on the challenge side with Rich and I pitted against Al and Jeff. We never seemed to be more than 2 or 3 points apart all morning.

After a quick shower and some lunch, I headed for Sebring International Raceway. Those of you reading this blog regularly may recall that I encountered a lady the other morning, while I was photographing the sunrise at the lake, who said the track would be quite busy this weekend with local cars running all day Saturaday and Sunday. So I headed on out there, only to find that I was the only car out there! The track entrance was open though, so I did manage to get in and take a few photos. What a great place. I may have a chance to go to the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, so was hoping to hone my photography skills a little, but that will have to wait for another day.

I also explored the local airport while out at the raceway and came upon this medevac helicopter parked on the pad while the pilot was in having lunch. No one said not to, so I took a few photos of the chopper as well. Pretty fancy rig for sure.

The Raceway and airport are side by each about 6-7 miles out of Sebring on Kenilworth Road. It is a nice drive out because both sides of the road are lined with orange groves. I've been meaning to get some photos of orange trees for months now and today was an ideal time to do it. It is amazing how the trees do so well given the sandy soil but they certainly thrive in it and with some irrigation thrown into the mix as well.

Lake Placid Murals

Following the sunrise in Sebring and a bit of breakfast, we travelled south on Hwy 27 to the town of Lake Placid. Some of you may remember the movie, Lake Placid, about a giant alligator that lived in the lake. Well, it was shot here. Friends had told us about the lovely murals in Lake Placid, so we decided to check it out.

We visited the town welcome centre and learned that the idea for these murals came from a local couple who had visited, and thoroughly enjoyed, the murals in the community of Chemainus on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. I had visited Chemainus many years ago and their murals are impressive,

I took all these photos with my new camera, mostly with the automatic setting. I zoomed in on the huge murals and tried to capture what I thought would make a nice photograph, had it been real subject matter. Seemed strange taking photographs of paintings. The cowboy mural below covers the whole side wall of the local Winn Dixie grocery store just off the east side of Hwy 27 at Interlake Blvd. We actually stumbled onto this mural by accident when we first arrived in Lake Placid, even before we visited the welcome centre. Several of the murals, including this one, have sound effects which activate via a motion sensor as visitors approach. This one features the sounds of a cattle drive.

Please let me know what you think of these murals by leaving a comment or two.

New Camera

Ok.....for any of you who really want to know....I gave Chris a kiss first before reaching for the camera. Well, not quite actually. I arrived at the airport in Orlando just as Chris's "touchdown" text message arrived on my phone. I decided to drive right to the arrivals area but she was not yet outside. The parking police told me I had to keep circling out of and then back into the arrivals area or risk getting a ticket. Three or four circles later, out she came. She barely had time to throw her carry on bag and my new camera into the back seat before an overzealous parking attendant was threatening us with a ticket. Welcome to Orlando. I wished her a good day and we were off.

We stopped for a quick bite in Orlando before heading back to Sebring via some of the backroads instead of Hwy 27. There is some interesting scenery around here once you get off the beaten path.

We played pickleball for a couple of hours this morning before heading back to shower up and then it was off to Circuit City. One little oversight with my new camera was the memory card it used. I had assumed incorrectly, after talking to the staff at Henry's before we left for Florida, that the 5D2 used the same SDHC memory cards I used in my Rebel XSi. Wrong! Turns out it uses compact flash cards instead. So we hit Circuit City, where I purchased one Lexar 4 GB CF card.

Then it was off to Highlands Hammock State Park. We wandered around the trails and boardwalks there for about three hours this afternoon. Me taking pictures with my new 5D2 and Chris using her new (my old) XSi. We both had a lot of fun. Chris really enjoyed her first in the park.

Presently, the 5D2 pictures are not fully importable into Lightroom 2.1 nor Photoshop CS3. Adobe is supposed to release a LR2 upgrade later this month so photos can be imported into LR2. There will no such upgrade for CS3 however. May have to look at CS4 eventually. The above photo is of a spider we both saw in the park! Focus is a little off because I was hand holding the camera. Didn't want to get too close to this baby either.

Highland Hammocks State Park

We played pickleball again this morning. The Peace River gang came over to play, so Travis and I got to play a few games together before we partner up for the Tanglewood tournament. Some great games even in the wind and cold. Stan and Sally also came over for the first time. It was really great to see all the old gang again.


After lunch, I headed out to Hammond Hammocks State Park which is not far from Tanglewood. I walked a number of the trails over a 3 hour period. This is a very nice park and includes a campground. Some of the highlights of the park include a 1000 yr old live oak tree and several boardwalks over swamp area. Didn't see much in the way of wildlife, likely because of the time of day, early afternoon. Next time, I'll try early morning or just before dusk. The base of the oak tree is pictured above. It measures 36 ft around at the base. Note the brick reinforcement on the left side of the tree. Similar reinforcement is also present on the opposite side of the tree.


This evening we had a fire ring in the Outback area of Tanglewood. The park provided refreshments, hot dogs and music. Residents brought their own condiments and snacks. Apparently, this fire wasn't as well attended as usual, likely because of the cool weather. We all had a great time though.

Sunrise on the Piankatank

We both slept the sleep of the dead last night. Two long days of driving certainly takes it out of you.

I was up at 6 am in order to get out for some photographs. The above photo was taken with my new wide angle 17-40mm zoom lens. This is the boat launch on the Piankatank river at TT Chesapeake Bay. Two guys and a young boy were on their way out bass fishing this morning. They worked on getting that boat launched for almost 30 minutes before it finally slid from the trailer. I thought it made for an interesting photograph.

No pickleballers to play this morning unfortunately. Our friends, Ken and Faye, were not in the park because Ken had hip surgery earlier than was originally scheduled. Faye reports he came through it well and is firmly on the road to recovery with TV remote in hand:). Way to go Ken! Not too much NASCAR now.

We took a run into the Walmart Supercentre and Bank of America in Williamsburg this afternoon to do a few errands. The drive was very scenic. Leaves are still very colorful on the trees. Looks like chili on the menu for supper at the TT restaurant tonight. $3.00 per person and we don't have to mess around with dishes afterwards. Sounds pretty good to me.

We worked out our itinerary for the drive on into Florida this afternoon. We'll hit the road early tomorrow and try to get as far as Walterboro, SC following I-95. Hoping to stay at a Walmart or Cracker Barrel there. Then on to Orlando for two nights (Nov 3rd and 4th) before heading down into Sebring on Nov 5th. Looks like about 400 miles each day which should be doable depending on traffic.

For those of you interested in the weather down here. 22C today. We are both back into shorts, Ts and sandals. Cool at night but great during the day.

Mer Bleu Bog

We decided to check out Mer Bleu early this morning in order to catch the sunrise. Finding it hard to get out of bed while it is still dark though. It went down to about -7C here last night, so everything was covered by a nice frost this morning. On the way in to Mer Bleu we spotted two moose off in the middle of a field about 200 meters from the road. Unfortunately, they were too far away to get any nice pictures. People have told us in the past that there were some moose in the bog area but this is the first time we have ever seen them ourselves. They stood dead still while checking us out except for the occasional twitch of an ear. They were long gone when we left the bog an hour later.

Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning. Lots of frost on the trees in the first shot with the sun peeking through the trees. The second shot is a backlit leaf rimmed with frost. Hope you like the photographs.