New Photography Website!!!

We left the central Florida area about 10 days ago and are now in the Florida Panhandle, Holt to be precise. We'll be here for an undetermined length of time, as our daughter may be having a medical procedure. Should it be needed, we'll be here to help out for a bit. We've been quite busy visiting and getting settled into our spot here at the RV Park (more on the park later). I've also been neglecting the blog and facebook page lately, but not without good reason. You see, I started a new Photography Web Site, a place to showcase my best photos and make them available for sale. The building of the website and deciding which of the 1000s of photos to host there has kept me a bit busy. The development of the website comes from our last couple of winters spent in Key West, how that you ask??? Well, the RV Park there at the Navy base sponsors a yard/craft sale each month during the winter months, which for the last couple of years, I have participated in selling my photos. Now of course it's much more than that. The compliments I received from so many people on my photography was priceless to me. You see, when folks shop or window shop at craft shows, they don't have to say anything to the artist, they can just look and move on, but when they take the time to stop, admire and talk to you about you art, that says volumes to me. The ultimate compliment however, is when someone exchanges their hard earned money for one of my photos and over the last two seasons I sold several photos to a variety of customers, and that gave me the confidence needed to offer my art to others beyond craft sales. Now, I may not sell much via the website, but I'm enjoying the new venture. So, with all that being said, feel free to stop by the site, you may find something just right for that blank space on your wall. The site will be constantly updated and is organized by regions and state. There is also a facebook page where you can find news and updates to the site as well as "Behind the Shot" stories of how that particular photo came about and what it took to capture it.

Here are the links, thank you for the read and I hope to see you over at the links below.

Silver Eagle Photography

Silver Eagle Photography on facebook

Leaving Key West

 Wow, has it been a busy 10 days or so since we left Key West!!! After Sheryl got the all clear from her new doctor, we headed north towards the mainland. Our first order of business was to see our newest grand daughter in Miami. However, a campsite at Markham Park would not be available for a couple days. We could have stayed in Key West for those couple days, but decided to spend them at Everglades National Park and the Long Pine Campground.

 Our couple of days there were spent exploring the northern end of the park (we took in the southern end last year). One of the more interesting areas we found was the Nike Army Missile site. This was one of many missile sites constructed during the Cuban Missile Crisis to guard against Russian air attacks. This was a cool piece of history to see and really brings home just how close to war we were at the time.

 After those couple days, we finally made it into Miami and our new little grand daughter!!! She's such a cutie. Of course we also got to spend time and catch up with mom, dad and our other little ones.

 It was great getting to see everyone again and spend time visiting. Funny how you can not see a family member for a year or so and then when you do, it's like it was yesterday.

 After our visit with the kids, it was time to strike out on our adventure again, next stop Big Cypress National Preserve and the Midway Campground. Here we stayed three nights giving us time to see the area a bit.

 Unlike Everglades National Park, where the wildlife seems to be concentrated in a couple of areas for visitor connivance, in Big Cypress you have to go out and find it. One of ways is to drive the 24 mile loop road which takes you deep into the preserve. All along the road there are culverts to allow the water to flow freely from north to south. It is along this road you seem to find the most wildlife, as they like the pools created by the culverts, so a stop every 1/4 mile or so will net you some pretty great views.
 

 Another, item on my bucket list was to try and capture some of those epic everglades landscape shots. However, Mother Nature had other plans and blessed us with no clouds and beautiful weather our whole stay (no clouds equal no dramatic sky's) I believe I came away with a few though.
 

 Once our time was up there, we continued our trek northward. This time to a county park north west of Ocala FL. Hart Springs Park is one of many natural springs which feed the Suwannee River in this very rural part of the state and not well visited, just our type of place.
 

 Besides doing a whole lot of relaxing, we also got out for some fun and another check off the ole bucket list.

 Putting in at Manatee Springs State Park, we were able to kayak along the spring run and out into the Suwannee river for a while. It's amazing how much wildlife and be seen in this part of Florida.

 Found this little guy and some of his friends sunning themselves.

 Sheryl also found a little friend, right after this shot, he turned and went right in front of the kayak and then submerged just a couple of feet away from Sheryl. Needless to say, she was quite nervous about the whole thing......lol

The crystal clear water from the springs made for a nice return to the launching point.

That's been our last 10 days or so in a nutshell. I wanted to get this out before we leave here in the morning. Next stop, the Florida Panhandle to visit one of our daughter there................so, until next time........................