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 […]
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 […]
Scrap Photos
At the magazine where I worked last, the designer and I would keep folders of images we had permission to use but hadn’t used yet. Here are my scrap photos from this week. Sunrises and Sunsets from the Campground Hiking on Big Pine Key The geology of the lower keys is unique, with a very […]
Birds, Crabs, Dead Gators, Oh My
So far at Flamingo in the southernmost tip of the Everglades, we’ve gotten out of the campground early each morning to hike (before the crowds). Then we fix lunch at the trailer and eat in the shady tent. Tracy walks Banjo and he or I clean the dishes and sort stuff (there’s always sorting). In […]
Ending the Year with Snake Bight
That’s not meant to be click bait, I promise. We were the first to hike the Snake Bight Trail this morning—I post about that, way below. But first … Where We Are It’s been so long since we moved that I should start out with this! We left our community-centered, 55+ RV resort near Naples […]
