Florida’s Wildlife and Wildflowers

Dave’s golf membership has expired for the winter season, so he’s been doing quite a bit of walking the many trails and state parks in central Florida. This has allowed me to do some writing while he’s out and about, which I appreciate. Every day he comes back with some of the most amazing pictures of animals he’s been seeing. Today, I needed to recharge my creative energies, so we took a trip to the Paynes Prairie Preservation State Park. We decided to visit the sinkhole area as it’s just a short walk on the boardwalk and full of animals. Wow!

May is mating month for alligators, and we were not disappointed. Just remember, it’s not the ones you see, it’s the ones you don’t!

To be honest, no matter how many times I tried to get a really good picture of the hundreds, yes hundreds of them in this small area, it just didn’t work out. Just let me say there are some really big boys and girls in this little area of water.

The sounds coming out of these prehistoric reptiles, are just freaky. How do you expel air from your body and just sink into the water like a whisper?

No gators for you? How about an explosion of color instead? The northern states have fall colors which we have always appreciated, but the array of flowers down here are just spectacular. Oh, and have you ever smelled the wafting perfume of real Gardenias or Evening Primrose? MMMMMMM!

No flowers? How about the birds? Ever heard the Limpkin when trying to find a mate? This may be the loudest bird we have ever heard.

If you ever get a chance, take the opportunity to visit this state park just south of Gainesville, Florida.

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park | Florida State Parks

Oh, and try and find the buffalo if you visit. Dave found the wild horses, but other than just seeing where the buffalo “were”, no sign of them so far. Maybe he finally has a new spirit animal. HA!

Wild Horses

It’s hard to believe we’ve now been living this lifestyle for 4 years and have started year number 5. For me, I would not trade this for anything else. I look at pictures of pretty houses and think that none of that matters to me anymore. I love my little “Homer” and the ability to just move if our neighborhood changes or we want to try a different kind of weather or state. I would move closer to the Atlantic in a heartbeat, but we haven’t found the right park for that just yet. I mean, if I could walk the beach each day, that would be my dream come true. I just feel free living this life and I love it.

Dave is still happy living this lifestyle as well, but he does miss Minnesota. The lakes, the hunting, fishing, the weather, the cabin. He doesn’t want to live there fulltime, just visit for each summer. This is our current quandary, and we’ll figure something out that works for both of us, just like we always do. As of right now, we still haven’t made our plan for the summer and with the arrival of our new granddaughter this month, we’ll be headed back at some point to meet her and see the rest of the family. The bigger debate is for how long we’ll stay around. That’s the one part of this journey that has the gap. Missing the family.

As a side note, I’ve completed two more books in our Children’s series and started Florida for the next state. I’ve also started writing a new adult series about the aging lifestyle. Humorous fiction this time which has just been interesting and fun to write. More about that in the future.

I do find it amazing how much writing I have done since we started this journey. No matter what our future holds, I have thoroughly loved living my best creative life.

See ya on the road,

Dave and Theresa