Gators and Fire Ants and Snakes, OH MY!!!

January 15 - 22, 2021

 

The Savannas Recreation Area is a preserve located only a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean.  Fort Pierce is 6 miles away, so the preserve has a convenient location!  It offers kayaking, canoeing, and hiking, which could be endless if you don’t mind occasional encounters with alligators and snakes!  Apparently, the preserve has suffered from budget cuts recently and workers have not been able to keep some of the tall grasses cut back.  The part of the park that is maintained is fantastic!  There was a 1½ mile (one way) paved trail that took us through marshes, across the canal and out to the savannas.  Walking along the trail was like walking in an aviary where we observed a wide variety of birds.  Alligators were also present, but at a safe distance!  Signs were posted reminding all that it is illegal to feed the gators so we kept Frankie on a very short leash so we wouldn't get in trouble (haha)!  They did have a nice, fenced-in dog park that allowed Frankie some off-leash time to safely run off some of her energy!  This was the first park we have stayed at that had a pickleball court!  It didn't take long for us to pull out our paddles and play a couple of games.  Dick consistently went easy on me and he still managed to "take me to school".  Oh well, it was fun and we got some great exercise!







It really is a small world and we were reminded of that many times while we were here!  The couple we met at St. Lucie who were docked at the marina (Melissa and Mike), were now docked at the Fort Pierce marina!  We were able to meet up with them at the Farmer’s Market and got to know them a bit more as well as enjoy a fresh pastry together!  Melissa even took us to a corner of the marina where we saw a manatee!  We picked up some fresh produce and enjoyed looking at some of the very beautiful artwork while we were there.  





Good friends from Iowa (Jane and Blake) have a sister and brother-in-law (Debbie and Kevin) who live in Florida and have recently joined the world of RVing.  Jane thought we might enjoy meeting Debbie and Kevin and the rest is history!  We met, we celebrated Debbie’s birthday, ate dinners, hiked trails and walked shorelines together… Thanks, Jane, for sharing your sister and her hubby with us!





 

A former neighbor from our early days of living in Cedar Rapids found me on Facebook and quickly realized she and her husband would be in Florida during the same time we are.  Marcia quickly put together a perfect plan for getting together! We met Dan and Marcia at American Icon Brewery (a former power plant) in Vero Beach, which was a short drive south for them and a short drive north for us!  It was a fun afternoon of catching up from the last 20 years as well as enjoying some darn good beer and food!



While we lived in Cedar Rapids, Dick worked at the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a nuclear power plant (now in the process of being decommissioned).  It wasn’t unusual for Dick to go on business trips to other nuclear plants for various reasons.  One such trip was to St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, only a short distance from our campsite!  Dick couldn’t resist driving by the plant and reminiscing on the good old days!




Other fun things we did in the area included:

 

Walking around the historic Fort Pierce area, having a beer at Sailfish Brewery, strolling on the Atlantic shoreline, touring Old Fort Pierce Park, going to Fort Pierce Inlet State Park, dinner at Manatee Island Bar and Grill (they offer a terrific happy hour!!), Indian River Lagoon Boat Tour where we saw dolphins while taking a relaxing boat ride, and enjoying a drink and appetizer at Crabby’s (which offers a stunning view of the marina).
















Up next:


Our time in the area went by way to quickly, as it always seems to do!  We are off to Lake Okeechobee for a few days before heading south to Everglades National Park! 

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