Trembling Earth Nature Trail

Stephen C. Foster State Park

Georgia

 

January 2015

 

After our animal encounters afternoon, we still wanted to get a nice little hike in, so we headed to Stephen C. Foster State Park in the southwestern portion of the Okefenokee Swamp.

I love this picture of Laurel. When she's not pushing Kellisa, she's usually leading the way. The boardwalk portion of Trembling Earth Nature Trail abruptly ended in the swamp- leading to Laurel's "confused" hand gesture. We were only able to hike 1.04 miles of the usual 2.5 mile trail. We still enjoyed the boardwalk, trail, and swamp as the sun was setting fast on this crisp January afternoon.

We ended our visit by walking an additional .43 of a mile along the park road looking for alligators. Surprisingly, we didn't see any and both girls were disappointed. I had to remind them that they got to pet an alligator earlier in the day. That fact didn't help as much as seeing the family of deer feeding on the roadside grass as we were leaving the park.

 

More pictures can be found (here).

 



A Blessing, One Opossum, Two Snakes, Two Turtles, and a Gator...

Laura S. Walker State Park

Georgia

 

January 2015

 

With Laurel, I captured the moment the ranger removed the alligator for the finale of the wildlife encounters afternoon at Laura S. Walker State Park. I then turned to Kellisa and caught her excitement at the thought of seeing an alligator up close and petting it.

 

However, this story and our day started a few hours earlier on a Saturday morning in our home. I was looking at a map for a place to go hiking. Laura S. Walker State Park is on the Northeastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp and it's about a 90 minute drive one way. Because other swamp access points are closer, we never visited Laura S. Walker State Park. But the little park symbol caught my eye for some reason and I went to their website to investigate the trail system.

 

Before I could find the trail tab, I read that the park was offering a wildlife encounter program that afternoon. I knew the girls would love seeing and petting animals so my decision was made to visit before I looked at the trail map. A quick glance reveled a promising trail running through the forest and along a lakeshore.

We hade to hurry to make it there in time for the animals. I just told the girls we were going on a hike because I didn't want them disappointed if we missed the animals. We didn't have the supplies to pack a picnic lunch, so I figured we'd buy a fast food lunch when we exited the expressway. When we arrived at our exit, all the drive-thru lines were extremely long. I knew we didn't have time even though both girls were already asking for lunch.

 

Without a Plan B, I kept driving. I knew there wasn't any other fast food places on our route. I was hoping to pass a decent gas station where I could run in and buy a few things to eat in the car and hopefully hold the girls off a few hours. Before I could find a gas station...magic happened.

 

I drove through a small town intersection and saw a sign out of the corner of my eye that said, "Free Food". I turned the car around to investigate and sure enough, some organization (Manna Ministries - Thank You!) was handing out free lunches. I got in line and in a few seconds, they were handing us three lunches. I offered to "donate" to their ministries and they refused. They handed me a prayer card to fill out which I happily did with some of my usual prayers. I've been let down many times in the past, but I'm also smart enough to never pass up free prayers, good thoughts or well wishes. I'll take whatever we can get...we usually need them!

 

The lunch was outstanding even if it was a little difficult to eat in the car and without utensils. I had to pull over so we could eat our mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with our fingers. I was thankful for our "magic" meal and my thick stack of napkins in the car. We arrived at the park with full bellies and just in time for the animal encounters.

 

I will let the many pictures share the story of how much the girls loved the local swamp animals (one opossum, two snakes, two turtles, and an alligator). You will notice a lack of hiking pictures because we found out from the Park Office that a trail bridge was still under construction. We would need another Plan B for our hike...

(More Animal Encounter Pictures)

 

 



Driftwood Beach

Jekyll Island

GA

 

November 2014 

 
 

 

Both girls had a blast exploring Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island. With the Hippocampe, we were able to navigate over, under and around the driftwood as we weaved in and out of the ocean. Laurel really enjoyed being the leader as she looked for the best path for Kellisa.

 

(More pictures from Driftwood Beach)

Clam Creek Picnic Area

Jekyll Island, GA

November 2014

We spent an afternoon on the very accessible Jekyll Island, one of Georgia's Golden Isles. The island has many miles of paved trails to explore, but we headed to the Clam Creek Picnic Area on the northern end of the island. We walked the North Loop Trail which was fully paved with a few rough spots in need of repair. After or little hike, both girls enjoyed exploring the very accessible fishing pier.

 

 

 

 

I would think most wheelchairs could navigate the few rough areas on the paved trail:

 

Egypt investigating scat:

 

It was relaxing to walk while hearing the waves from the ocean, just beyond this tree:

We walked the entire length of the out and back paved trail:

 

A short break to refuel back at the Pilot:

 

Both girls were excited to explore the accessible fishing pier:

 

Sidney Lanier Bridge:

 

We walked a total of 3.32 miles at Clam Creek Picnic Area:

 

TRAILS

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Chesser Island Boardwalk

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

 

November 2014

 

 
 

Only an hour from our home, we visited one of our favorite places, the Chesser Island Boardwalk in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. We saw a few alligators, including a mama gator protecting her young. When Laurel got a little too close, the mama let out a giant warning hiss and I think Laurel jumped back at least five feet.

 

More Okefenokee Pictures

One of the Days I Almost Died

Somewhere in Georgia

 

Thanksgiving 2001

 

My Thanksgiving 2001 story actually starts back in July of that year. We were in Jacksonville for a few days to check out the housing market. We were living in Edgewater, FL and I had a job interview in Jacksonville. We had decided that we needed to live closer to a big city for Kellisa's health care. The night before the interview, I had severe pain and thought I had food poisoning. It got so bad that I drove myself to the emergency room. I spent most of the night at the hospital being diagnosed with an ulcer which made a lot of sense considering all the uncertainty and stress in our lives at the time.   (Read the rest of the story here)

 



Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Georgia

January 1, 2014

I first had the idea to hike in all 50 states in 12 months last year. My plan only included Kellisa because I didn't think Laurel was ready for such an ambitious plan. I knew everything had to go just right because we had zero room for complications (sickness, flight delays, weather, lost/broken equipment, unforeseen school/family/job obligations, etc.). 

We got off to a great start, hiking in 11 states, but then the unexpected happened. Laurel told an aunt and uncle that, "sometimes my dad forgets me". I already felt guilty for leaving her behind, but in my mind I was making up for it by taking just Laurel on father-daughter trips. Since I didn't want Laurel to feel "forgotten", we abandoned our 2013 all 50 states plan.

We decided to start over in 2014, this time including Laurel. Besides the adventure, I want to document how the girls are treated on our travels. I often complain of the horrible treatment, but haven't spent much time on the people who do care and help. I'll be interested in our final numbers and observations for the good and evil that we encounter as we travel across the United States.

Our first trip was on the first day of 2014. We drove to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge for a hike on the newly opened Chesser Island Boardwalk. The original boardwalk was destroyed by a wildfire and the new boardwalk had been open for less than 2 months. This would also be our first trip with Kellisa's new "travel" wheelchair. Her previous chair was destroyed by an airline, but it was replaced in full by the airline. (More pictures and videos)