Spring Training with the Nats! - Fitteam Ballpark, West Palm Beach, Florida – March 3, 2020

Ready for some Spring Training baseball

Being in Florida in March, it seemed like a good idea to make our way to West Palm Beach for a Spring Training baseball game – World Series Champions Washington Nationals vs the Baltimore Orioles.

The team outside their training building

 The Nationals share the Fitteam Ballpark training facility with the Houston Astros.  It is a huge complex with a stadium and buildings in the middle, and 12 practice ball fields of various sizes around the outside.  Each team uses 6 of the fields.  The facility is roughly divided in half with the Nats practicing on one side and the Astros on the other.  There is a paved parking lot for players, staff and press.  There is an enormous grass parking lot for fans attending the games.

All those practice fields

The stadium is small and intimate, seating 6,500 people.  For about the price of an outfield seat in Nationals Stadium, we had seats peering through the safety net on the first base line, very near home plate, four rows back from the Nationals dugout.  We were right at the stairs into the dugout, so we could see the faces of the players when they returned at the end of the innings. We could hear the crack of the bat and the smack of the baseball into the catcher's mitt. 

Nice small stadium

It is safe to say there isn’t really a bad seat in the stadium.  If you want, you can purchase inexpensive tickets and sit on the grass berm under the palm trees in the outfield.  We saw several families with school-aged children there – the parents watching the game and the kids running up and down the hill. 

Lest anyone forget who won the 2019 World Series

All around the stadium are photogenic spots with Nationals World Series iconography:  a huge replica of the trophy, a large sign you can stand in front of, etc.  There is some representation of the Astros World Series victory in a previous year, but that had been relegated to a side wall.

The “Team Store” sells both Nats and Astros fan-clothes as well as Grapefruit League shirts and hats.  There are the usual abundance of stadium food eateries and beer joints, and guys hawking water and beer.  One guy shouting,“Cold beer and water here,” and another responding, “Colder beer and water here.”

The end of the President's Race - think maybe Herbie won ?.?.? not sure who won.

There was a President's Race between Herbie Hoover, Bill Taft and Cal Coolidge.
  

Scherzer pitching

It was a picture, perfect South Florida day, 80 degrees, cloudless blue sky, light breeze. 

The line-up

As we entered the stadium, we saw the hand written starting line-up posted on the wall, and Scherzer was pitching!  During the first few innings we saw familiar players like Scherzer, Suzuki,Trea Turner, Cabrera, Juan Soto.  We saw Michael Taylor make an amazing catch in the outfield.  In the third inning, Soto doubled with the bases loaded which would bring in the first two of five runs that inning. 

It's a Soto swing...

... and a double

Later in the game, we saw a new pitcher each inning, and many unfamiliar faces/names in the field and at bat.  That is what Spring Training is all about, though.  A chance to try out new players and give everyone experience working/playing together again.

Another Curly W for the team

The final score, Washington 5, Orioles 3.  It was a pleasant and relaxed way to enjoy baseball. 

La Belle Sanibel, Sanibel Island, Florida – March 1, 2020

Sanibel's beautiful beach!

Off the coast of Fort Myers, Sanibel Island is a (capital D) Destination.  Best known as a shelling paradise, the island is manicured, tasteful and lovely.  It has a beautiful white sand beach, gorgeous green water, and impressive and expensive homes.  It is a very civilized place.

The beach at the lighthouse

Sanibel handles hordes of tourists well without seeming touristy and tacky.  We visited the island on a lovely Sunday and joined the stream of families coming from the mainland to enjoy the beach.  The Chamber of Commerce building located at the end of the bridge was well staffed.  It had a sign outside telling you to knock the snow off your boots before coming inside (a bit of South Florida humor).  There were traffic cops at every major intersection easing the swell of traffic along the island main internal arteries. 

The lighthouse

 You can use any of 6 public parking lots (with rest rooms) along the beach to access the sand and water.  Once you are on the beach, all 15 miles of it are open to the public.  You can walk as far along the water as you want. Your timed parking receipt at any beach lot works in the other lots, so you can move to a different location and park there as well.

Lighthouse cottages

 We started our visit at Sanibel lighthouse, an unimposing steel structure.  As our friend Bill, who is a lighthouse buff, says – all lighthouses are beautiful, even the ugly ones. 

The lagoon we crossed on our way to the beach

From there we took our parking receipt and drove to the other end of the island to the Bowman’s Beach access point to avoid the huge crowds.  While we did have to share the beach with other people, it wasn’t bad.  From that parking lot, you cross a bridge over a lovely lagoon, and then have your choice of boardwalks across the dunes to the beach.  Did I already mention that they have certainly thought through how to handle the many visitors that flock to this beautiful island?

Looking over the dunes to the beach

We took a brief drive north to neighboring Captiva Island and had lunch at the Green Flash restaurant overlooking the bay.

A lagoon at the wildlife refuge

After the beach, our next favorite thing on Sanibel was the terrific J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  Covering 1/3 of the island, the refuge protects the flora and fauna that call the island home.  It has a 4 mile paved road that you can drive along, pulling over to watch something interesting.  We saw our old friends, huge white pelicans in several places, snoozing on sandbars in the lagoons at low tide.  As a special treat we got to watch 3 roseate spoonbills frolicking and preening in the water.  They shared a lagoon with a bunch of white pelicans, drawing all the tourist attention and cameras. 

Some White Pelicans

The drive through the wildlife refuge costs only $5, or is free if you have a lifetime senior parks pass (best $10 we ever spent – it would still be a good investment at the current $80 price).

Some preening Roseate Spoonbills - expand for the best view

The Sanctuary in the Corkscrew Swamp, Naples FL – February 29, 2020

The Corkscrew Swamp

The Audubon Society was formed many years ago in part to protect the Florida egrets that were being over-hunted for their feathers that were used as decorations on ladies hats.  One of the actual places that they set up a primitive outpost to guard these gorgeous birds was in the Corkscrew Swamp.  Fast forward 100+ years, and the Audubon Society protects more than 11,000 acres of pristine pine flatlands, wet prairie, marsh, and cypress forest including the only remaining stand of original growth bald cypress in North America.  Trees 500-600 years old. 

Wet prairie bordered by 100-200 year old Pond Cypress trees

Though we didn’t see them (it wasn’t the right time of year), this area of swamp is also the largest nesting area of endangered Wood Storks, and the only place other than Cuba where the rare Ghost Orchid grows.  A very special place.

These ferns make you think a dinosaur might come moseying through

The sanctuary has a 2.5 mile boardwalk that takes you through a variety of ecosystems with the plants and animals that live there.  Being an Audubon location and a lovely Saturday morning, we shared the walkway with serious birders, and photographers with serious cameras and enormous telephoto lenses.  There were regular people there, too.  Everyone respected the wild dignity of the place; spoke in hushed voices so as to not frighten any interesting animals away.

Lovely Great Blue Heron

A photogenic Red-Shouldered Hawk

We saw many of the usual swamp denizens – herons (great blue and little blue), egrets (great and snowy), white ibis, anhingas, and a rather large mama alligator snoozing in the sun with some of her brood.  A red shouldered hawk came to roost on a branch over the walkway, setting off a symphony of camera shutter sounds.  A barred owl hooted loudly nearby, and several swallow-tail kites glided high overhead silhouetted against the bright blue Florida sky.  A pileated woodpecker worked noisily on a branch overhead, and a red-bellied woodpecker rotated around another branch nearby.  There were also many, many songbirds that we didn’t recognize.  This swamp is a very busy place.

Mama and some of her babies

Pileated Woodpecker - the largest woodpecker in North America

The plants were just as interesting, with 100-200 year old pond cypress and elderly bald cypress that were here before Columbus discovered the New World.  As in the Mariposa Grove of Yosemite National Park and Muir Woods National Monument, individual very old bald cypress trees have been singled out and named.  In this case, the names are of individuals instrumental in the history of conservation and the Audubon Society.  In addition, one very lovely tree is named for the Calusa Indians that once lived in this region.  Both the pond and bald cypress trees loose their needles in the winter, which were just growing back in while we were there.  So, in our pictures they look a bit (well) bald.

Like many very old trees, the tops of these Bald Cypress have been broken off by storms

Can you imagine what these trees have seen in 500 years?

Strangler fig trees have wound their way around many the trees.  The second largest tree in the swamp is the red maple, which does lose its leaves in the Fall, but starts growing new ones right away.  There are pockets of ferns everywhere, especially resurrection ferns that grow on the trunks and limbs of the great trees.

Lettuce Lake

Lettuce Lake is an extensive deep area in the swamp, with water lettuce plants floating on the surface and masses of roots below protecting young fish and other creatures.  Lovely epiphytes (air plants) are growing, and some blooming, in niches of the host trees.

Epiphytes (air plant) grow on other plants but do not harm the host tree

Corkscrew Swamp is a lovely, peaceful, fascinating place where you can reflect on the beauty and diversity of nature.  It is listed in our Off the Beaten Path book, and is well deserving of the recommendation as a special place that is less crowded.

This is a video of an Ibis feeding.

The Ten Thousand Islands of the Everglades National Park, Everglades City, FL - February 28, 2020

Red Mangroves building an island

Red mangroves build land by sending out stabilizing aerial prop roots into shallow water that collect sand and other debris.  As the trees grow in size, so do the islands they are creating.  These mangrove islands ranging in size from one small mangrove tree to a very large island, are vital parts of the diverse and important ecosystem of the Everglades National Park.  Tiny fish and other creatures grow in the shelter of the root systems.  The islands absorb some of the energy in dangerous storm surge, protecting nearby coastal regions. 

The area is known as Ten Thousand Islands, and starts at Marco Island and runs southward on the Gulf Coast to the tip of Florida.  They are protected as part of the Everglades National Park.  While the region is named 10,000 Islands, they estimate that there are actually 13,000 to 16,000 of these important bodies of land.

Black mangrove straws

Red mangroves are not the only types of mangroves in the area.  Black mangroves can be identified by the pencil thin air straws they send up out of the mud, and white mangroves have a tiny indentation at the tip of each leaf.  The red mangrove roots are more salt resistant than the other mangroves, so you see more of them starting up new islands in the brackish water.  The water is here is brown, not from silt but from the tannin in the decaying mangrove leaves.

White mangrove leaf - see the little indentation?

We visited the area on a cold (for South Florida) and very windy day.  You access this part of the national park by boat from tiny Everglades City.  There is an NPS Visitors Center in a small temporary building.  The permanent building was damaged in Hurricane Irma in 2017.  In that storm, the 14-foot storm surge that hit the outer mangrove islands, was reduced to 8-feet by the time it got to the coastline.  That is still a lot of storm surge and quite a bit of Everglades City was damaged or washed away.

Those powerful red mangrove roots!

From the Visitors Center you can take a boat or guided kayak trip among the islands.  Given the winds and the cold, we opted for an afternoon trip in the motor boat.

Havana Cafe of the Everglades

Lunch in the shade

It was lunch time, so we drove a few miles down the road and across a bridge to the tiny island and and fishing village of Chokoloskee, to eat in the only restaurant on the island, The Havana Café of the Everglades.  The area is the stone crab capital of the world, so Russ had stone crab claws.  They only harvest the claws from the crabs and then return the crabs to the sea where they can grow new claws.  We sat outdoors under a jumble of thatched roof, shady trees and umbrellas.  Probably more perfect for a typical South Florida day instead of the chilly day we were having.

Stone crab claws

The boat tour was fabulous.  We got to see some of the mangrove islands up close, and enjoy the interesting shore birds, cormorants and pelicans.  We came across a pod of bottlenose dolphins feeding, with pelicans flying around and scooping up fish that the dolphins had scared to the surface.  As we left, the dolphins stopped eating long enough to play in the boat's wake.  Such fun.

The island is growing a sandbar

These mangroves were killed by the storm surge in 2017, but their roots still hold precious land.

Cold and windy

A New Key off Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida – February 25 – 27, 2020

The beach at Fort De Soto Park

From time to time we are able to return to beloved locations for another visit.  When we found ourselves in central Florida with a few extra days, we booked the LAST dog friendly campsite at one of our favorite locations: lovely, rustic, Fort De Soto Park with perfect white beaches and emerald green water.

A campsite right on the water (not ours this time, maybe next time)

Fort De Soto Park is located where Tampa Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.  Built on a series of sand keys, it has extensive bike trails, beaches, picnic areas, an historic fort, a fabulous campground with most campsites located on the water, and a huge dog park/dog beach.

North Beach on the left and Outback Key on the right

The shoreline of Fort De Soto Park has become a lesson in shoreline erosion and build up.  Since we were here the last time (a few years ago), a new sand key has developed along the North Beach area.  Sand collected on a submerged sandbar off-shore to create a new key (island) very close to shore.  It is a short wade from the beach to the informally named Outback Key where sand has built up to be a sizable space with patches of sea oats growing at one end.  Where did the sand come from?  Erosion someplace else?  Sand disturbed by dredging the shipping channel into Tampa Bay?  A beach restoration project northwards in Clearwater?  Who knows! 

Just a short wade between the two

One park ranger predicts that if things continue to progress, the watery space between Outback Key and the North Beach will fill in with sand, eventually increasing the size of North Beach.

Reddish Egret

As a special treat,when we crossed onto the newly formed key, a rare Reddish Egret landed in the water and began its crazy dance.  While other herons and egrets regally stalk through the water looking for dinner, or shuffle their feet to stir up lunch, the Reddish Egret does a crazy dance running through the water and using the shadow of its outstretched wings to reduce glare from the water so it can see its next meal swimming by.  It is unique and fun to watch.  These interesting birds are considered threatened and are mostly found in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reddish Egret "dancing"

While we were at Fort De Soto Park, Tiki got two wonderful chances to swim, play, and roll in the sand on the dog beach.  It was quite windy and we saw kite-boarders on the East Beach.  So spectacular!

Kite-boarders

It is fitting that this return to a special place is also our return to our blog space.  It has been 9 months since we last posted on our blog in May 2019.  We made many short trips during the summer and fall of 2019, we just didn’t write about them.  Some friends and readers have asked about our blog and our travels – so we’re baaaccckkk and we’re in Florida!  Look for more blog entries to come.

Snowy Egret

Osprey

Banyon tree

Immature White Ibis losing its protective dark feathers

Our campsite - pretty nice, huh?