First of all we have had a drastic change in weather! After five weeks of weather that hardly made it into the 50’s, today was 87 degrees. And it was somewhat humid. Welcome to Florida!

We spent two days at Manatee Springs State Park. Best experience so far! We kayaked around and over manatees and went snorkeling.

Beautiful campsite:

Kayaking with manatees:

Turtles:

And then there was snorkeling. Part of the river is fed by a natural spring which keeps the water at about 72 degrees all year (and crystal clear). We saw lots of fish but, thankfully, no alligators:



It was a fabulous day!

Our campsite:

This town is famous for its oysters. They were so good!

I went shopping at the Piggly Wiggly. I’ve always wanted to say that:

In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus:

We’ve been staying in one state park and visited three others today:



This is some kind of air plant. There are no roots. They are just sitting on top of the ground. And very beautiful:






And some cute towns:


John catches a fish:

And, finally, a funny picture. Tiffany was watching us on a web camera that was on top of a restaurant and took this picture of us walking on the beach. Gotta love technology.

Yesterday we drove from Alabama to Florida and spent the day today in Destin, Florida.
Mobile, Alabama:

Fairhope, Alabama:

Our secluded campsite at Henderson Beach State Park:

Powdery, white sand beaches and a beautiful little harbor:


By the way, we are having a blast!

We’ve spent a delightful few days on Dauphin Island.

Here are some pics of our campsite and the bird sanctuary next to it:

Today we went to church. I had a little homesickness meltdown during the service. It started last night when Tiffany texted us that the song, Ripple, came on and made her miss us. John used to play and sing that at bedtime when the kids were little. Sniffle, sniffle. Then in church, they had the little kids come sit in front while the pastor gave a short children’s sermon. That was it for me. Then the singing time made me miss Calvary so much, both the service and the people. But the sermon was great, the people were so nice and we were spiritually refreshed!

Here’s a few more pics of the island: