Love My Thursdays!

I just got back home from my "Thursday Saddlebag Ride"!  What great Spring weather we had today!  I have been involved with this group of women since 1985 and truly cherish the friends I have made over the years as we ride our horses together each week on Thursday.

On this day last year, I was struggling up and down the mountains of north Georgia!  As the one-year anniversary rolls around this year, I am finding it a little difficult to focus on the here and now, because my mind is so filled with the memories of each day on the Trail!  When I began my journey on the A.T. last year, I had no idea how profoundly that "walk in the woods" would affect my life after I returned home.  It was such an intense experience over days, weeks, and then months, that I am only now beginning to comprehend the magnitude of  walking 2,181 miles!  Thru-Hiking th A.T. is very different for each person!  My age, and hiking and camping alone so much of the time, certainly affected me and my hike!

At the end of January, Tom and I went on a "road trip" that took us to Sanibel Island, Florida!  We left home on Saturday, Jan.28, and drove to Alexandria, La.  The next morning, we headed south and skirted around the north side of New Orleans, on I-12 and upon arriving in Mississippi, we took U.S.Hwy. 90 and followed it along the Gulf Coast all the way to Alabama.  We then went south through Bayou La Batre, Al. and over the causeway to Dauphin Island.  From Dauphin Island, we took a small ferry (for a fee) over the mouth of Mobile Bay to Fort Morgan, Al.  I had no idea there were so many oil rigs in Mobile Bay!  It was 4:30pm by the time we arrived at Fort Morgan, so too late to do a tour of that, so we continued east along the Gulf Coast to Pensacola, Fl. Then on to Tallahasse, Fl., where we spent the night.  I love the Gulf Coast!  

On Monday morning, as we left Tallahassee, we decided we did not want to drive on the Interstate Hwy., so we took U.S.Hwy. 19 south to Tampa, Fl.  We passed thru many small towns along the way, but hardly any traffic, very relaxng drive.  From Tampa, Fl., we zipped along down I-75 to Fort Meyers.  There, we cut off to the west and went across the "big bridge" to Estero Island where Fort Meyers Beach is located.  With no reservations, being our spontaneous selves, we cruised along the main drag, and found a great room in a Holiday Inn, right on the beach!  With "high-rises" all around, this Holiday Inn was right out of the '60s or '70s, only two stories high!  Our ground floor room faced the beautiful white-sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico! 

On Tuesday morning, we drove over the "big bridge" to Sanibel Island, and rented bicycles and rode around the Island and through the "Ding"Darling Nature Preserve, about 16 miles.  Toward the end of our bike ride, we went by Doc Ford's Bar & Grill, and stopped to have a light lunch to "replenish our strength".  We bicycled abround 16 miles!

On Wednesday, we drove back over to Sanibel Island and on to Captiva Island, where we planned a Day Cruise to Cabbage Key.  While waiting for the boat to leave, we walked along the beach and picked up sea shells.  There were tons of shells washed up on that beach!  While we were picking up sea shells, we observed several ospreys searching for their breakfast in the beautiful clear Gulf waters.  Suddenly, one osprey swooped down to the water and came up with a fish in his beak that must have been a foot long!  Up in the tree he went to enjoy his feast!  

  We really enjoyed the Day Cruise to Cabbage Key, a very small Island, accessible only by boat.  We had lunch at the Inn there and went for a walk on their Nature Trail, where we saw several large turtles.  There were a lot of boats at the Cabage Key Dock.  After we reboarded our boat for our return trip to Captiva Island, as we waited for everyone to get back on board, we saw a sea lion come up out of the water onto a small fishing boat that was docked, it grabbed a lg. blue-tinted ziploc baggie out of the back of that boat and slipped right back into the water with it so fast I did not have the time to grab my camera for picture!  Hope those fisherman's valuables weren't in that baggie!  (The sea lion got into the boat on the left)

More on our Florida vacation in my next post............

I took BooBoo to Florida with me!!!!