Florida – December 2023

FLORIDA! I will be traveling Florida until the middle of March 2024.  I was of course expecting warm and sunny weather. El Nino had other ideas. Not that it hasn’t been warm, but the sunny part has been greatly lacking. In northern Florida, when it’s cloudy it’s hot and humid! When it’s sunny, the temps drop and there’s low humidity. Then there’s the storms of Thunder, Lightning, Torrential Downpours, and yes you guessed it, Tornadoes!

But who am I to complain when the rest of the states are experiencing freezing temps and snow!

My first stop in Florida was Big Lagoon State Park near Pensacola. The weather did not cooperate much, but it was a beautiful park with nice trails and boardwalks.  My favorite part of this location was going through the National Naval Aviation Museum that was close by.  It was HUGE!  Every airplane you can think of from the very beginning of flight was displayed with descriptive plaques. Some were on the floor, some hanging from the ceiling. From the smallest fighter planes to the largest planes with a wingspan as wide as half the building! I am not an aviation buff, but this was a fantastic museum. I was there for hours, and I don’t believe I saw everything. You could also pay for extras like an IMAX movie, which I did, or a flight simulator, etc.  Also very prominent in the area and museum are the Blue Angels. Pensacola is their winter home.

Further away, I visited the beaches at Fort Walton and Destin. Both beaches were beautiful white sand, but Destin had exceptionally clear water and struck my fancy more. Destin included a dining & shopping area with a Margaritaville restaurant and gift store.  I had lunch there and thoroughly enjoyed the Jimmy Buffet ambiance. There was a small marina along the boardwalk and the Pelicans were standing watch and hoping for a handout as the fishermen came in with their haul.

I dropped south and out of the Panhandle to Tate’s Hell State Forest. State Forests in Florida are recreation areas for camping, fishing, paddling, birdwatching etc. This campground was on a river with marshes and a beautiful view. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate enough for a kayak venture of my own. The campground was fine but not so pretty. Nearby was the town of Apalachicola, FL which is the 2^nd or 3^rd oldest town in Florida. I ran into a man who used to own the newspaper there and boy did he have stories. I learned that resident John Gorrie invented the first ice machine back in the 1800’s. Apalachicola was founded in 1831 and has 900 homes listed on the National Historic Register. You can take a driving tour that ushers you past many of these historic homes on tree lined streets. For such a small town it had a lot going for it.  Apalachicola still harvests 90% of the oysters sold in Florida, and 10% of the nationwide supply. Other adventures here went by the wayside as a huge storm dumped 4 inches of rain on my last days here.

I was so excited about my next stop at Manatee Springs State Park. I had seen pictures of the springs and its clear blue-green water. With sunny weather it was just as pictured. The water is a balmy 72 degrees, and the flow of the springs is between 50-150 million gallons of water per day.  The spring water flows out to the large Suwanee River a quarter mile downstream. The state park includes many trails but most interesting is the boardwalk the borders the springs. So much wildlife abounds near the springs. Where the spring water flows into the Suwanee, you might see Manatees. I was lucky enough to see a bunch of about 10 hanging out in the warm water. They were some distance away and it was difficult to see details, but it was exciting anyway. There was an Alligator sunning himself on the opposite shore and wading birds were everywhere. I saw my first ever Wood Stork and had so much fun watching it dig around in the water for food, using its wings for balance at times.  I marveled at the beauty of their wings. Pure white when folded up, but when their wings are open for flight the bottom half is a very dark green color. Beautiful when the sun shines on it.  There were lots of tortoises swimming about as well. In the evening just before sunset, the vultures would fly into the trees to roost for the night. There must have been 100 or more of them all vying for the best branch. They make quite a racket. The herons and egrets do a similar activity, very quietly, finding where they’ll roost for the night on lower bushes and trees.  

One day I took an extended drive further into the heart of Florida. First I went to the town of Micanopy with it’s old buildings and Spanish moss covered live oaks.  It was small but vibrant with a few shops and restaurants. It was mostly interesting to walk the main street and look at the old buildings.  This town is not on any major highways, so I had a most interesting country drive down roads with massive tree tunnels.  I had planned on stopping at a nature preserve but as I approached the town of Cross Creek, a light bulb went off in my mind.  I had watched a movie years ago called Cross Creek and I remembered it was a true story. Sure enough, the homestead of Marjorie Kinnan-Rawlings is now a historical park.  Some of you are shaking your heads wondering who is this woman.  Most folks my age or older will remember the book and movie, ‘The Yearling’.  That was one of Marjorie’s more famous books, but she made a living off her writing and the orange grove on the property she and her husband purchased.  The book/movie Cross Creek is based on her life there. It’s not that I have read all her books or have researched her, but the lure to this park was what I remembered in the movie.  This park, although changed over the years, has an Old Florida, down in the swamp feeling that was so palpable in her books. I happened to arrive just before the last home tour of the day.  Originally there was a huge orange grove, but a large majority of it has been taken over by native vegetation. The house and servant/caretaker cottage are still in good shape, as is the beautiful wood barn. After the tour, we were invited to pick whatever oranges we wanted from the trees in the yard.  They were all from the original stock of trees on the property. I can’t say they were all that tasty but not horrible. A little sour.  I thoroughly enjoyed this place and the tour.  It makes me want to read some of her books.