Need to be close to a populated area but want the feel of nature? Once again, you can count on Florida state parks. We’re less than an hour away from Tracy’s sister in Gainesville, but our state park, Gold Head Branch, sits on a longleaf pine-covered, sandy set of acres, with a ravine in the […]
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Banjo Visits the Fairchild Oak
We drove a short bit yesterday to see one of the South’s oldest trees: a live oak that’s 400 to 600 years old. It has survived hurricanes, fires, floods and, as a nearby sign says, “the follies of man.” It was named in the 1960s after a botanist who loved it, and its current caretaker […]
A Surprise at Tomoka
Here’s the promised post about our final Florida state park on the coast, Tomoka State Park, against the Halifax River which runs along the Atlantic—right above Daytona. Our campsite is in the thickest of woods, which you can tell from Tracy’s view here at the edge of the site. What can he possibly be looking […]
What Is This?
This, my friends, is an empty beach. It’s the beach at the entrance to Sebastian Inlet State Park. This is my view of the beach when I look south. See anybody? No! This also is a beach, albeit a very small one. It’s one of several at the boat-launch end of the state park. This […]
A Few Perfect Moments
I’ve been sad lately, thinking about a friend who’s been unexpectedly diagnosed with stage IV cancer. The fact that I can’t get on a plane or zip up in my car to see her is also like a gong echoing a reminder that I haven’t seen my son since May. Our one-year anniversary of living […]
Spend a Day with Me at Blue Spring
Hey, wanna explore with me today? Come on … Let’s Beat the Crowds to the Manatees Let’s get up and ride our bikes down to the spring early before the park opens. I hear that later in the mornings the manatees are in the river eating, but early they’re still keeping warm up in the […]
Scenes from Hillsborough River
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
