May 2020 - Blue Angels, Anastasia State Park, Wildlife & Family

May 2020

We were asked to continue being camphosts alongside our fellow hosts and train our replacement camphosts who were already in the park for the month of May.  Sue & Larissa developed a work schedule that enabled the new hosts to work independently but with our assistance as needed, a couple of the days we were working each cycle. 

May 2nd, 2020

Bryan & I have both had virtual video appointments with our doctors. These resulted in us getting prescription refills.  We are no longer allowed to go in the pharmacy on base and have to go through the drive through.  As they are still getting this process in place, it took us 3 hours waiting before we eventually got to the drive up window and handed in our prescriptions.  We had to go back to collect them. 

Waiting to hand in prescriptions

May 8th, 2020

The Blue Angels went around the USA performing overhead displays in different towns to boost morale during the pandemic. They flew over Jacksonville and part of the route was over the base. We stood in the RV park and watched them go over.

Larissa got me some flowers for Mothers Day. It was such a lovely thought and they were my favourite flowers and colors. Thank you Larissa.

May 11th, 2020

We went out for the day. It was the first time we had a day out since March 11th and it felt good. We went to Anastasia State Park. Thankfully there weren't many people around.  We wanted to drive around the campground there but it was closed and so the entrance was blocked.

We decided to go on the walkway to the beach.

St. Augustine Lighthouse in the distance

The picture below looks as though I'm on the beach but I was on the boardwalk above the beach.  We didn't want to go down on the beach and were happy to just look from above.

We drove back out of the park and decided to stop and take some pictures of St. Augustine Lighthouse and the museum on our way past.  Bryan has climbed this lighthouse at night on a ghost tour and had a "chat" with the ghosts.

Lighthouse Museum

St. Augustine Lighthouse

We crossed the Bridge Of Lions.

The fort in the distance

We drove past Ripleys Believe it or Not.  We have visited this before.

and this statue of convicts working outside the Old Jail.

May 12th, 2020

We went for a walk on the campground nature walk.

Great Blue Heron still in the nest

This time we were in for a treat.  We saw an alligator in the stream below the boardwalk.  There was a fence between us but considering the video Christina took last year of an alligator here on base climbing the fence, I'm not sure why we felt as safe as we did. He/She didn't move. I guess we were lucky it wasn't hungry.

Right next to it, sunning itself on a log, was a turtle!!!

We knew there were alligators and turtles around here but this was the first time we had seen them. Bryan has seen them on the golf course, which isn't far away.

May 13th, 2020

Talking about golf, the next day Bryan decided to play a round and look what he saw!!!

I guess the two buddies had decided to go for a game of golf!!!

Not much happened the rest of the month, we both had dentist appointments for cleanings.  Due to the coronavirus they were not allowed to use the water rinser that cleans your mouth and they couldn't have the air conditioning on as the ducts were shared with the other offices in the building.  So that was a little different.

Someone had left a lighthouse jigsaw puzzle in the laundry room on the swap shelf, so we decided to do it.

It was 1,000 pieces and we managed to get the border done and then it sat for a couple of weeks with no progress. In the end we put it back in the box and returned it to the laundry room!!!

We had a video call with Trystan and he gave us a virtual hug.😍

Coronavirus Update

As at:         Cases USA      Cases Florida       Deaths USA       Deaths Florida                      

May 1st       1,103,225               34,728               64,808                   1,314

May 31st     1,790,172               56,163              104,381                  2,451           

On May 28th, the Coronavirus Death Toll in the USA surpassed 100,000. 😟

There is still no sign of the campground reopening.

April 2020 - Campground Tales, Walks, Birds & Updates

April 2020

Wednesday April 1st, 2020

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the State of Florida placed a stay at home mandate, and it is now official that you can only go out for essential reasons, food shopping, doctor, pharmacy, and recommended that only one go at a time.  It's April Fools Day but this is no joke!!

You can walk as long as you are 6ft. away from people.  We have been doing this since March 14th anyway.

I wish the stay at home mandate had been made in Mid March as well.  I also wish it was a nationwide mandate, although I can understand that certain parts of the country are not as densely populated and not affected as badly.  

One thing about the States that baffles me is that each State has it's own rules and regulations.  Driving between States you have to be aware that traffic rules and laws may be different in the different States.  We are all one country, why can't we all have the same laws.  I'm sure there's a very good reason, I just have never known what it is!!!

Friday April 3rd, 2020

We decided to go for a walk around the campground and on the Nature Trail and take some pictures.

View from our site looking right

View from our site looking left toward bathroom/laundry block

Another angle of the upper campground

Lower Campground, heading to Nature Trail

Gazebo by river

Looking back toward the bathroom block from the gazebo

Site 9, nice site with view of river but it does flood when we have rain.

Here's the beginning of the Nature Trail.  Bryan is going to redo the letters on the sign as they have faded.       

Here we go!!!!  We love this trail.

Pine Cones & Needles balancing on the leaves

Fallen Tree

Iris

Manatees can be seen here at certain times of the year.  We haven't been fortunate enough to see any here but have seen them at other places in Florida.  Some of our campers have seen them though so they are here. They are fascinating to watch so hopefully we will spot one.

Sign explaining the wildlife and shrubs that can be found here.

This is the boardwalk that we clear with the blower.  It does get covered with leaves and twigs, especially after some of the winds that we have.  

Beautiful Wildflowers

Looking across the bay toward the marina

Marina on base

We spotted a Great Blue Heron nest up in a tree. Momma was protecting her babies.

We walked around the boardwalk more and got a view from a different angle of the nest. As we were watching, daddy came home to give momma a rest and they swopped covering the nest.

Here's a series of pictures showing them swopping.

It was fascinating to watch and we were there quite a while.

We started our walk back along the trail.

Looking for alligators or turtles

It was a lovely walk.

P3 either landing or taking off

Tuesday April 7th, 2020

The 'pink' moon is the largest supermoon of 2020.  Didn't appear very pink in our pictures.

Saturday April 11th, 2020

We're still feeding the birds.

Crow

Red Cardinal

Different flavours of bird food, so the birds can have a variety. 😂

Friday April 17th, 2020

We saw this shape outside the window.  Can you guess what it is?

I believe it's a Pileated Woodpecker.  It was knocking on the window, probably at it's reflection and stayed there long enough for Bryan to go outside and get this picture.

Pileated Woodpecker

How amazing was that!!!

Sunday April 19th, 2020

Of course the squirrels still come and steal the bird food.  We figured out that by letting them eat for a few minutes, they then leave when we shoo them away, and dont return until the next day usually.

I've fallen in love with this ice cream, which has become harder to get since the pandemic when I've needed it more, ha!!ha!!  Bryan came home with a tub and I was sooooo happy!!!!

Thursday April 23rd, 2020

We looked after Peace, Ryan & Christina's small dog, while Christina has movers packing up and then is staying at the hotel on base for a couple of nights. It was nice having her for a couple of days.  Even though when I took her for walks I would end up carrying her home as her poor little legs can't go far these days.

Friday April 24th, 2020

Bryan collected Ryan from the airport. We were so happy to see him back. They will be leaving tomorrow for Norfolk and his new duty station.

Saturday April 25th, 2020

Ryan, Christina,Trystan, Peace & Lilo left for Norfolk this morning as we waved goodbye.  I kept the social distancing 6 feet away from them, and blew kisses and threw hugs.  It was very hard not to hug them.

Coronavirus Update

As at:         Cases USA      Cases Florida       Deaths USA       Deaths Florida                      

April 1st         213,372                 7,773                4,757                      101

April 30th    1,068,696               33,690               62,906                   1,268                                                                                                                                                                         

April 20th, Non essential travel between USA, Canada & Mexico was restricted.

April 30th, it was announced that unemployment had risen to more than 30 million.