Just Livin' the Good Life

Since my last post in late February, I've just been enjoying springtime in state parks throughout western Florida. I stayed at a former religious convent outside of Fort Myers and took the dog kayaking on the Estero River (with the alligator warnings posted, I was quite careful to tether the dog safely into the kayak).

From there, I made a quick trip to Sanibel Island and used my national park pass to drive through the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

Watching beautiful pink roseate spoonbills land and feed in the mudflats.
There were so many different types of birds here, and a few gators on the roadside.

I went to the Punta Gorda FunkFest again this year since I'd had such a great time at last year's festival.

Stayed at the Myakka River State Park. I've never seen as many alligators at once as I saw on the Upper Myakka Lake (safely from a large fanboat tour).  The state park has a neat canopy tower structure. My favorite part of this visit, though, was taking the dog on a walk on one of the "nature trails" early in the morning. Immediately on our walk we saw wild turkeys and deer. Mid-walk, while we were on a wooden boardwalk over a swampy area, an otter came out from underneath us to see what was making all the racket. As soon as it came fully out and saw the dog and me, it made a speedy u-turn back under the boardwalk, not to be spotted again.

This bouncy elevated walk along the treetops reminded me of a bigger version of the
"wooden toys" we used to enjoy as kids at Ike Kinswa State Park on Mayfield Lake

Sunrise view over the treetops from the tree canopy tower

Then I headed back up to the Florida Panhandle to enjoy the white sugar sand beaches again. Charley thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's stop at the Panama City Beach dog beach.

Just love to see those ears flapping in the breeze as he runs!

Now it's decision time. I've got tickets to a race in Martinsville, VA in a couple weeks. Do I just go the most direct route? Or do I add a bunch of miles heading eastward again and go up the coastline of the Carolinas? Long, boring interstate drives really aren't my thing. So I'll do a little research about what's to see along each potential route and make a decision in a couple days when my string of camping reservations in Florida comes to an end.