Last weekend I joined Mom and Ross for three days camping at O'Leno State Park. After a tumultuous drive on Interstate 10 through fog and heavy rain, I arrived at the park and drove toward the Magnolia camping area. The park ranger at the entrance had provided me a map, brochure and permit for my car before sending me to campsite 29. Unfortunately, Mom and Ross were set up in campsite 16 creating an interesting moment when I pulled into someone else's campsite and exchanged puzzled looks with an equally confused man.

Instead of grilling in the rain and 40 mile per hour gusts of wind, we drove to nearby High Springs and found the delicious Fleetwood Diner, 615 NW Santa Fe Boulevard (formerly Floyd's Diner). Their comprehensive menu includes classic diner favorites, homestyle dinners and breakfast anytime they are open.

We used a break in the storm as an opportunity to build a campfire, something I had been looking forward to specifically. It was a fun time until the rain and wind returned, when hickory trees surrounding our campsite dropped golf ball-sized nuts on us like weaponized projectiles. We narrowly escaped the assault but my car and Ross' truck sustained minor damage.

The next morning after breakfast at the campsite, we walked to the swinging suspension bridge (1938) and the River Trail trailhead. The trail included views of the Santa Fe River and the sink where it becomes subterranean, flowing southwest three and a half miles to River Rise Preserve State Park.

We continued to the day use area and log pavilion, watched white-tailed deer grazing in the woods and hiked the Dogwood and Limestone Trails. We ended a perfect Sunday with Mom's chicken and veggie skewers, various beers from Republic of Panama, the early celebration of my birthday and a quiet evening by the campfire.

On Monday we wandered down to River Rise, hiked the Yellow Trail and saw where the Santa Fe River resurfaces and continues west to the Suwannee River. Since we had already vacated our campsite, we once again visited the Fleetwood Diner to have another great meal. After saying our goodbyes, we drove out of O'Leno and headed home in opposite directions. The long weekend was such a success we plan to select another park and do this again soon.

It had been raining lightly for several hours when 0830 EST rolled around and Claire arrived for our trip to Florida Caverns State Park, 3345 Caverns Road, Marianna, Florida. The drive on Interstate 10 was uneventful though there were a few spots of heavy rain. Taking Exit 142, we had a chance to see quaint downtown Marianna before arriving at the park.

Like most Florida State Parks there is an entrance fee ($5.00) that allows unlimited entry and exit for the day. Since I had forgotten to take the time zone change into consideration, we were parked and walking up to the visitor center gift shop to purchase cave tour tickets only minutes after 0900 CST.

The rain was steady but light enough to walk around and enjoy the nearby wooded area. A sign described this area as a former Native American village, the caves providing clay for pottery and shelter against weather and attack. We purchased our tickets ($8.00), browsed the gift shop and wandered around outside a bit before Park Ranger Frank was along to begin our tour through the cave at 0930 CST.

Due to our accidentally perfect timing, Claire and I were the only visitors on the first tour which made for a particularly excellent experience for us. Instead of the typical 45 minute walk-through with twenty-five other people, Frank was able to leisurely take us through the various sections, highlighting formations and providing historical as well as scientific context throughout. Lasting over 60 minutes, the tour was relaxingly paced, thorough and fulfilling. Frank even showed us some of the best places from which to photograph certain formations.

The original 494 acres of park land was purchased by Dr. J.C. Patterson in 1935. He had hoped to develop the area into a state park when the discovery of the caves was made. Florida Caverns was established as Florida's seventh state park on 11 October 1935. Since the Great Depression was taking a toll on the local economy, Patterson envisioned a Luray Caverns style attraction to boost the area and in 1938 development of the Tour Cave and park amenities began. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp SP-12 worked for four years as the "gopher gang" on this New Deal era project constructing visitor paths, adding the entrance and exit stairways, installing electric lighting, cutting additional passageways and building the visitor center. The park opened to the public in 1942.

The tour's route can vary due to the rising and falling water table. Claire and I were surprised to learn just how high the water levels can get inside certain cavern rooms, but we were fortunate that the main paths were all clear today. Signs of the past days rain were visible in the drops flowing down stalactites onto stalagmites and in pools forming throughout.

After walking back to the visitor center and thanking Frank for the great tour, we took his suggestion and went upstairs to look at the exhibits and watch a few short films about the park's history and ecosystem. Although we were also interested in wandering around the rest of the park, we decided to come back in a few months when it is not cold and raining. On that trip we will hike the trails, check out the river and other activities, not to mention take the cave tour again for fun—and hopefully improved pictures.

Ready for lunch, we drove around the section of Marianna we had not yet seen but found no restaurants of interest. Having seen it earlier on the drive in, we decided to check out San Marcos Mexican Grill, 4867 West Side Plaza. It was a nice lunch for a reasonable price. I ate the chile relleno, enchilada, beans and rice ($7.85) and Claire had something similar sans chile relleno. We enjoyed our food and then got back on the road, this time taking local roads instead of the interstate.

I had planned to drive US 90 all the way east to Tallahassee, but later realized we were on CR 71 heading south. The route we ended up on took us through Altha, then Ocheesee Landing via CR 274, which turned into CR 286 and eventually deposited us at I-10. At that point it seemed silly to try to find US 90, so we decided to simply head back. Besides, we will have the opportunity to take US 90 when we return to Florida Caverns in a few months.

I have maintained a photograph gallery in some form on my website since November 2002. While I was happy with its appearance and how it integrated with the rest of the site, it was not the repository I had originally envisioned. Deciding it was time for a change, I started uploading my photograph collection to Flickr on 11 November 2009.

Although this move is not made casually, I am willing to sacrifice the tight integration in exchange for logistical benefits like unlimited disk space and data transfer—two items for which I had been spending additional money. Despite my move away from it, I continue to recommend Coppermine Gallery as an excellent application with strong theme support for custom image galleries.

As of this update (29 November 2009), I have uploaded all my pictures into sets organized inside six collections: Road Trip Series, Japan Trip Series, Vacation Series, City Tour Series, Friends & Family and Salmagundi.

Some of the sets still need titles and descriptions which will be added as time permits, while other test shots, duplicates and bad pictures will be removed.

The Gallery Feed will keep you apprised of new additions. If you are not already a member of Flickr, I encourage you to create an account so you can post comments, add contacts, select favorites and, as a contact of mine, add notes, tags, and people to my pictures.