This state park reminds me of the one we stayed in in New Ulm, Minnesota, because it’s designed with lots of amenities for locals: a pool (closed now), snack bar, playgrounds, pavilions and picnic sites, kayak rentals, hiking trails. I’m guessing there are lots of large, community-friendly state parks out there with camping, and I […]
Month: February 2021
Under the Live Oaks of Tampa
I’ve realized I have a tree theme going in my pictures of Florida: the regular and Dwarf Cypress, Mangrove, Gumbo Limbo, Strangler Fig, so many Pines, Royal Palm, and, here, yet more Live Oaks wearing cloaks of Spanish moss. We’re at Hillsborough River State Park, very close to Tampa. Although I can hear the highway […]
Crappy Campground amid Royal Palms
Pro tip: Never book a campsite on the inside of a campground loop. We’re wedged in here at Collier-Seminole State Park like one of the pie pieces in a Trivial Pursuit game. The folks on the outside of the loop all have plenty of space to set up chairs and tents, but we can’t open […]
A Vast Quiet
When you look out over the sawgrass prairie here in the Everglades—where we’ve been hiking through a very wide, shallow river—you can see far across to the horizon, across limestone flats, with zero signs of mankind. The quiet around you seems surreal. Like time has stopped. In reality there are roads nearby, like this one […]
Innocent Family Led Sloshing through the Everglades
This is Karen. You may remember Karen as my great friend from high school, the one who visited me in Imperial Bonita Estates on the west coast of Florida. This is Karen’s beautiful family (minus a daughter at college). Look again at that picture. This is the birthday cake that Karen brought for her very […]
What We Do in the Heat, Everglades Version
It seems odd (but consistent with blame climate change) that I’m posting about dealing with extreme heat here in the Everglades without electricity while folks in Texas are suffering from extreme cold without electricity. Of course I’ve chosen to live off the grid, and I’m not truly suffering. Just sweaty. I think of this post […]
Back in the Everglades Again
Out where a friend is a friendWhere the big mosquitoes feedAnd the lowly hikers bleedBack in the Everglades again. Here we are, for the third time, because this place is worth it. We spent Thanksgiving at the large campsites of Big Cypress, as a quick stop between reservations in Tampa and Naples. Then we had […]
Prepping to Move after a Long Stay
Normally we start packing up the day before we leave a site, and lately we’ve gotten so good at it that we pack the morning we leave. But here, after six weeks in the Keys, it’s a different process, so we started three days early. Of course, we’ve received a kazillion Amazon orders that we […]
Crazy for Rays (and more water photos)
Because we’ve been in the Keys for so long and have everything we own unpacked and strewn around our campsite, we have much to do to prep for leaving in three days. Tracy called yesterday his last day kayaking, but I can’t quit my hunt for rays. Here we were yesterday afternoon kayaking over to […]
Tracy’s Margarita Recipe
If you want the recipe and no explanation, here goes: This post is for Jacqui in New Zealand, whose husband, Mat, is Tracy’s across-the-planet twin. Mat’s making margaritas these days, so Jacqui wants deets on Tracy’s recipe, for our husband-comparison amusement. Here you go, Jacqui! Let me know what ya think. What Happens When You […]