The temperature rebounded into the mid seventies today. It made a perfect day for some outdoor exercise. In addition to my daily walks around the campground area, I took another trip to Tom Bennett Park today. The park is about eight miles away near the intersection of state route 64 and Intestate 75.
There seems to always be a few birds and other wildlife around to provide a distraction while walking the trails around the various fields and ponds. Today was no exception in addition to a good complement of birds there were many turtles taking the sun on logs and stumps in the ponds. There aren’t many wildflowers in bloom, but I did managed to get a picture of one interesting blossom at the edge of a pond.
Walking around the campground later in the day, I didn’t see nearly as many birds and other wildlife. The most interesting creature I captured a picture of was a Gopher Tortoise.
Shortly before the lunch hour I drove to Emerson Point Preserve. This is a county park on the north side of the Manatee River where the river empties into the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of Tampa Bay. It has trails and boardwalks through the mangroves along the water.
Today the park showed signs of having been partially under water during the weekend storm. The storm surge in this area was reported to be three and a half feet. Everything was dry today, but the debris lines were evident. There weren’t too many people out taking advantage of the park. The temperature got up to the high sixties, but the wind was still strong enough to make it a little uncomfortable.
Sunshine Skyway Bridge across the mouth of Tampa Bay.
Walking along the boardwalk on the Tampa Bay side of the preserve I spotted a fleet of White Pelicans fishing in the partially protected waters along the edge of the bay. The White Pelican is a true snowbird. It doesn’t hang around Florida in the summer like its cousin the Brown Pelican. The White Pelican is bigger than the Brown and it doesn’t search for fish the same way. White Pelicans feed in a group called a fleet and heard or otherwise corral fish for easier picking. The Brown Pelican can typically be seen diving from high above the water to capture its food. The White Pelicans seem to be more stately and less energetic.
Visibility up into Tampa Bay was very good when I arrived. It was overcast, but not cloudy. By the time I departed in mid afternoon real cloud cover had arrived. The sun was no longer filtering through the sky. I got my walking done during the best part of the day. My drive back took me through downtown Bradenton just so I didn’t return the way I came. It was a mistaken. Traffic was very heavy.
I don’t think there was a cloud visible in the sky all day. The humidity was low and the wind was strong out of the north. All of that added up to a Florida cold day. After a start in the forties the temperature peaked slightly above the sixty mark with the wind making it seem much cooler.
Wildflower blossom of the day
This was a very tranquil day. The most eventful activities of the day were my two walks around the campground and to the boat launch area. There are very few people active outside in the state park during the day. A few people appeared to be huddled inside their RVs keeping warm and others were away from the park. The wind seemed to keep the little boats for fishing off Lake Manatee as well.
This buzzard landed about fifteen feet away from me and stared at me as if to challenge my presence. Its mate landed shortly after and they went about their business picking through the wash up.
Inside my RV home, I cooked some of yesterday’s grocery haul. One of the things I bought was a pot roast. It was today’s main meal and will likely be, in some form, the main meal for the next two or three days. Pot roast is one of those cold weather comfort foods that I was fixated on during yesterday’s shopping.
I expected a cool morning after the weekend storm, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Tomorrow will be the cooler morning. It was a bright sunny morning with a strong wind out of the northwest. The air temperature climbed to the mid sixties, but it felt much cooler.
My plan for the day was to make my last grocery run to Walmart before Christmas. It will only get worse as the final week before the holiday goes by. If I need something specific I’ll stop at a dedicated grocery store like Publix. It might cost more, but will likely be a lot less hassle. Walmart wasn’t over busy today while I was there.
I entered the grocery store with a dangerous mindset. The plan was to acquire more than a weeks worth of groceries. I was also hungry and the cooler temperatures encouraged me to stock up on cold weather supplies. A box of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate mix seems to have come home with me. Overall I probably over bought. Leftovers and a new stock in the freezer may soon follow.
The Walmart Supercenter I went to is near Tom Bennett Park. This is a county park with trail, ponds and other recreational opportunities that I discovered on previous visits. I took the opportunity of being the area to make my first visit of this trip. Things were a little damp from the weekend storm. This area got several inches of rain. Some of the fields had huge puddles and some of the ponds were out of their banks. The walking trails were dry and the big wading birds were plentiful.
Walking around the campground later today was interesting. I have stayed at this park at this time of year several times. It is usually full ever night, but not this year. Last night there were many empty sites near mine. Most of those filled up today, but there are still empty sites. Last week and particularly this past weekend there were sites available at my previous location as well. I was trying to justify it with thoughts about the weekend storm, but I’m not so sure anymore. There may have been a drop in casual camping that climbed during the pandemic. Time will tell.
Yesterday’s rain storm became today’s wind storm. Two to three inches of rain accumulated at various measurement sites around the area. The bulk of the rain storm seem to pass by about 1AM. It was cloudy and dry, but very windy when I got up to start preparing to travel. Just when I was ready to start on the outside tasks, the rain returned. It was mostly a heavy mist, but one gust of wind brought a line of heavy rain with it. I kept dragging my feet waiting for the dry weather to return. Shortly after eleven I was able to work outside without getting wet.
I pulled out of my site at 12:30, but spent a half an hour at the dump station. It was before Thanksgiving that I last had a full hookup campsite and I will not have one again until the middle of January. Consequently, when I don’t have anyone waiting in line behind me at the dump station, I take the time to flush the black tank a little more thoroughly. Still, it only took about half an hour. I pulled out onto the highway a few minute after 1PM.
Driving across the state was a challenge today. In addition to the normal heavy traffic, I needed to deal with the wind. The sustained northwest wind was strong and the periodic gusts were challenging. I managed to stay in my lane, but I rarely had less than two hands on the steering wheel. Once I turned south on Interstate 75 in the suburbs of Tampa the wind was more of a pusher. My speed going south was a little faster with the wind at my rear, but the traffic was still heavy. I arrived at my destination at about 3:30PM.
Site 14 at Lake Manatee State Park east of Bradenton Florida.
I’m at Lake Manatee State Park in Bradenton Florida until New Years Eve. The site I made a reservation for is an old favorite. I’ve been on this site many times before, but it was different this time. They have cleared out more of the brush around the edges and at the back. The two hammock stakes at the back of the site have been removed and the grading has been changed. All of these things improved the site, but really confused me. Backing in was a multi attempt challenge. Any of the locations I stopped at were acceptable, they just had a little nagging issue or two. One wasn’t aligned with the side of the site. Another didn’t leave enough room to park my car. Once I solved those issues, I was worried about having clear satellite access. Anyone watching was probably very confused or laughing their head off. Eventually I was happy.
The rain began before I got up this morning. It rained with light to medium force continuous until about 4PM. Since then it has rained with medium to heavy force. The wind picked up about the same time as the force of the rain. The forecast calls for severe weather overnight with the potential of scattered tornadoes. Before the rain lets up tomorrow morning up to six inches of rain is possible. The TV weather forecasters are having busy days.
A beautiful blossom from yesterday’s visit to the Magic Kingdom. I didn’t take any pictures in the rain today.
I was faced with the dilemma today of eating from the freezer or going grocery shopping. Driving in the rain to the grocery store won. Everyone and their families decided to do the same thing. Saturdays are big shopping days, but today had an added element. The family shoppers seemed to have all of their family members with them. So instead of a shopping cart with one shopper and maybe a helper, many shopping carts had multiple kids and a bored adult or two hanging around it. My guess is that outside activities were rained out so everybody joined in on the shopping.
It wasn’t the most successful shopping trip. Many of the shelves including the meat counters were sparsely populated. The people stocking the shelves were not able to keep up with the rush or maybe just fit in the busy aisles. I got enough for a couple of days, but I’ll have to make another grocery run soon. On a positive note, as I was approaching the checkout counters they made an announcement calling all cashier qualified staff to the checkouts. I didn’t have to wait at all to get checked out.
Since I wore a raincoat on for my shopping run, I was only half soaked when I got back to my RV home. The groceries actually seemed a little wetter than I was. The rest of the day was spent inside keeping dry and getting the inside of the RV ready for travel. Tomorrow is a travel day to the Bradenton FL area. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate. The rain is supposed to end in the morning and I have until 1PM to checkout.
Today was the day for my much anticipated visit to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground to see how the campers have decorated their campsites. I try to do this every year I’m in the area. This year I combined the trip to the campground with an afternoon at Disney’ Magic Kingdom. The park closed at 6PM to allow for the separate admission Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. I got there at about 1PM and escaped on the Launch to Fort Wilderness shortly after 5PM. The park was very crowed when I arrived and down right impossible to navigate when I departed. The Christmas party guests were allowed to enter at 4PM.
One of the wreathes that decorate the lamp posts in the Magic Kingdom.
While I was at the Magic Kingdom I checked off another must do for the holiday season. I rode the Jingle Cruise. This is the regular Jungle Cruise decorated for Christmas with the puns delivered by the boat skippers changed to a Christmas theme. I didn’t think they did as much Christmas decorating this year, but it is still a fun attraction.
Fort Wilderness Settlement Christmas Tree
A little rain occurred while I was on the boat to Fort Wilderness. It was cloudy and threatening all day, but for the most part today was just a wind event. It was dry again when I arrived at the campground and began my walk around the loops near the settlement. Since it is still ten days to Christmas a lot of sites are not decorated yet. Also, I think there were more empty sites in Fort Wilderness than I’ve ever seen before. The horrible weekend weather forecast may be at fault. Spending more than $200 dollars a night to be subject to more than 2 inches of rain Saturday night into Sunday may be the breaking point for some.
I didn’t spend a lot of time at Fort Wilderness. I only walked through five loops near the boat launch. I didn’t have the motivation to walk through the other fourteen camping loops like I did at Halloween. The boat was arriving at the dock when I walked up for my trip back to the Magic Kingdom. It took several monorails filled with people before I boarded one to get back to the parking lot.
Wind and clouds were the operative words with respect to today’s weather. For most of the day there was a very thick layer of clouds over head. Near sunset it started to thin out a little, but the mood of gloom had already been set. Over the last two or three days the wind strength has increased each day. Today there was a strong northeast wind all day. The TV weather reporters indicated that there were 20mph sustained winds with gusts over forty. It wasn’t uncomfortable temperature wise. The air temperature was in the seventies. As long as you didn’t wear a hat it was OK outside.
Yesterday’s blossom of the day at EPCOT
I did some hiking around the state park today. I went in search of the area subject to a prescribed burn last week. It was a nice walk along the wide trails, but I didn’t find the burn area. It must have been a very small area, or it didn’t happen despite all the warnings. With all the wind this week, I don’t think they would be undertaking any burns.
Another blossom from yesterday’s visit to EPCOT.
All of the clouds and wind are a precursor to this weekends weather. A large low pressure system is forecast to form in the gulf and move diagonally across the state. The track hasn’t been determined yet. It will either go from the Tampa area to the Jacksonville area and drop inches of rain on this area or it will track a hundred miles or so further north. The later scenario wont drop as much rain on this area and probably will be a little calmer. Either way, Saturday into Sunday morning sounds like a wash out.
Today’s wildflower blossom of the day.
The campground seems to have vacancies tonight. Thursday is usually the start of the build up for the weekend. Perhaps the wet weekend forecast has people canceling. If the same sites are empty tomorrow night, my hypothesis may be proven.
It was another cloudy day with a strong northeast wind. During the day the air temperature climbed into the mid seventies, but the wind made it seem to be much cooler. Once the sun went down it felt even cooler.
This afternoon into evening I set out to explore the Christmas decorations at Disney’s EPCOT area resorts. To get there I parked at EPCOT and walked through the park to the International Gateway. This is a convenient way to get to the resorts between EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. I stop at all five resorts and took a picture or two of the Christmas decorations.
Disney’s Boardwalk Resort
Tree outside the Boardwalk Inn on the Boardwalk.
Gingerbread building at the Boardwalk Inn
The Swan
Everything in the display is made out of Chocolate at the Swan
The Dolphin
Tree in the Dolphin lobby
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Nautical themed tree at the Yacht Club
Train and village with the gingerbread lighthouse in the background.
Gingerbread lighthouse at the Yacht CLub.
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Gingerbread carousel to the theme of Ducktails.
EPCOT Luminous
After completing the circuit of resorts I returned to EPCOT and rode a couple of rides and walked around the resort until the 9:30 night time fireworks show Luminous. I had a much better view of the show from in front of the Norway pavilion than I had last week in Canada. It is a very good show. Tonight the wind was strong enough that the fireworks effects dissipated quickly. You needed to watch closely. I took way too many pictures with my cell phone. I didn’t bring any dedicated camera tonight.
It was another cold start to the day. The inside temperature shortly after sunrise was fifty degrees. The TV weather talkers were reporting temperatures in the low forties in the area. In the heat of the afternoon the temperature peaked around seventy. There was a lot of high thin clouds and a strong wind out of the northeast all day.
I thought of doing more Disney resort hopping to check out the decorations today, but it didn’t happen. I rolled over once to many times this morning and just didn’t get the day going. I spent the day wandering around the state park. I didn’t do any long hikes, but drove to the beach and a few of the trail heads. I wandered down the trails a bit at each stop.
It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day. However, it didn’t result in much to write about in this blog entry. As usual, I took a few pictures.
Rob's Rambling Road Trip 