Some clips from three viewpoints at Three Sisters Springs in Florida, with hundreds of manatees gathered around the springs.
exploring
Attractions and other places we visit.
Seeing hundreds of manatees at Three Sisters Springs in Florida
We visited Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida, to see manatees. These fascinating creatures spend the winter gathered around warm springs connected to the gulf, as the springs maintain a temperature of 72° F year-round.
Here’s a map of the springs:
A map on the wall of the visitor center:

350 manatees counted:

Entrance sign:

Manatee manners signs:

One of the springs:

Lots of manatees:









The nearby Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center:







Florida’s Forgotten Coast
While staying at Ho-Hum RV Park, we did a few drives along the Forgotten Coast, in the panhandle of Florida. Amongst other things, we saw all four of the lighthouses on the coast.
A pamphlet for the lighthouse driving tour, with information about each lighthouse:


The first drive was west of the RV park, with lunch at the Blue Parrot Ocean Front Cafe (they have a live cam you can view, too), then St George Island Lighthouse.
Here’s the route on an interactive map:
Bridge to St George Island:

Blue Parrot for lunch:







St George Island Lighthouse; unfortunately the museum was closed when we visited:


St George Island beach:

Further west, the Cape San Blas Lighthouse in Port St Joe:

The second drive was east of the RV park, to St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, St Mark’s Lighthouse, and Publix groceries on the way back.
Here’s the route on an interactive map:
St Marks National Wildlife Refuge:

The refuge visitor center, with info about the lighthouse too:



The wildlife refuge:










The third drive was to have lunch at The Fisherman’s Wife restaurant in Carrabelle, then visit the nearby Crooked River Lighthouse.
Here’s the route on an interactive map:
The Fisherman’s Wife; we wanted to eat here last year, but they were closed for the holidays. They were closed again most of the time we were at Ho-Hum this time too, but opened a few days before our departure:





Crooked River Lighthouse, the tallest of the four:

The old lighthouse keeper’s house, now a small free museum:









Fascinating stuff. We really enjoy this area of Florida; much more laid-back than the more touristy and populated parts.
Red Bay food and shopping
Some food and shopping around Red Bay, Alabama.
Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill, not bad Mexican food:


Piggly Wiggly grocery store, pretty basic:


Holiday lights:



Mia Marlie’s Hometown Pizza, fairly good and inexpensive:


Cardinal Drive-In, much like Sonic, but better:



Big Star grocery store, much nicer than Piggly Wiggly, and lots of super-tasty treats (of which we stocked up!):




Happy Hollow, home-goods and outdoors stuff, we always get some cat toys there:






Red Bay is a small town, but has some good food and shopping options.
River Bottomland Hardwood Trail hike
We went for a nice stroll along the boardwalks of the River Bottomland Hardwood Trail in Tickfaw State Park in Louisiana.

Pavilion:

Boardwalk:


Bayou:

Tickfaw River and bridge:



Closed area:

Bridge:

End of the boardwalk:





Galveston Island State Park beach
Other than the Moody Gardens Festival of Lights (which was posted out of sequence, on Christmas Day last year), and going to a H-E-B grocery store, we didn’t do much while staying at Galveston Island State Park, in part due to rainy weather. But we did enjoy several walks along the beach.
An info sign:


Empty beach, with regular garbage bins. The sand is quite nice, with very few shells:

Oil rig visible in the distance:


Jenn picking up garbage:

Houses beyond the end of the park at the south end:

Park boundary:

No motorized vehicles beyond this point; people can drive on the beach, but not in the park:



Boardwalk to a day use area:

Showers and changing rooms in the day use area:

Picnic shelters in the day use area:

Turtle sculpture:

A ranger patrolling on the beach:

Houses beyond the end of the park at the north end:

Park boundary:

Big empty beach:

2024 selfies
I thought it’d be fun to create an animated GIF of selfies and other pictures of Jenn and me from 2024. We’ve been to some interesting places!

2024 other attractions
A summary of roadside attractions from 2024, and other attractions that didn’t fit in other summary posts.
Again, you can also see the attractions from 2023, from 2022, and from 2021. And you can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the roadside attraction category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).
Total solar eclipse in Paris, Texas:
Iowa 80 truck stop in Walcott, Iowa:
Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota:
Mitchell Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota:
Custer Battlefield Trading Post & Cafe in Montana:
Oregon Cabaret Theatre: Legally Blonde, the Musical in Ashland, Oregon:
Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon:
Scenic drive along Dead Indian Memorial Road and Green Springs Highway in Oregon:
Shields Date Garden in Indio, California:
The Thing? in Arizona:
McGinn’s PistachioLand Home of the World’s Largest Pistachio in Alamogordo, New Mexico:
Moody Gardens Festival of Lights in Galveston, Texas:
Fun stuff.
2024 towns
This summary is about cities and towns I’ve posted about. I don’t tend to do these posts very often, so there aren’t many.
Again, you can also see the attractions from 2023, from 2022, and from 2021. And you can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the town category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).
Marathon, Marfa, and more in Texas:
Marathon aerials and stars in Texas:
Some interesting places.
2024 food
A summary of food- and restaurant-related posts in 2024.
Again, you can also see the attractions from 2023, from 2022, and from 2021. And you can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the food category (with earliest or latest posts at the top)
Robert is Here fruit stand in Homestead, Florida:
Our first Buc-ee’s in Smiths Grove, Kentucky:
Custer Battlefield Trading Post & Cafe on the Crow Indian reservation in Montana:
Oregon Cabaret Theatre: Legally Blonde, the Musical in Ashland, Oregon:
Ashland wineries: Quady North & Belle Fiore in Ashland, Oregon:
Ashland food in Oregon:
Shields Date Garden in Indio, California:
Red Bay food and shopping in Red Bay, Alabama:
Tasty stuff.


























