Pembroke Pines, FL - C.B.Smith Park

We spent a week in Pembroke Pines at CB Smith Park.  Great park with all kinds of stuff to do there.  It's located between Ft Lauderdale and Miami in the middle of the craziest drivers we've seen (even worse than NY & MA) however the park was peaceful and quiet.  There were miles of bike trails, lakes to fish, ski & tube in, tennis courts, driving range and way too many parks and areas for kids to play - we recommend!

One day here we drove to Oletta State Park (near Hollywood Beach) and checked out the 15+ miles of bike trails there.  We learned that mountain bike trails come in green, blue and black diamond (trails were actually labeled that way).  We did 1 green and gave up before the end.  The green trails required too much attention to the trail to not dump:

so after exploring all of the wider, flat, dirt roads we headed to the waterfront and hung out/fished for a while.  Fed the fish all the shrimp I had before we packed up and headed to Hollywood Beach.  This was a little more our speed - great beach to bike from one end to the other:

Another day we drove down to John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo (about an hour and a half away).  Our plan was to kayak out to the reefs but that turned out to be too far out.  We spent a couple hours winding our way through the mangroves.  We saw rays, tons of fish and birds like this egret along the way . . .

Another day we drove down to the Everglades National Park via Homestead, FL.  Our first stop there was at Royal Palm/Anhinga Trail.  There was no need to go further to see all the wildlife you want to see in the Everglades.  The vultures were everywhere:

It was amazing how close all the birds (great blue heron here) hung out by all the gators:

Here is an anhinga, a turtle and a gator all hanging out together:

We think this cute little duck might be a grebe - they spend 90% of their time under water feeding:

This American Bittern was right next to us but we almost missed as it blends into the surroundings

The most colorful bird we saw was this purple gallinule on spatterdock:

Check out this anhinga just after spearing a fish:

there's no shortage of gators here - one of the many gator piles laying out only a few feet from the walkway:

We checked out a few other spots but never made it all the way down to Flamingo.  Nothing compared to Royal Palm for animals to see.   We hit the Long Pine Key campground and biked an 8 mile trail - decided to take the 7 mile roadway back.  Good workout but very little wildlife to see.

Another day we drove up to Boyton Beach to visit with our NH camping buddy Tim Littlefield who has a condo nearby the beach.  It was a little cool that day so we didn't hang on the beach but it looked nice:

Tim showed us around his place, the pool, the beach and then we checked out some of his local hangout spots . . . we may of had a beer or two while there:

Earlier in the week we spent a night at our camper with our good friend Johnny Maya catching up and reminiscing about the old times.  No pictures but plenty of martinis!  Later in the week we went over to the Maya's house to hang out for the day.  Alex who is now 7 has a arm and a glove of a 15 yr old - we played catch until he wore me out.  Kristina who is 5 now is a little princess.  Check out the princess going for a ride on Dad's fatboy:

We had a great day and evening hanging out with Johnny, Blanca, the kids, some neighbors, their kids & dogs -  a typical Saturday at the Maya house.  Thanks for having us - we had a great time!  Sunday the Maya's stopped by our campsite:

Earlier  in the week Roger stopped by to point out all the places to go and things to see.  Later in the week Roger and Patrice treated us to a nice dinner at their place.  Before we left the 4 of us headed into Miami for Cuban on South Beach but we took a nice cruise of the bay before going out for dinner:

We were escorted for a portion of the trip by some of our finest (note the cannon on the front of the boat)

The 1.5 hr cruise went by homes of the rich and famous before heading back to the night lit city:

Many thanks to Roger and Patrice for their hospitality - we had a great time!

Now we're off to Naples, FL for the next 2 weeks.  More to come . . .

Long Point Park, Melbourne Beach, FL

We hope you all had as warm and Merry Christmas and as Happy a New Year as we did!

We've hit a cold spell in Florida the past month but Christmas day itself was in the mid-70s and beautiful!  Thanks to Susan's Mom & Dad (Janet & Charlie) for making our holidays special!  They spend their winters near by our latest stop at Long Point Park in Melbourne, FL. 

New Years eve we checked out the Palm Bay neighborhood all decorated for the holidays:

While staying at Long Point Park, we moved around a couple of times but our favorite spot was right on the inter coastal waterways:

Here's a look out our back window where we'd see fish jumping and dolphins & numerous birds hunting:

Here's one with a couple dolphins on the hunt just off the shore from camp:

Several nights we had the moon rising out our back window:

And the sunsets at Sebastian Inlet State Park bridge were incredible:

Still learning how to take pictures in the low light - this sunset was enhanced by huge smoke clouds from wild fires in the area:

Often at our camp site and all over Long Point you would find heron, ibis, crane, egret, pelican, anhinga & more and often they would all be hanging out together:

Hadn't mentioned before but since we've been in Florida we've enjoyed seeing hundreds of butterflies migrating - haven't been able to catch a picture of one until this past stop (perhaps they are slowing down with the cold weather too):

From our camp site we were able to ride bike trails along A1A for more miles than we'd be able to.  Here's another slow mover we caught while hiking Pelican Island SP (a 7 mile bike ride from Long Point):

We found this osprey resting/hunting half in the water while hiking Pelican Island:

Another day we were out with Charlie & Janet and found this guy running wild.  Evidently they cause a lot of problems down here with lawns and fairways . . . he came within a few feet of us:

One day we drove to Loxahatchee, FL to see more animals in the wild at Lion Country Safari.  You drive your car through the preserve where the animals roam - right up to your windows in some cases.  Here's an ostrich reminding us to keep our windows up:

Here's a 500 lb aldabra tortoise that was running circles around the car:

This wildebeast won the staring contest:

Here's a male & female impala grazing just a few feet from us:

These kulan's look a lot like a few Big Mouths I know from Cinci:

A nilgai (largest Asian antelope) chilling out:

What'cho looking at?  glares this Asiatic water buffalo:

A rare Indian blackblick:

This East African watusi came right up to the window:

as did this waterbuck:

These zebra and white rhinoceros were grazing together:

This 2.5 ton white rhino could have been a real challenge for our F350:

The park included a large walk-thru area to view more wild life and to relax to have lunch (the white ibis were looking for scraps too):

  You can get up close and feed the giraffe:

All kinds of colorful ...

and exotic birds to see:

There were so many more animals to see here.  Highly recommend a visit if you're in the area.

Another day we took a trip down to Jupiter where we checked out the Jupiter Inlet lighthouse from a deck bar across the inlet where we met our friend Roger:

We also checked out the beach while we were there.  Nice scenery but not our favorite beach to sit at:

Another day we hit the Sebastian County links where Suze (and her Caddy Mom) gave Charlie and me a lesson on consistency:

Another day Roger, Charlie & me went golfing at the Habitat course.  We saw a couple of each of these critters:

I noticed this guy looking back after I had just played my ball within 10' of the rough where this one lied:

And what would be a blog posting without mentioning the last 2 Pats games.  Blow outs but the only thing that made the insignificant Dolphins blowout enjoyable was that our Miami Dolphin fan friend Roger joined us to watch the game:

Were in Pembroke Pines (between Ft Lauderdale and Miami) for a week before moving over to the west coast in the Naples and Ft Myers area.  More to come . . .