DESERTS-TREES-SUVS
Date Visited: 12/13/2020 The dredge at Collier-Seminole State Park is a remarkable piece of engineering history. It was built in 1924 and used to create the Tamiami Trail, a highway that connected Tampa and Miami through the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. The dredge is now a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and can be... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 12/12/2020 This vast swamp is home to a rich diversity of plants and animals, including the endangered Florida panther, the American alligator, and the elusive ghost orchid. Here are some reasons why Big Cypress is so special: It is the first national preserve in the United States Unlike national parks, which are managed... Continue Reading →
There's so much adventure waiting at Silver Springs State Park in Florida. Kayak, hike, camp, explore, take a glass bottom boat ride. They have it all.
Date Visited: 12/09/2020 - 12/12/2020 We saw a top-secret missile base, car eating vultures, a horde of tree snails, the largest soft-shelled turtle we’ve ever seen and a whole lot of beautiful scenery during our three days stay at the Everglades National Park. We chose to visit Everglades during the winter while the temperatures were... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 12/09/2020 & 12/17/2021 As we left Jonathan Dickinson State Park in 2020, we had one more place we wanted to stop on our way to the Everglades National Park. Running along the east coast of Florida is Anastasia Limestone formation. We witnessed a small portion of this limestone outcropping during our trip to... Continue Reading →
As promised when we wrote the article about this state park, our follow up video has finally been posted to YouTube. You can watch it below. https://youtu.be/zE6toGbYvAI
The Beginning of our Next Road Trip: Destination Everglades National Park After spending several months day-tripping and exploring some of Florida's great state parks, we were ready to see what else the National Park System had to offer, and we really wanted to spend a week or so camping. With that virus thing still in... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 1/12/2020 I love big trees! Maybe it is the kid in me, or the desire to live like Robinson Crusoe in a treehouse atop a giant tree on a deserted isle, but when I discover a new one I haven't visited before and get the chance to go see one of these monsters... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 12/7/2019 At this point in our travels we've grown accustomed to thwarted plans as our trip to Fort Matanzas in St. Augustine, Florida was about to be a disappointment for the second time. Our attempt to journey across the river and explore the fort (one that must be taken by the National Park... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 5/7/2019 There's is something to be said about those magical places where the unexpected happens. Those mystical little unknown spots where you find the historian, the nature lover and the inner child in you simultaneously satisfied. Today's subject is one such place! We had left the sugar mill ruins in New Smyrna Beach... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 5/7/2019 In past post I've mentioned that my perspective has changed as I get older. For instance, our next daytrip took us to a place I've visited many times as a child on both field trips and family outings. During those long lost years I was more fascinated by the rocks and the... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 4/12/2019 Our next day trip takes us to the oldest surviving plantation home in the state of Florida. The property is located on Fort George Island and part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve managed by the National Park Service. A Brief and Incomplete History In the late 1700s Planter and American... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 1/7/2019 We spent the final day of our short winter trip hiking the two trails at Silver Glen Springs. The Spring Silver Glen Springs is another of Florida's first magnitude springs pumping on average 65 millions gallons of water from two main caverns that lie below the surface of a 200 x 175'... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 12/2/2018 Having suffered through two miserable nights of noise and rude neighbors we pulled stakes at Clearwater Lake Campground and headed for the campground at Alexander Springs. The Alexander Springs Recreation Area is well known for its first-magnitude springs by local residents and central Floridians. Pumping out 70 - 80 million gallons of... Continue Reading →
Date Visited: 10/12/2018 A long hot summer in Florida had passed since we took the trip that changed our lives forever. So when the first hint of cooler weather set in we headed to one of the three National Forests in Florida to spend a night away from the city. We chose to stay at... Continue Reading →
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