Highlands Hammock State Park

We visited Highlands Hammock State Park. We camped there. They had an awesome CCC museum. Did you know Walter Mattau was in the CCC?

This is a firecracker plant. Did you know that down in here in Florida a hammock is a cooler, shady place? We took a tram to into restricted areas of the park. The tram tour took a couple of hours.

We saw lots of gators on the tour plus turtles, red shouldered hawks, anhingas, herons and egrets.

This is a fossil found when the CCC built the building. This turtle shell is as big as the ones in the Galapagos Islands. I had no idea we had turtles that big here.

 

Everglades Escapades

This red headed lizard is an invasive species down here in the Everglades.

In Florida City they have a vegie/fruit stand called Robert Is Here. Parking is difficult to find. They have all kinds of vegies and fruits including tiny bananas, huge avocados (3X the normal size) and grapefruit as big as a bowling ball. They sell smoothies and ice cream. I had an orange/strawberry smoothie and it was delicious. We had to wait a half hour to get our smoothies though. Inside they had a little petting zoo, exotic birds and animals plus live music.

This is a golden orb spider we found at a nature center in the Everglades.

We went snorkeling at this beach and another beach. The other beach had a sunken ship. I saw a few fish down there but the other beach was very crowded.

 

Jewel Beach

We signed up for a kayak trip to 10,000 islands on the west coast of Florida. We were assigned to Jewel Beach which is six miles out and the closest campsite available. Alex was our guide. The group includes him, us, and a dad with two teenaged boys. At first Alex had us in separate kayaks. We requested a tandem kayak which was a GOOD CHOICE. We took off after 11. We stopped at a dock at 12:30 for lunch on Sandfly Island. The others walked around Sandfly Island. I ran into a wall of mosquitoes and noseeums and wisely decided to wait in the breeze on the dock. They came back full of bites. Then we proceeded to Jewel Beach. We had to pass a wide body of water. Whitecaps were coming at us. Waves poured into our kayak at my waist. The tide was with us but the winds were against us and the winds were tougher. We were way behind in our kayak. If we had tipped Alex probably wouldn't even know about it for awhile and then it would take him ten minutes to travel to our aid. After many hours of slogging through the waves we finally arrived a Jewel Beach. If it wasn't for the sight of six dolphins swimming with us the paddle would have been a diseaster. For some reason people put conch shells on a dead tree on Jewel Beach.

The sand on the beach was fine white sand which stuck to all exposed skin. We set up our tents which were already full of sand. We rolled out our sleeping bags. He served us pasta with cherry tomatoes and avocado and Gatorade. Later, after I was in bed, he served s'mores with peanut butter cups instead of chocolate. For breakfast we had bagels with egg, cheese and sausage. I didn't take the sausage. He said the wind is usually against him both ways. I wondered why we chose to go with this guy. Sure enough, the wind was against us all the way back. I had put my sleeping bag behind my seat this time for added back support and was much more comfortable. We were glad to be done kayaking.

 

Miccosokee

Next to Shark Valley National Park is the Miccosokee Museum. This is a Native American museum with an actual village inside. Native people work in the village; each in their own chickee (thatched roof on poles). They offered free fry bread and talks about the culture and the practices. The tour was very interesting.

After the tour was the gator show. We watched a woman handle a gator.

 

The trick to handling gators if to boss them around back and forth for a long time until they get tired and docile.

Shark Valley

We went to Shark Valley National Park. We arrived at 10:45. The parking lot is very small. There was no room to park. Rather than idle and wait. we parked on the side of the highway and rode our bikes is. There is a 14 mile bike/tram road to take. At the mid point is a 3 story tower overlooking the marsh. I looked straight down at the base of the tower and saw this big gator.

This female cormorant was waiting right beyond a rock wall.

The salt marsh is beautiful and full of herons and egrets.

We saw a dozen gators going up to the tower.

If you come I suggest you arrive before 10 a.m.

 

Mating Manatees

 We were in the Everglades National Park waiting for our tour with the Everglades Research Institute when we saw manatees in the marina touching each other and rolling over and over. Our guide for the day, Justin, said the manatees were mating. Wow, we had already seen kestrels mating in Atlanta and  now we saw manatees mating in the Everglades. The Flamingo campsite where we were camping is the southern most tip of mainland Florida. Our tour was with Justin and another customer from Germany who was now working in Jacksonville, Florida. Justin took us out to a beach many miles away where we walked on the shore. Then he took us to a person build canal for a tour where we saw alligators and crocodiles. Then he took us to a natural canal which was more winding and convoluted. He anchored the boat and we took inflatable kayaks upstream to a spot where four flamingoes were hanging out. Before he left he gave us a safety talk and told us what to expect. He was very professional. Later that day we took a boat tour from the Flamingo marina up the canal to bear lake. We saw gators and crocodiles, anhingas and grebes. We had a good day in the Everglades.

Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 

This is the sunset view from our campsite in the Everglades at Monument Lake State Park.

This is the 12 foot gator we saw driving to our campsite.

We saw a blue heron at Corkscrew Swamp. We met a couple of my cousin's friends who are birders. This morning they did the 2.5 mile boardwalk loop and got a great view of an American bittern. The bittern wasn't there when we were they. We did see gators and a raccoon and this blue heron.

Another view from Monument Lake campsite.

This is not a great picture but it was cool to see a painted bunting at the bird feeder.

Lettuce Lake Park

A couple weeks ago I met my cousin's friend who lives in a gated community outside of Tampa. She took us to Lettuce Lake Park where she had been on a bird tour with the Audubun society. We ate a quick lunch. She had a nervous puppy who couldn't be left alone so we went on the boardwalk tour first. We saw a turtle.

And a gator.

And a snake.

The puppy knew my cousin so was content to wait with her while I did the board walk tour again with the friend. She spotted a roseate spoonbill, a great blue heron nest, and a wood stork nest. Cool beans.

The lettuce is actually an invasive species in this lake. How odd to name a park after an invasive species. The friend also identified the name of  bird we were hearing that howls like a banshee; it's a limpkin.

 

Forgive My Lapse

 Forgive my lapse in posting about my many adventures in Florida. We are staying in National Parks and State Parks and hip camps and internet is not available to be found. While I could spend an afternoon in a public library I would rather be out having more adventures. But don't worry, I am taking pictures and notes. Once I get reliable internet I will start filling you in on our trip to Florida. Today we are at Key Largo. We went snorkeling. Tomorrow we turn around and start heading north up the Atlantic side.

ImagineIn

In Saint Peterburg we visited the Imagine Museum of Glass. The first floor features all American artists. The second floor features international artists.

Two to three hours is enough to see all the installations. I liked the glass kimonos.

 

Weeki Wachie

Prior to Disney moving into Orlando, the biggest tourist attraction in Florida was the Weeki Wachie Mermaid Show. Near Crystal River, Florida, the mermaid show still goes on at the Weeki Wachie State Park. A state park like this I have never seen. Can you imagine someone asking your occupation and you reply, "I'm a mermaid at the state park."? Kitchy as all heck, the mermaid show was pure 1950's style entertainment. The show is given in a large natural spring which is open to the air. As an added bonus, fish swim by, a turtle, swam by, and a anhinga swam by during the show. The girls all had air hoses to suck in extra breaths as they swam and turned circles and danced in the water with their hair floating around their faces. A narrator commented as the girls pretended to talk to us. Kids and adults all loved the show. I am glad we stopped by. After the show we went on a 20 minute river cruise where we saw turtles, limpkins and anhingas.

 

Homosassa Springs

Homosassa Springs is more of a zoo than a preserve. Here is a whooping crane. They also have a hippo here.

This black crowned night heron does not belong to the zoo. It flew down from the sky and landed on the railing of the bridge we were crossing.

This is a wood stork.

 

This great horned owl is a rescue. This place has nice landscaping and a nice hike through the zoo.

Always a pleasure to see a flamingo.

Exploring Crystal River

After our morning swim with the manatees we went back to our campground to shower and eat lunch. Then we drove to Three Sisters Springs Nature Preserve. As we entered they said there were no manatees here today. Water temperatures in the gulf had warmed this week. Many manatees left for better eating in the gulf. We  listened to a park ranger talk about manatees. On the east coast of Florida pollution has increased  to the point where sea grass cannot get enough sunlight to grow. On the west coast the pollution is less of a concern and the manatee are thriving. As it turns out 2 recently returned to the wild manatees were still here hanging out with us tourists.

 

Manatees

 The day after we visited Plains, Georgia, we got up early to swim with the manatees at Crystal River, Florida. Our appointment was at 8 o'clock. We watched a training video that told us to remain calm. We were told not to touch the manatees but if they touched us it would be okay. We were also told that the manatees could hear our heart beats from 7 feet away. After donning wet suits we boarded  a boat and took off to where the manatees were hanging out. Our guide went swimming out a few times to find some. After 15 minutes were were invited out to swim with the manatees. We all had pool noodles under our arms as we swam on our stomachs and looked through out goggles for the sea cows. I was astounded when I first saw one tan body of a manatee. They are huge. Ranging from 1000 pounds on up they are taller than me and round like a potato. The tail is curved in the middle. The front end has a face that munches on the vegetation on the bottom all the time. Manatees prefer shallow water from 3 to 5 feet deep. So that means, if you are hovering over the top of a manatee watching it eat, you had better back peddle when that manatee decided now is the time to take a breath of air. My goggles leaked a little. By the time the water was deep enough to cover my nostrils I was ready to turn over on my back and empty the water out. We did this for two hours. Eventually the leader signaled us to go back to the boat. I followed. I was astonished to see most of the group was already on the boat and drinking hot cocoa. I was the last one out of the water. I wasn't cold while swimming but once on the boat I was so cold I shivered for the next hour. This was an amazing experience that I will never forget.

More From Plains

After a few days with no Wi-Fi, I am back online. This is outside a store in Plains, Georgia. We went into the store. A woman offered us a free sample of peanuts. Then she offered us a scoop of peanut ice cream. My traveling partner knew Jimmy Carter liked this ice cream. We were told that the store sent a quart over to his house a couple of weeks ago but that Jimmy isn't eating very much any more. They will consult with his health advisor before they send more.

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The train depot was his campaign headquarters because it was the only place in town with a bathroom and a telephone.

West of town by 3 miles is his boyhood home. I was surprised they let us walk right into his home. This is his bedroom.

 

Plains, Georgia

Yesterday we drove from Atlanta south and east to Plains, Georgia to pay our respects to former President James Carter. This is a picture of his high school which is now the Jimmy Carter National Park. I also have pictures of his campaign headquarters, his boyhood home, and his brother Billy's gas station (now closed). The Wi-Fi at this RV park is not working so I am using my phone as a mobile hotspot and uploading pictures is excruciatingly slow. More pictures to follow.

Botanical Garden

We visited the botanical garden here in Atlanta this afternoon. Rain fell steadily. We found a pair of peregrine falcons sitting in this tree. We were alerted to their presence by their cries. A few seconds after I took this picture the falcons mated. Well that is something you don't see every day.

Camellias were in bloom.

The garden has three works by Chuhuly, that famous glass artist. This is the first one we saw.

This is a red bud tree. It looks purple or lilac.

The garden has an indoor orchid show going on now. We saw tens of thousands of orchids in bloom. We even saw the orchid that makes vanilla beans.

Beautiful orchids.

This is a very nice garden.