Moving South (Zolfo Springs, FL)

We have covered a few miles since my last posting.  We are still making our way south towards Key West, FL.  

We stayed for the first time in Three Rivers State Park with a site on the river.  We had a great view of the airboats passing by while letting the cats explored.  We only stayed for one night and wished we had planned for more nights.  Maybe next time. 

 Our next stop was at the Suwanee River State Park.  We have been here before and had enjoyed walking the Lime Sink Run Trail several times.  This time of year it is not so much fun between large spiders making huge webs to walk through and mosquitoes having lunch on us.

Needless to say, we only walked it once this time. 😐

I did get a few good photos between ducking and dodging....

The big wheel below is from an old paddle wheel steamboat near the river path.  A much better walk under big shady trees with Spanish moss.

Next stop was Clermont, FL near Orlando.  Since June, my schedule has been to get out early before the day becomes too hot and humid for walking.  As soon as I return, we take cats out.  Hard to believe Fall officially starts tomorrow.  The weather still feels more like mid-July.

Most days have been very hazy so we end up spending most of our time indoors unless we have some shopping to do.

One good thing about hot days is that it does motivate me to get moving early enough to get those golden moment photos!  I'm rarely out the door before sunrise. 😀 ...or out of bed. 😴

By noon, the clouds are building up and soon we have a downpour that will last for about an hour or two.

We even had a nice rainbow one day.

Did I mention that our site backed up to a cattle's field?  It must have been a large fenced in area because the cattle only showed up once in awhile. I have never seen such happy cattle with so much energy by showing off their prancing and head butting skills.

We had a couple of visitors one day.  One of the Sand Cranes was begging for food until I showed him open hands.  Can a Sand Crane looked disgusted?  This one certainly gave it a good try as he walked away from me. "The nerve of some people.  Take a photo and NOT offer any food! Really!"

One more photo of the lake reflecting the clouds before we left the Orlando TT campground.

Dan discovered a Cat Cafe nearby.  I have read about the cafes in Japan and never thought we would have the opportunity to visit one in the US and here was one within a 10 minute drive from our campground!

 

The Orlando Cat Cafe is a partnership between the Axum Coffee and the Florida SPCA. All cats are up for adoption.

We ordered a small lunch with drinks from the cafe and paid $8 each to enter the Cat's room.  They limit the cat's room to 20 visitors at a time.  It was a slow day for visitors so it was nice and quiet for the cats.  We spent our time eating lunch, watching cats play or wander around, and hearing about their stories.

A very relaxed atmosphere for cats to meet their humans.  After visiting a Humane Society and seeing so many stressed out animals in cages, I have to admit that I was a little worried that I would feel very guilty for not adopting a cat, but they all looked very happy with their new temporary home.  Except for this one....such a woeful look.  Her look must have worked well on someone because her photo is gone from the adoptable list.

I felt good that we were able to donate some time and attention to the cats.  Adoptions have been very good since they started the Cat's Cafe.  I hope this idea catches on in other towns and we start seeing more of them.  

On The Cutting Board

I finally finished quilting all four quilt tops.  

I'm binding them now....

...and getting plenty of supervision from Max.  😻

2 down and 2 more to go!
Happy Quilting!