On the 'left coast'

December 16, 2019—Last week I was in Palatine, Ill., enjoying the company of my daughter, son-in-law, and their teenaged children, and suffering whenever I went outside: When I left, it was around 20 degrees, and there had been snow flurries in the morning. I returned to Jacksonville to somewhat chilly weather (60s, but raw). After a few days at home, we loaded the camper and we are now in south Florida, on Florida's west coast, also known as the "left coast." 

The sun is warm; the sky is clear--sorry friends who are in the Midwest and are shoveling out of a heavy snow storm! 

We are camping at Oscar Scherer State Park, located in Osprey, which is next door to Venice, Fla. This state park is like an oasis in the suburbs. You can actually see a subdivision abutting it as you drive down the roadway! It is a nice park, although it does not have the fishing we thought it would. There is a creek that runs down its length, and there is also a closed-system fresh-water lake, which theoretically has fish. (We haven’t tried fishing in these two bodies of water yet.) The park offers a myriad of activities, from guided hikes to folk-music concerts.

The news today said that the Midwest was in the middle of a snow storm. The white in this picture is now snow; it is sand on a beach on the Gulf of Mexico in Venice, Fla. Highs were in the 80s, with low humidity and cloudless skies. 

Although the park doesn’t seem to have a lot of fishing onsite, it is located near the gulf and the intracoastal.

Before taking our poles out of the truck, we drove around to explore possible fishing sites. One of those was a jetty. Several anglers were trying their luck, but we didn’t see anyone catch anything except a hardhead catfish. Next to the jetties were some nice beaches. And yes, the sun was warm (around 80 degrees). I don’t know how warm the water was, but a lot of snow-birds were trying to get rid of their winter whites.

We stopped at a local bait shop and learned about a few places to drop our lines. We tried one spot, on a creek that goes out to the gulf. I caught a slightly undersized mangrove snapper; Jim only caught a tiny little pin fish. It didn’t matter; we had fun.

Tonight the park is offering another folk concert around a campfire. We intend to take it in.

We’ll be here until Friday morning, when we will go back home and prepare for a visit from my Chicago family.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda