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)

 

 



Visitor Center Boardwalk

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Florida

 

January 2015

 

 

 

I usually don't get too excited about what I call, "short, little boardwalks behind visitor centers so a park can call itself accessible". One exception is the short (0.46 of a mile round trip), little boardwalk behind the visitor center at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It's a nice starter path to see what the refuge has to offer. We did learn one lesson the hard way. The visitor center closes at 4pm and we were caught on the boardwalk. Since we couldn't re-enter the visitor center to leave using the accessible route, I had to carry Kellisa and then her wheelchair down a few steps. We were fortunate that I was able to do that. I'm not sure what we would have done if I couldn't lift/carry Kellisa and/or her chair. What if she had a motorized wheelchair? Anyway, we had a nice little walk.

 

(More pictures) 

 

 

 



Black Point Wildlife Drive

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Florida

 

January 2015

 

 

 

 

We observed many birds and a few gators on our 7 mile Black Point Wildlife Drive in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. More pictures can be found (here).

Blue Spring State Park

 Florida

January 1, 2015

 

Our first hike of 2015 on the 15th anniversary of Kellisa's first ever hike almost didn't happen because she had a significant seizure the night before. More details and pictures (here).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

South Beach Access

Guana Tomolato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve

Florida

 

January 25, 2015

 

 

Kellisa and I had a few hours to ourselves on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We drove to Guana Tomolato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve where the air was crisp (53-62F) with a constant breeze, the sky was blue and the waves set the pace for our 6.07 mile walk along the beach. We saw one starfish, less than 15 people and lots of cool birds.

 

(More Pictures from the Reserve)