The Travel of Tweety Fall 2012

Oct 22 Home at last, Punta Gorda Florida

2012-10-26T11:05:00.003-07:00

We made it to our home in Punta Gorda on Monday and if you look close at the next four pictures you can see Tweety squeezed next to our sailboat that will probably go into the water next week.

We will have our boat in the canal behind the house, but we have two other marinas. This is the smaller one.

This is the larger marina and you can see our new club house in the background. Halloween party this Saturday.

This is the entrance to Windmill Village. If you want to see more about Windmill you can just click here on the blue words. Windmill Village

Our pool, it will be busy later in the day.

The veranda on the side of the clubhouse is where we have the weekly after race party.

We also have a new Tiki hut where many activities are held.

Bocce ball court was just added and many play in teams.

We enjoy our home with the open design and canal behind that leads to Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands. The next few pics show our favorite features.

This will end our blog for the trip from Port Clinton, Ohio to Punta Gorda, Florida. Total miles was 4851. Today hurricane Sandy is going up the east coast, but we are having wonderful weather and a nice breeze.
Thanks for looking at our blog , we have enjoyed writing it.

Doug and Becky

Oct 21- Last day in paradise before we get to Paradise (Punta Gorda)

2012-10-22T03:59:00.002-07:00

Tweety at our favorite lot number 25. Great view and private.

Nice picnic table overlooking the water

We got on our bikes and rode to an old railway bridge that is now a walkway.

From up on the bridge you can see all around. View is excellent.

Behind me is the bay side beach. When we were here the ocean side had a lot of grass.

Another view of the Key from the bridge

The next few pics are the sunset.

We had another great supper. Steak, salad, roasted peppers, mushrooms and onions.

Oct 20 Bahai Honda day one

2012-10-20T17:38:00.002-07:00

As we got up at Long Key the sun was rising.

We waded out from Tweety to see a puffer fish.

We had lunch at 7 mile grill and had a great lunch of Mahi Mahi.

We made it to our camp site at Bahai Honda, what a great site looking over the blue water. We enjoyed some watermelon, it is summer.

It is hard to get a self portrait, but Becky was able to do it.

The next few pics was the sunset, very nice from our campsite.

Oct 19 Becky's Birthday and we went to Key West

2012-10-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

When we arrived at Key West we parked just across the bridge from the Municipal Marina and biked towards downtown. We saw Paseo Caribbean Food at 1000 Eaton Street and we decided to have lunch.

We had scallops with a fire roasted corn. It was very good. Plus the price was good and had plenty with sharing a meal.

When you get to Key West you will notice that you start to act goofy. Becky had her face painted

She also started talking to statues.

I met a very tall guy and I was glad he did not eat beans.

We made a pass of Sloppy Joe's, but it was very busy.

So we stopped by Captain Tony's to get out of the heat and have a beer.

Chickens are everywhere, here a mother and chicks were walking on the sidewalk

You have to get your picture closest to Cuba when you come to Key West.

A surprise was the garden club of Key West. It was in the ruins of an old fort and was really nice. The next few pics are from there.

We continued our trip around the island.

When we got back to our campground at Long Key the sun had set.

I thought Tweety looks like a pumpkin with the lights on.

Oct 18 Long Key, middle of the Keys

2012-10-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

We started from Saint Augustine today at 4 am and made it to Islamorada by noon to have lunch at the Islamorada Fish Company. This is a nice restaurant and they have an outside eating area that is over water where you can see Tarpon and Nurse sharks.

After lunch taking it easy.

This is the restaurant.

A self portrait.

Our campsite at Long Key, it is right on the water. The Keys do not have many nice beaches, but they do have a lot of waterfront.

Our neighbors, an older couple are walking out to sea. Is this the Obama Health Plan?

Oct 17 St. Augustine, Our first favorite spot in Florida in 1971 revisited.

2012-10-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

We rode our bikes to downtown and along the way we saw these Halloween decorations. Can you pick out the real kitty?

As we came across the Bridge of Lions into downtown we took this colorful pic of some the the buildings

Also, you can see the fort built by the Spanish with some boats anchored in front of downtown.

We had lunch at Harry's right on the waterfront. We are actually upstairs on a balcony.

I had bourbon salmon and it was very good.

Harry's also has dinning outside in their garden, very nice.

How would you like to see this in the middle of the night? Looks like he is hungry.

Flager College is now in the Flagler hotel and these lions guard it from strange people.

The inside is really beautiful, impossilbe to capture in the picture.

This is a pic of Harry's from across the street. You can see the balcony.

Our campsite at Anastasia State Park was very private, except for the crawing and four legged residents.We actually had to go buy some bug killer and spray the camper inside and outside. All part of camping.

Oct 16 Sunrise at Ft Clinch and Lighthouse at St. Augustine

2012-10-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

We got up early so we could see the sunrise on the beach. The next few pictures are from Ft. Clinch beach.

We traveled to St. Augustine and had lunch at Conch House. Jimmy Buffet sings about this place and it is off the beaten path, but really nice.

Our table was actually a tiki hut over water.

We next went to the St Augustine lighthouse. Climbed the 216 steps to the top.

The veiw was fantastic. Here you can see the beach and the Atlantic

This was the mooring balls and a little more north.

Yes, this is proof I did make it.

This is north.

The light is still used, you can see some sun coming through it.

This is looking west toward downtown St. Augustine

Yes, Becky made it too.

They had a mirror so you could take your own picture with the light.

Oct 15 Fernandina a nice little town and great beach

2012-10-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

We started the day riding our bikes to the beach, about 3 miles. Ft Clinch State park has a long fishing pier. We walked out the pier and saw people fishing for blue fish and casting for bait fish.

This is a pic from the pier up the beach. In the afternoon we walked about 3 miles on that beach.

We biked to Fernandina which is probably 5 miles and ate lunch at a nice waterfront restaurant.

They had a shark hung up there and it bite my arm. Ok, its a fish story.

Fernandina was the start of the shrimp industry they say. All around town you will see these colorful guys.

Meet Max, he is the perfect dog. Looks like Amy's Sofie.

Oct 14 Ft.Clinch, Fernandina FL

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We made it to Florida Today, our home state. This is Amelia Island beach and the next few pics are kites that were flying.

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There is a 2 mile drive back to the campground and it all looks just like this.

Once again Tweety is glad to get to his new home.

We went out and bought some local shrimp and we grilled a steak and had surf and turf. It was great.

Oct 13 Charleston and Irvin House Winery

2012-10-13T19:10:00.001-07:00

This is day two of the spider web. He finished it and it is really nice.

Here is Doug doing his morning thing. Today he was searching for what is going on in Charleston.

We found a park directly across from downtown and the new bridge. We watched this sailboat, it only had the jib up and it did not seem to be doing well. In about half an hour it went aground and they still left the jib up for another half an hour. When we left them they were just sitting. It was about a fifty footer.

You can see downtown from here.

This is the same boat before going aground, this shows the bridge well.

I had one of my friends from the fiberglass camper group tell us that we are on the butterfly track. Today it still looks like we are.

In the distance you can see Ft. Sumter.

What I found out going on in Charleston was a party at a local winery and distillery called Irwin House Winery

This was an interesting place, it had liqueur, wine and a local fish restaurant served food. We both had shrimp baskets. Becky had Hoppin John rice and I had red rice with a crab cake. Very yummy

Becky met a new friend.

Check out the goat at the top of the spiral staircase. He is King Of the Corral.

After he got there he sat down. He was going to stay for awhile.

Becky has become a real swinger.

After a lot of tasting of wine and liquor we made it back to our campground and rode bikes on the trails.

There are three loop trails all about 1.6 miles each.

Oct 12, Downtown Charleston

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Nature lover that I am I couldn't resist a pic of this spider web being constructed in the trees near our campsite.

Brick streets are a common sight in old Charleston, SC.

Lunch today was at Henry's. Doug and I both had the special which was flounder, red rice, okra and cold slaw. Very Yummy!

Notice this building is called The US Customs House.

Nature lover in me again could not resist these beautiful butterflies.

More Butterflies

This cruise ship was docked at Charleston for the day.

The architecture of Charleston is awesome. Some of these homes were built in the 1600's.

A common site on the Charleston city streets.

I just liked this doorway and ask Doug to strike a pose.

More butterflies. :-)

Becky is running in the fountain on the waterfront park.

Oct 11 Charleston, a nice place

2012-10-11T15:16:00.001-07:00

We made it to Charleston SC today and we are camped at James Island County Park This is an extremly nice park. They were putting up the Christmas lights. They are rated number one in the Nation for drive though displays and they start August 15th putting them up. We did get to see some of them lite for testing.

We had lunch at Rita's at Folly Beach, I had a great Tuna Salad and Becky had shrimp and grits.

There is a fishing pier there and we decide to walk it to see some action.

A lady had hooked a large fish and it was interesting to see how they raised it to the pier.

Not for sure what kind, but some said it was a Red Drum.

Nice look at the pier.

There are two lights to the entrance of Charleston harbor. This one is on the port side and is in danger of falling down because of the foundation issues.

Oct 10 Huntington Beach State Park, Hurray it is 80 degrees!

2012-10-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

This is an 8 ft. alligator sunning himself today. We were all happy to have the sun back today.

This was our choice for lunch today. Notice the black and white kitty. I believe he/she thought he/she was the official greeting committee for Drunken Jack's. The Oysters were delicious.

After lunch we walked the beach from the Campgound to Murrells Inlet. I would guess about a 7-mile walk.

This is the jetty at Murrells Inlet.

More jetty at Murrells Inlet.

Myrtle Beach in the distance behind the power boat .

A great shot taken across Murrells Inlet.

Oct 9 Huntington Beach State Park

2012-10-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

The day started out slowly, we had some items to send to our lawyer and had to get them printed and notarized and sent. After that we had lunch in Murrells Inlet. The oysters here are fantastic. After that we came back and there is a nice bike trail that we rode about 12 miles.

Oct 8 Virgina Beach to Myrtle Beach

2012-10-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

We left Virgina Beach at 6am and start a long track to Mrytle Beach. It was cold all the way. When we got here it was almost 70 degrees

Tweety is happy not bouncing down the road. We went to a local establishment and had 2 doz. oysters on the half shell followed be 2 dozen deep fried. After this test of raw verses fried we determined that the deep fried really tasted better.

We started a fire, but the rain started again, tomorrow is suppose to be nice.
We will be staying 3 days here.

Oct 7 Virgina Beach in the rain and cold

2012-10-07T14:15:00.001-07:00

Same beach as yesterday, but the weather has turned. Yesterday sunny and 84 degrees, today rainy and 59 degrees.

We got to go south, the cold is here.

The ships anchored are harder to see today. Tweety is warm and comfortable. We sometimes run the heater and the air at the same time to dehumidify the warm air.

Oct 6th Annapolis to Virgina Beach

2012-10-06T15:24:00.001-07:00

Today we traveled from Annapolis to Virginia Beach , First Landing State Park. Tweety is glad to be here where it is nice and warm right on the beach.

After the travel had to sit back for a while before we went to the beach.

This is the board walk over the sand dunes to the beach. It felt like we were in Florida.

Ships were anchored off of the beach. This is actually Chesapeake Bay.

Had to show off my new hat that I got at the boat show.

This was a nice day to be at the beach. A nice lady offered to take a picture of both of us.

Oct 5th Annapolis Boat show amazing

2012-10-05T16:29:00.001-07:00

Morning starts out with Doug working on the computer.

One of the many nice boats at the Annapolis boat show. Over 400 boats in the water.

For lunch we had a roast beef sandwich and beer, look at all of those mast.

There are so many boats and boat related sales people you can find anything here.

Annapolis harbor is very pretty.

Overall a great day for the show, it was about 82 degrees and sunny. We wish our friends Jennie and Chris could have been here with us like the years in the past. We did not spend too much, well more than we planned, on boat stuff.

Oct 4 Second day to Visit Washington DC

2012-10-04T18:19:00.001-07:00

President Kennedy Memorial Grave Site

Looking from Kennedy Grave site out over the rest of the cemetary. You can see Washington Monument in the background.

If you are ever in DC you must eat here. We had one fantastic lunch and the most reasonable price on the trip. It is located in the Georgetown section of town. Some say that if you look real close in the window you can sometimes see a Witch.

We rode our bikes to the Capital Building after lunch, probably 2 or so miles away.

The National Botanic Garden is located to the right of the Capital building. It is really a nice facility.

Becky always likes purple.

Back to the camper it was time to relax and enjoy a campfire.

OCTOBER 3 Washington DC, another great place to bike

2012-10-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Monument

WWII Memorial

Washington Memorial as seen from the WWII Memorial

Looking from the Washington Monument you see WWII Memorial with Lincoln Memorial in the background.

A circle of flags surrounds the base of the Washington Monument.

Looking at the Lincoln Memorial across the reflecting pond.

WWII Memorial

Each star here marks the loss of 100 American Service Personnel.

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument as seen from the Lincoln Memorial.

Here is where we ate lunch.

These Gold Statues were a gift from Italy.

This is the Vietnam War Memorial with over 58,000 names or Service Personnel lost.

David A. Mahan was a fine young man who attended Becky's High School.

The White House

Jefferson Memorial as seen from under the cherry trees across the river.

Inside the Jefferson Memorial.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

Becky with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Sept 27 Newport RI

2012-10-02T15:18:00.001-07:00

We had a nice sunrise at Winter Island Park, then we prepared to move to Newport RI

This was the view from our campsite. Awesome!

Becky overlooking the harbor before leaving our site heading to Newport, RI.

On the way to Newport we saw this sign. Maybe we should have a couple of these at WMV.

We rode our bikes in Newport, RI and took in the sites including many boat yards and marinas.

Look at those winches. Tomorrow on to New Jersey.

Oct 2 Annapolis Md, let it rain and rain and rain

2012-10-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today we wandered the streets of Annapolis prior to the Boat Show. Things will get real busy here within the next couple of days. The weather was overcast with a light drizzle most of the day. As you can see from this pic we basically had the streets to ourselves.

We did treat ourselves to a chocolate caramel pecan delight from the shop in the pic below. The next two pics are from within the shop were the goodies are made. YUMMY is all we can say about that.

Oct 1 NYC to Annaplois MD

2012-10-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

We got up early around 7 am. and biked to our favorite restaurant for breakfast because we didn't have any milk for our cereal / oatmeal.

Along the ride to breakfast we saw this photo opt. Notice the full moon above the main mast still very visible even though the sun is up also.

Most of today was spent driving to Annapolis, MD. This will be our campsite for the next 4 days.
We will visit Washington D.C. and the Annapolis Boat Show from here.

Sept 30 Liberty State Park NJ and Empire State Building

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This pic shows the NYC skyline plus the Hudson River Fire Boat which appears as a fountain in the background. Also in this pic is the Liberty Harbor Ferry which we rode from Jersey City, NJ to NYC, NY during our 3-day stay in the area.

NYC skyline as we biked Liberty Island State Park in New Jersey.

Biking the trail on the Liberty Island State Park.

Miss Liberty from behind as seen from the Jersey Shore.

We continued our bike ride to the Empire State building. This pigeon was sitting on the 86th floor observation deck and was just begging to have his pic taken.

This pic captures the Chrysler Building

This pic shows Central Park surrounded by the cities tall buildings.

The three islands are The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and The Liberty Island Train Station.

This pic of Doug also shows the three islands in the background.

This pic is of a sand sculpture depicting the twin towers and the NYC Firefighters. There was a major event going on downtown with music and food to celebrate the service of the firefighters.

After finding our way back to the campground we tried a local eatery and enjoyed a New York Skyline as the sun set on our last evening in NYC.

Sept 29 NYC What a great place to bike

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Tweety at his New Jersey City home, notice this is not your usual campground. It was very nice however and convenient. Becky is running out of the picture.

We had a two minute bike ride to catch the ferry to the Wall Street area on the West side..

As we pulled out of the harbor toward downtown NYC.

You can see one of the new towers being built and our bikes on the front of the ferry.

The bike trail along the West side of the Hudson river was very nice

Becky is actually riding here, I just pointed the camera behind me and shot.

The Fire Department Boat that cruises up and down the river.

We rode our bikes up the bike trail to 67th Street and cut over to Central Park. You must ride on the street and we were a little concerned, but it was no problem at all. We felt safer riding there than many streets at home.

You have to have a hot dog sold by the local vendors in Central Park. There were many vendors of all kinds of thing. One would tell you a joke that guaranteed that you would laugh for a dollar. Many musicians playing just far enough apart that their music didn't conflict with each other but
drifted along with you long enough to enjoy.

One of the many fountains and a lake to rent boats to row.

We came out of Central park and I could see Times Square about five blocks away and we had to ride the streets to get there. I am going to try to put a movie on the blog to show what it looked like, but we did see Cookie Monster, Elmo and Mickey.

I put this in for Amy, she likes to buy from this store.

Next we rode our bikes about three blocks to see Rockefeller Plaza.

We tried to see the 911 Memorial, but there was just too many people so we rode down Trinity Street and saw the Trinity Street Church.

We then rode our bikes back to the Hudson River and the next three pictures show the boats and the last one shows the Statute of Liberty from Battery Park.

After a good day riding our bikes we took the ferry back to Liberty Landing.

This is at our campground and the sun is on Statute of Liberty.