Christmas 2015 Florida Trip

This is a short photo journey post of my trip down to Florida over the Christmas holiday of 2015. In summary, I drove down on Christmas Day and returned to my home in North Carolina on Monday, December 28. It took most of Christmas to arrive, almost 11 hours, and I finally got to my destination around 6:00pm. However, I enjoyed listening to many podcasts, music, and an audio book on the drive down and back, which made the time go by faster. The roughly two and a half days that I had to do different outdoor activities in Florida was worth the drive and trip time. I got to play pickleball, a fun outdoor sport like tennis on one morning, along with Dad at the courts near the rental home. I played several rounds of disc golf on some courses near the rental, and the weather was dry and warm. Saturday evening we had a nice dinner in downtown Mt. Dora, and walked around looking at the Christmas lights. On Sunday, we all attended a church service at St. Andrews in Sanford and later in the day hiked around some more. Monday morning we went to Wekiva Springs State Park and I got to go kayaking and bike riding on the off road trails. As always, I enjoyed Mom's cooking and the fellowship time with my parents and dog chico. Below are some of my best photos from the trip:

Downtown Jacksonville, FL on drive

Mom and Dad at dinning room table

Chico enjoying Christmas present

Morning pickleball players

Lincoln Avenue disc golf course

River City Nature Park disc golf course

Another Mt. Dora disc golf course

Wekiva River- Katie's Landing

Wekiva River Park Orange/White bike trail

St. Andrews Church side view

Downtown Mt. Dora Christmas lights

My selfie in the Mt. Dora rental home

Me before going out to kayak the Wekiva river

May Beach Trip

In early May I took a trip to the beach for five days. I left on a Saturday morning and returned the following Wednesday afternoon. I will start this photo journey with the drive down I-95:
Stopping for lunch at South of the Border near Dillon, SC. I rode up to the top of a 300 foot elevator ride and took this photo:

Miles to go on I-95 south. 

Food place named after my car: Ford Fiesta.

Reaching the palm trees territory at a rest stop on I-95 in SC.

Once I arrived at the villa at Beachwalk where we were staying, the weather was great and I jetted outside to pickup a bike at the rental shop and ride some trails in a nice loop around Shipyard. The bike ride to the sandy beach only took a few minutes. The clubhouse at the beach had some amazing flowers in bloom. Later I got out on the beach and used my boogie board to body surf some waves during low tide. This was the weekend of the supermoon, so I took some photos of that at night. When it was high tide there was not much left of the beach. It seemed that the high tide was around 7 to 8 pm each evening. One night I ate dinner at the Salty dog cafe and watched the tide come in.

Rental Bikes from Arrow Drive.

Red and Pink flowers at the Shipyard clubhouse beside the beach access path.

Small pond with flowers and fountain on a nice sunny afternoon.

Rough waves with this zoomed up surf photo.

Sitting on my boogie board drying out after a swim.

Bike ride through a dense, forest path on the island.

View of the Salty Dog cafe at low tide. 

Another ride around a lake near the entrance to Shipyard. 

View out the window having dinner at the Salty Dog Cafe.

The Supermoon of 2012 on May 6th from the beach.

Of course, I enjoyed playing two of my favorite sports, disc golf and tennis while on vacation. My Dad and I traveled to a course near I-95 called "The Sarge" It is designed around two lakes and several creeks with some shots over the water. I played very well scoring a few birdies, one over the lake on a short par three. The weather was great and the mosquitoes were not very bad. The next day I played in a round robin tennis tournament at the club across from our villa at beachwalk. Overall, it was not very challenging tennis, but did play against two or three 4.0+ players, including the club pro in two rounds. Another sport that everyone competed in was a friendly game of put-put at Pirate themed course. Check out some of these photos below:

I'm putting on hole 1, trying to avoid throwing into the lake. 

This was one of the most challenging holes, the basket is only a few feet from the lake. 

My dad after finishing a put on number 16. 

The clay courts were I played in the round robin on Monday afternoon. 

Dad putting at the Pirate course with water and rocks in the background. 

Pirate cannon that is similar to the one used at ECU football games. 

Other activities that I did was to shop and eat lunch at a popular place with public beach access a few miles down the road. There was some cool stuff in these shops and I purchased a few small things. I had lunch at a place that had a full sized harley motorcycle above the seats and other biker photos on the walls.
There was some cool wildlife on the island, and I just happened to be at the right place to take a few photos.
In the evening after dinner we played a card game while Austin and his friend played video games. I played a few video games with them as well, but they were too good, and my player didn't last more than a few minutes. I left for the drive back home in the morning, with a wave goodbye to the family and to a great May beach trip this year.

Red and white flowers to match the lighthouse at Harbor Town. 

Bird flying along the beach looking for food. 

Alligator on the lake shore near the golf course at Shipyard. 

Long legged bird looking to eat some fish out of this lake. 

A crab that washed ashore and beside it sea hay that also washed up onto the beach after high tide. 

Mom and Dad playing cards in the kitchen, desktop computer behind them.  

Sunset over the bay on south beach area of Hilton Head Island.

Spring Scenes while out riding my bike

So it is almost 11:30pm on Friday evening, that means I am attempting to post a blog entry in the late evening before turning in for the night. I was thinking about the Titantic that sank just a day over one hundred years ago. There was a show on the National Geographic channel tonight about how the ship really sank. Boats and Bikes, two types of machines that allow people to travel great distances, and they are both very complex, with lots of small parts that work together. God is always the better designer and architect than man. The titantic was an example compared to the common duck. Ducks, which were created by God don't sink if they are still alive, here is photo of some swimming in a pond off of a greenway in Cary:

Springtime has been here for a few weeks and I enjoyed getting outside to ride a few days this past week. There are a lot more flowers and trees that are blooming around the parks and trails in this area. Here is a white flowering tree and below that some pink bushes near a short lake trail that I rode my bike along. The trees are just starting to grow green leaves in this photo.

I've had some nice rides on the bike the past month, since this winter was warmer than normal. I try to mix up the more technical, advanced off road mountain bike trails with easier greenways and flat dirt paths. I haven't gone to far away on those rides, because of my work schedule and the logistics involved with setting up the bike rack on my car. There is a better way to hook up the straps so that they don't become as lose in holding the bike to the car as before. On a few of these rides a recent rainfall made the ground very muddy in places and I had to hose off my bike. I even took a fall on my bike for the first time on a tough downhill section. This is the best time of year to enjoy a nice bike ride or hike in the early afternoon or evening. Below are some photos taken while on spring mountain bike rides:

Riding on a bridge over a fast moving creek near the Lochmere golf course.

Taking a break on the Kildaire Farm greenway trail (field near the Cary parkway tunnel).

Lowland swamp area along side the greenway trail at Koka Booth Amp.

A+ sign off of Maynard Rd. near my apartment.

Sign on a greenway trail near Middle Creek Park.

View of a golf green at the Lochmere club off of Kildaire Farm Rd.