Found a great spot to run the dogs in the rain! Also found a fruit stand... Suzi is happy again... Course her mouth is soar now from over indulging...

Here is a shot of our little house at the beach.

Went looking for Florida oranges. Only found dried up California oranges... they were expensive too!

This is wierd, people in parkas all around, no fresh fruit, gray skies... If it wasn't for the palm trees I would think we were back in Washington...

Carrabelle FL is home to the smallest police station. The kid at the grocery store was telling us how he remembers when there used to be a guy sitting in the phone booth. One time a guy came to town and wanted to buy it for a souvenir. There used to be a phone, but people made long distant phone calles on it so the took the dial off. now it is just empty.

(note the Florida attire)



Across the street we found this historic jail cell.

Found out today that this area is considered the forgotten coast. I can see why they say that, we are in heaven. Little traffic, wifi (hit and miss on the wifi), cell phone service, good electricity, good water, Sewer, and the most important reason, and the reason we chose to come here we are right on the beach and our dogs are welcome! Others have come here for the same reason as us, and it is dogs galore here at the park, and on the beach...

Today we saw 3 fins breaching the water. Too small to be whales, but they were shaped like the orca, no white that we could see though. Porpoises?? Dolfins?? maybe I will find out and let you know...

Here is a flock of pelicans taking off. Of course the photo does not do it justice!




Kim's cloud over her head is following us again... sure feels like Seattle here now... but it is warmer than December should be... 60F today.

There are large pine trees here and this evening the wind has kicked up and we are being plummeted with the pine cones, which are good sized and heavy... expecting more of the same tomorrow, rain, clouds and wind... just a normal day at the beach!

Here is the sunrise we awoke to this morning. There was only about a 5 min window of opportunity to see the sun due to the clouds.

We landed for the next week. We are at Ho Hum RV Park outside of Carrabelle, FL. We found the places we were planning on going they did not allow the dogs to go onto the beach. So we paused and did more research and Ho Hum won out, it is right on the beach! Perfect for us!
http://www.hohumrvpark.com/

We did it!! We have arrived in Florida! We are going to spend some time playing in the panhandle, before going to Gainesville.

Our flexability came in handy again today. We were headed for Tallahassee, FL. But decided to stop early. Then this evening we turned on the news, and eek... they had a tornado touch down on the south side of town... Yes, we were headed to the south side of town... dodged another one! whew... hopfully the last... keeping our eye on the hurricane situation also, hurricane season was supposed to end in November, but nobody told that to Hurricane Epsilon... Don't worry, he/she is fluttering about out in the atlantic...

Florida is not very dog friendly. Most state parks and public beaches do not alow dogs. Thank goodness for the internet, we think we might have found some places that look interesting. Also we are in price shock, but that was to be expected. At least we are not down south where it is even more pricey yet!

Mississippi looked the same as it did 2 mos ago. We did learn that when in a town that recently had a natural disaster you do not want to accidently pull into a Home Depot Parking lot... especially when towing a 5th wheel. Sorry to all those who we bothered... We were very thankful to get out of that parking lot! so we stopped in the mall parking lot next door (where we were headed in the first place) Just wanted a bit of rest... It was hard to rest. turned we were directly at the beginning of the runway for the local airport. saw alot of military transport planes flying over to land. Looked a bit close to the power lines to us... Forgot to get a pic...

Here is a pic of Lousiana along interstate 10. The swamp looked awsome.

Here is a shot of the Hospital Suzi worked at for the past 2 mos. It is alot smaller than what she is used to...
Ville Platte Medical Center, Ville Platte, Louisiana.



This is the park in the front of the Hospital. It is hard to see in this pic, but there is a merry go round on the right that goes around and is lit up. Looks neat at night...

Here is a shot the Daiquiri's to go shack in Ville Platte. Looks like an expresso coffee place to me. It is quite the happening place in the evenings and at night.

Here is a shot of our home for the past 2 mos. During the week it is empty, and Samantha and I get to run free. But come the weekend it is completely full and we get to get re-aquainted with our leashes... It is a beautiful 6,400 acre park!
http://www.lastateparks.com/chicot/chicot.htm

Idiosyncrasies of Louisiana

1. In Seattle, once you get off the beaten path and onto the back roads, everyone waves as they drive by. Here, in Ville Platte, it is such a small town that I think most view strangers with suspicion. But after a month of waving at the workers here in the park where we're living, the workers started waving back! I think they were just humoring us at first but after a few months I have seen some genuine waves. They've accepted us into the fold.

2. We were wondering why there were so many strings attached to a bridge over a Bayou in the park. Only during our last days here did we finally understand. This bridge is our favorite alligator bridge and we have seen some beautiful one's snoozing right below. The strings we found out, are for sending food to the alligators to play with them. Probably a good thing we didn't know!


3. In Seattle there are drive through Coffee shops on every corner so you can get your caffeine buzz. Here, there are drive through Margarita shops on every corner... daiquiris to go is a common slogan... well its a little scary driving down here knowing they exist!

4. The local news stations pause in the middle of broadcast to give you bible study class and Merry Christmas signs are everywhere. It just isn't like this in the rest of the country that I'm aware of. We found out also, that the youth ministries are scheduled to come into the public schools. This is just so odd from where we are coming from.

5. If you look closely at the trees in the campground there are Mardi Gras bead necklaces strewn all throughout the branches. After a windy day, they are scattered all over the grounds. Mardi Gras is a big thing down here, and after Thanksgiving partying here, I can only imagine how wild it is here!

6. Coming out as someone who doesn't eat much meat, is a strange thing. I don't think there are very many vegetarians here and when I brought my veggie enchiladas to work, it was a strange sight! At Burger King, I will often order their soyburger, BK Veggie Burger. Here, when I ordered the BK Veggie they gave me a hamburger with extra lettuce and tomatoes. It's the thought that counts!

7. Graveyards here are just amazing! Because of the low water table, the coffins are not buried but closed into cement, marble and even bricks. In many old graveyards, large swirling marble structures hold the dead, and one old crypt had a beautiful marble angel on the top. They are just beautiful.

8. P.S. Spiders are BIGGER here...

Got a kick out of this headstone... Check out the age of this guy!