My Cedar Key Florida Adventure

Palm Grove
20x24 inches
oil on Birch Panel


Yesterday, I took my mother,sister, and Studio Dog (Henry, the French Bulldog)on a boat tour of Cedar Key Islands. It was splendid in every way. In fact, I plan to go back and do it again by myself, to take photos of the Islands for paintings. I'm also planning to take the Suwanee River boat tour and the Birding Tour.

We placed ourselves in the very capable hands of Captain Doug. He was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the area, as well as the birds, flora and Fauna of the islands surrounding Cedar Key. He knew just where to go to see all of the interesting birds, like the large white Pelicans, which I have never seen in all my years of painting on the Florida coast. They were large magnificent birds, snow white with black feathers under their wings. One of my favorite islands was Horseshoe Key, now leased by the University of Florida's Marine Science lab. The lighthouse there is used as a dorm for students and researchers. There are many beautiful palms growing wild on the islands and the beaches are white sand. Happily, all of these outer islands are owned by the national and state land preservation agencies, so they cannot be developed. That makes me very happy indeed.

We were able to watch the Dolphins and they played surfing games in the wake of our boat. We saw a huge Bald Eagle nest and two Eagles at another island. We even got off the boat at one Island to explore the trails.

Captain Doug was in every way accommodating to us, allowing me to bring my dog and helping my Mother on and off the boat with great care. Mrs Captain was warm and personable and we met their daughter who is also a boat captain. The whole family was delightful.

Here is some information for you about the tours:

Captain Doug invites you to experience the pristine waters surrounding the Cedar Keys and Lower Suwanee National Wildlife Refuge aboard Cedar Key's finest touring vessels.

We offer Island Tours, Suwanee River Tours, Coastal Back Country Tours,Birding Island Drop offs, Group Charters, Weddings and Memorials.

Telephone reservations: 352.543.9523 or 352.949.1996
Web Site: www.tidewatertours.com
email: captaindoug@tidewatertours.com

We had a wonderful dockside meal at the Seabreeze Restaurant. The waitress was personable, happy and friendly. She gave us excellent service and the food was fresh seafood and fantastic.

It was a wonderful adventure and I look forward to the next trip with Captain Doug. I hope to get started on some paintings soon from Cedar key.


This week's Make an Offer Painting. Make an offer at lindablondheim@gmail.com. Current high offer is 50.00

Vacations and Travels to St Augustine Beach, Great Restaurants and Art Galleries

St Augustine Light House
8x10 inches
acrylic on birch panel
wired and ready to hang unframed.
400.00
shipping 15.00 or pick up at my studio
Purchase HERE

I have fallen in love with St Augustine Beach. I was lucky to spend a few weeks there this fall. It is one of the best east coast beach towns. Small and cozy but large enough to have adequate shopping and businesses, so you don't have to travel to the mainland if you don't wish to. It is just a hop and skip from Jacksonville to the North, and South to wonderful Marineland and Washington Oaks State Park. Anastasia State Park is right in St Augustine Beach and it is one of Florida's loveliest ocean front parks.

I recommend several restaurants right on A1A:

The Oasis for an excellent breakfast and great seafood.

The Sunset Grille for great seafood and excellent service.

The Sea Oats Cafe, a tiny cafe with a great breakfast and outstanding biscuits and sausage gravy.

The Cafe' 11, a quirky menu which is good, and Wireless Internet.

The A1A Ale House, downtown in St Augustine with outdoor seating and view of the tourist and carriages as the go by. Very good diverse menu with excellent service.

There are dozens of galleries in the City but the two I like the best are both beach side:

Island Fine Art just north of the 206 Intercoastal bridge on the west side of A1A in the Island Center (You can see my work there through December in a group show)

Rachel Thompson Gallery in the Town Center on A1A.

St Augustine Beach has lots of condos available for rental. My favorite is the St Augustine Beach Racket Club 880 A1A. They are really lovely and very secure with a 24 hour security guard and a locked gate to the beach. Beautifully landscaped too with exceptional dunes.

There are lots of nice hotels along the beach including the Garden Hilton, Holiday Inn, Days Inn, Comfort Inn and others.

St Augustine Beach is a relaxed easy going lifestyle. There is a new library at the Town Center, a large outlet mall nearby, lots to do in the old city and lots of beautiful, very clean white sand beaches. You will never be bored there.