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Washington Oaks State Park – Revist 11/16/2020

During our last visit the the beachside of the park was closed. Today we were able to visit the Coquina rock formations on the ocean. The parks website defines Coquina —

What is Coquina Rock?
Coquina= (“co-KEEN-a”)

Coquina rock is a type of sedimentary rock. The rock in our area formed in the near shore region, where shells and sand become well sorted by wave action. During times when sea level was lower, these shells and sand were exposed to rain. The rainwater dissolved some of the calcium carbonate (limestone) from the shells, which “glued” together the sand and shells into rock. If you look closely at the rock, you can see the individual shells and sand grains that are cemented together. The coquina rock is part of the Anastasia formation, which stretches from St. Augustine to Palm Beach County, and was created during the Pleistocene era (12,000 to 2.5 million years ago.) The word “coquina” is Spanish for “cockle” and is the name given to the small, burrowing clam that lives in the sand just at the ocean’s edge. The scientific name for the coquina clam is Donax variabilis, as the shells of the clams can be various colors. These clams are also sometimes called“periwinkles” by locals, but true periwinkles are actually snails. Well I went there for the opportunity to take some photographs – after the beach we hiked the trails through the white oak forest and to view the gardens.

November 18, 2020 10

Back in Florida – Hiking Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve & Mala Compra Trail — 9-14-2020

We arrived in Plantation Bay on the 6th of August after a whirlwind drive across country to avoid the Corona virus (the trip was our first on Interstates all the way and in 5 days). We have spent the month unpacking 80 boxes that we shipped from Pasadena, in self quarantine for two weeks and then slowly getting back into the neighborhoods activity. My goal is to start exploring Central Florida one day a week then begin taking multi-day trips moving around the state in the months to come.

Monday I visited an old favorite spot the Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve and its boardwalk thru salt marsh and coastal scrub communities. (https://www.visitflagler.com/listing/betty-steflik-memorial-preserve/270242/)

Then on to a new hike – the Mala Compra Trail. Mala Compra has a hiking trail and mountain bike trail system which I avoided. The trail is a walk thru scrub brush and boardwalks across salt marshes to dunes overlooking the Atlantic. (http://www.flaglercounty.org/document_center/Parks/MALA%20COMPRA%20trail%20brochure%20for%20website.pdf)

September 16, 2020 8

Pasadena Views — 5/3/2020

Stay At Home order continues — walking is my main exercise trying to walk 6 miles everyday. Beginning to see more people out unfortunately also seeing more without facemasks. Weather has been great but this week we will see high 90’s and even triple digits – walking will be early or late in the day — enjoy the pics!!

May 4, 2020 2

Pasadena Views — 4-21-2020

It’s now been five weeks of shelter in place — besides grocery shopping walking Pasadena has been our only outdoors exercise. I have been walking 5 to 7 miles a day and have about run out of new neighborhoods to explore. Hope you enjoy some of the sights that I have uncovered.

April 21, 2020 9

Pasadena Views 4-9-2020

It’s been 3 weeks since we have been under the states stay at home order. In the first week we were able to use golf courses – good walking exercise – but no longer. So to exercise I decided to walk 5-6 miles a day – I found some new neighborhoods that I didn’t know existed. This week southern california has received several days of much needed rain which has shortened my walks to breaks in the rain. While walking I snapped pictures of some of my favorite locals, houses and flowers — ENJOY.

April 9, 2020 0

Looking Back – YE Travels Ormond Beach to Pasadena #7 – Northern CA and Final Drive to Pasadena

On January 3rd we arrived in Dublin CA to spend a late Christmas and New Years celebration with our northern CA kids. In addition to enjoying family time we also were lucky to see a Chinese New Year display of lanterns in Pleasanton CA. On the 6th we arrived in Pasadena after a 3500 mile very enjoyable journey. We then agreed we will only have one more cross country drive – when we head back to Florida to be full time residents.

Lantern Light Carnival

April 8, 2020 2

Looking Back – YE Travels Ormond Beach to Pasadena #6 – Travelling through Colorado, Utah and Nevada

A lot of snow along this stretch – we spent New Years Eve in Moab UT then 3 hours we won’t talk about in the mountains of UT finally ending up in Ely NV in a blinding snow storm. Our goal was to make Dublin CA on the 3rd of January and we were successful.

Colorado

Nevada

April 8, 2020 0

Looking Back – YE Travels Ormond Beach to Pasadena #5 – Travelling through VA, Kentucky and Tennessee

Early start on the 28th and headed to Bristol which is on the border on Tenn. and Virginia. We tried to see a specific park and trail for some exercise and found that our GPS was useless in this area. So we wandered along the border between states and found the cities train station which caught my eye. Moving through Tennessee we stopped at Cumberland Gap and drove the auto route to the gaps top overlooking the valley.

The gap is where the borders of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia converge, a path to new worlds appears. Early native Americans traveled through it along a game trail, before English-speaking settlers, including Daniel Boone, came through in the 1700s to carve out what became known as Wilderness Road. According to many accounts, between 200,000 and 300,000 settlers came through the Gap into Kentucky and beyond from 1775 to 1810.

Moving on we stopped at Cumberland Falls SP – for some much need exercise after driving the twisting and turning RT 90 along the mountains ridge line. Known as the “Niagara of the South,” the 125-foot wide curtain of water is dramatic day or night. But it’s only at night during a full moon that you can see the moonbow. The “moonbow,” also called a white rainbow or lunar rainbow, is formed just like a rainbow—light is refracted in tiny water droplets—and appears for the two or so days, as long as the sky is clear, on either end of the full moon.

Pushing on we enjoyed the back road scenery of Tennessee then for the next two days we cruised through Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Bristol Va.

Cumberland Gap and Cumberland Falls SP

Back Roads Tennessee

April 7, 2020 1

Looking Back – YE Travels Ormond Beach to Pasadena #4 – On the Road in NC

On the 27th we started our drive across country utilizing our preferred routing – off the interstates. We enjoyed the back roads of NC, a walk around the NC Zoo grounds to breakup the drive, a stop in Wilkesboro NC for lunch and a hike along The Cascades Falls Trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Wilkesboro is also the home of the legend of Tom Dooley (http://visitwilkesboronc.com/2013/05/23/the-tom-dooley-mystery/) – you should check it out — lunch at Dooleys Grill and Tavern was fantastic with sandwiches big enough for lunch and dinner.

Back Roads North Carolina