It’s my birthday! I am 68 years old today, yikes! And what a glorious day it is…
We are staying in the Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park, a spectacular coastal forest, rich with trees and shrubs that are, or were, unfamiliar to us until this trip. The predominant longleaf pines are huge and ancient, as are the southern magnolias, and scrub and turkey oaks, all of which tower over the red cedar trees and a diverse understory of saw palmetto, Florida rosemary, and yaupon holly, to name a few. The history of this place before it was designated as a state park is interesting, the link I embedded offers a lot of information; the ranger we met yesterday afternoon, who lives on site, was proud of this majestic place and honored to be its steward–one of the last old growth forests in Florida.
Last eve, before the mighty & horrifically messy mishap for which I alone am responsible, I baked myself a strawberry cobbler as a pseudo birthday cake.
If I say so myself, it was one of my best cobblers yet, enjoyed this morning with a side of yogurt, after our sunrise walk around Pudding Pond, which was once a slow-moving river, now dammed magnificently by the resident beavers, during which I received a true birthday gift from Mother Nature:
There are oodles of sandy bike trails in the park, we’ll go for a ride soon. I’m still waiting for the floor of Vanda’s cab to dry, because … last night as I was putting away the storage container that holds a large bottle of olive oil, a slender bottle of fig balsamic vinegar, and a jar of coconut oil — the container slipped out of my hands. Not only did it knock the plate of sautéed red peppers that I had just prepared for our homemade pesto pizza dinner onto the floor, but olive oil seeped from the pouring spout onto the floor mat and worst of all, the balsamic vinegar bottle flipped upside down, lodging between John’s seat and the cabinet, cracking the bottle’s lid, which then proceeded to allow thick and sticky fig balsamic to pour onto his seat, into the nooks and crannies under his seat, into the teeny-tiny space between the seat’s raised platform and the cabinet … pretty much a huge and terrible mess. Sigh. I was quite annoyed at myself–even though no carelessness was involved, this was truly an accident–but yikes, what an f’in mess. We did as much cleaning up as possible in the dark but I knew there was more sticky, gooey mess waiting for the daylight hours. So yep, after our morning walk, and after our birthday cobbler breakfast, I spent about an hour finding what I hope is every last drop of balsamic vinegar, wiping it up, then cleaning the entire cab floor space and seats with a wet, soapy cloth. As we wait for it all to dry now, we can (sort of) laugh about it…HardyHarHar. Happy Birthday to me!
The bike riding was spectacular, we love that our van bikes allow for off roading over roots and rocks, as well as on gravel, and paved paths/roads. We’ve just had lunch (I’ve been writing this blog post on and off since early this morning), and there is likely a nap in my future before I make mushroom stroganoff as my birthday dinner! Yum!
Here’s a birthday bike ride photo:
