The Tourist Lifestyle

The Myakka River canopy walkway is 25 feet high and only 100 feet long. It sways gently as you walk across, which is both a bit unsettling and wonderful. At the far end of the canopy walk is a 74-foot tower that offers a view that is spectacular.  Myakka River State Park is a place I’ll have to visit many times to come close to describing. It’s 37,000 acres of outdoor Florida lover’s paradise. You can bike, paddle, hike, photograph, and explore to your heart’s content. On this trip my goal was to see the canopy walkway. We stopped and parked right before the bridge going over the river. There were a few people fishing from the bridge and others just taking advantage of the view like we were. In both directions the river stretches out between the trees and the sky is reflected in the river. It’s honestly breathtaking and worth a stop on the way into the park.  There are also a couple of paths to walk by the bridge. Everyone there seemed really friendly, ...

The Edison and Ford Winter Estates is an amazing place to visit to see a piece of history. it’s much more than a history lesson in electricity and cars – not that that isn’t enough. The grounds are divided by a road, with some of the gardens and buildings on each side. When we got to the estates we went into the shop to get our tickets, then headed across the road to see the houses and some of the gardens.  There are additional gardens on the side by the shop, as well as the museum, lab, and plant shop. The gentleman who sold us our tickets suggested we start across the street however, because if there is lightning they have to shut down that portion of the estates and the chances that day were high. Happily, that didn’t happen the day I was there. The houses of Edison and Ford are next door to each other. You can look in the windows and doors to see the rooms set up as if someone still lived there. There’s lots and lots of history to be learned here, ...

Fort Clinch State Park is yet another state park that has a lot of very diverse things to do.  What can I say, Florida state parks are pretty awesome as a whole. As is the norm, we visited this park on a whim. I’m already planning a longer stay though. There was a Sunday night opening for camping at the park, and since it’s so hard to get a reservation we jumped on it.  I couldn’t actually sleep there as I had to work in the morning. However, this park closes at 5 pm (so early!), and having a reservation allows you to stay as late as you’d like. Nothing beats walking on the beach at night; that alone was worth the drive. We left pretty early so we could make a pit stop at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and still have plenty of time to explore Fort Clinch State Park. Spoiler alert: we needed more time. Need is a strong word, but I most definitely could have explored a lot more than I had time for. The first thing on the to-do list was to chec...

One of my big goals in the last couple of years was to get scuba diving certified. Having the money and the time at the same time made it something I just talked about for literally three years. I decided this year I would put the money aside and just book the classes far in advance. I kind of have to make myself do things I want to do sometimes, procrastination is not my friend. Anyways, I live in central Florida, so what better place to get scuba certified than in the Keys?  We booked the classes at Rainbow Reef Dive Center, booked a hotel, and that was that. Since we planned so far in advance we intended to stay 5 nights and do some snorkeling, maybe a boat tour (I haven’t been on a glass-bottom boat since I lived in California many moons ago), and hopefully do some paddleboarding. True to form for me, nothing worked out as planned. However, we DID get certified, which was the main goal so happiness and joy. Planning ahead has never been a huge thing for me; a quic...

Thanks to a friend with a reservation she could not use we ended up with a prime camping spot at Fort Desoto. Sweet, right? It’s not easy getting a camping reservation these days! We didn’t end up getting to the camp spot until right before 9 pm. We managed to get into the park (the gates and booth were closed that late) and could not find the camp area. Google maps to the rescue! The campsite is actually right outside the pay booth, which is super convenient. You do get access to the park included with your camping fee, you just show your permit. The campsites have an electric and water hookup as well as a grill and picnic table. If you aren’t using the water hookup for an RV it’s useful to bring a very short hose. We used one to rinse the paddleboards and also to wash dishes as needed. Some of the campsites allow pets, but not all of them.  There are large, clean restrooms with a few showers and a pay washer and dryer outside each building.  That could...

Circle B Bar Reserve is an amazing wilderness area in Polk County, right in the center of Florida. I’d heard of Circle B Bar Reserve before. I don’t know if I passed signs or heard of it through the grapevine, but for some reason, I thought it was an actual ranch that people live on. I guess because of the first part of the name. As it turns out, it used to be a cattle ranch before being purchased to be restored to its natural state. This is one of those places where you will have to visit more than once just to see the entire thing, and you will want to see it all more than once. We spent four hours at the reserve and I don’t know that we saw half of it. My favorite thing about the reserve is that it is like visiting several parks all in one place. It doesn’t matter if you are into birds, reptiles, photography, or hiking this is a great place for you to visit. The first trail we took was Heron Hideout. This is a relatively short trail, only .3 miles. We did inde...