A Trip to Tallahassee, FL

Wednesday morning about 8:15 AM, Steve and I plus Willy, Gretchen, and Harley all loaded up in the car and headed towards Tallahassee.  Steve wanted to take his road bike in for a tune up and check out.  He and Helen are going to be doing a big event in the mountains in a couple of months but they are actually going on a practice run in two weeks so the gearing on the bike needed to be checked out.  So we set off.  Harley passed his time enjoying the scenery.

Willy was a little annoyed that Harley was hogging the passenger's side back window.  Gretchen was asleep on the floor.  All three of the Traveling Longdogs really like to travel so they are very good in the car.

Harley did have a few backseat driver's comments to add in the traffic.

 We found the bike shop without any problems. "Higher Ground" is one of Helen's triathlon sponsors.  I think I mentioned before that she is a professional triathlete.  She does it in her spare time between work and finishing her doctorate.  Steve isn't doing triathlon right now because of problems with his knees but he is heavily into road and mountain biking.  I think he rode about 250 miles last week.  He gets up real early and heads out.  Anyway, if you have a need for a professional triathlon or road racing bike, get in touch with Higher Ground and tell Roger that Steve sent you.  If you just want to ride around the RV park or campground, Higher Ground might be a little upscale but then you never know.

Anyway, the Traveling Longdogs were invited to come in and check out the shop too.  We enjoyed the A/C while Steve chatted with the bike crew.

We left the bike with Roger, the owner, and headed over to leave the furkids at the apartment of a friend of Helen's while we went out to lunch.  Steve wanted to take me to a Japanese restaurant he and Helen had been to and really liked but he couldn't remember the name.  We used the GPS and tried two that we found but they weren't the right ones.  We finally decided to go to a Mexican restaurant (I know, Florida not Texas right?).  We were headed down the road when Steve looked over and said "that's it!!!" so we found a place to turn around and went back.  The restaurant is "Masa".  I looked up the website and it says it's an Asian Fusion restaurant. huh?  I guess that is a fusion of Asian and other cultures.  Steve said their ramen soup was fantastic, just like he used to eat in Japan.  It did look really good.  I had the sesame chicken which was also good.  We were starving so started with an order of potstickers.  Of course, in Japan they are called gyoza.  The filling was good but the outside shell fell apart.  Overall, it was very enjoyable.  We went back and picked up the doxies.  They were very happy to leave!  After picking up the bike and visiting a while longer, it was time to head home.

On the way back on Hwy 20, we decided to check out Lake Talquin State Park.

We went down a long narrow road through the woods.

There was a real nice day use area with restrooms and picnic tables.

There were also a couple of pavilions; one was quite large.  The whole area was shady.

Behind the pavilions, a path led down to the lake.

There was a raised walkway....

that led down to a 650 foot boardwalk along the lake.

See that dark spot near the middle of the picture???  Yes, it was an alligator!  Steve thought it was a piece of wood until we saw it swimming and moving it's tail.

A disappointment but there was no campground here at Lake Talquin State Park.   Lake Talquin was formed when the Jackson Bluff Dam was constructed on the Ochlockonee River in 1927 to produce hydroelectric power.  In 1971, about 20,000 acres along the lake were donated to the Florida Department of Natural Resources.  The State Park consists of 526 acres and about 17,000 acres were turned over to Lake Talquin State Forest.  There are numerous state forest access areas along the lake and they did have a sign indicating camping at many of them but we didn't get a chance to check them out.  Lake Talquin was named after Tallahassee and Quincy which are on either side of it.

See the expressway of ants moving across the forest floor.  There was a steady stream of them racing down their own little road.  Fortunately we saw them and stepped over the freeway.

You also have to worry about these things.

On our way out of the park, we saw some more wildlife.

We wanted to check out one more place on our way home since it was a nice day and we had the time.  We drove down the road and it appeared to be a sports park but there on the side was another sign.....

Have you heard about the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement?  I think the first I heard of it was in a camp host ad.  Might be an interesting place to host.

Unfortunately, they were closed.  They are only open Tues, Thurs, Fri, and Sat from 10-2.  The Panhandle Pioneer Settlement is located in Blountstown, FL.  It is a living history museum with 18 historical buildings from 1820 to 1940.  The Smithsonian has an exhibit here through 25 August if you are in the area.  Check this out if you are interested in a work camping job in this area.  It sounds very interesting.

It was a very nice day out and the sun was even shining.  Of course, we always enjoy spending time with Steve.