Weekend explorations
One of these past weekends, we finally had some gorgeous weather here in Florida, and of course, we went out to explore. And honestly, it was everything we needed.
I’ve never been one to enjoy crowded places, and I’ve mentioned on Instagram that I’m craving being in nature these days. Thankfully, Florida has plenty of places to help with that, and I’m happy to discover them, one by one.
The truth is, I hate living here 6 months out of the year when, the heat and humidity are suffocating, and being outside for whatever length of time does a number on you. And with the pandemic ravaging for the better time of our being in this state, we’ve been avoiding indoor places as much as possible. As a result, we’ve been spending most of the time at home, and that got old and boring fast.
While the weather is still unpredictable, and any day we could be having one of those scorchingly hot days, there’s definitely a refreshing shift in the air and humidity levels right about now. And we’re loving it!
So when we finally experienced the first pleasant day, weather-wise, we got in our car in the early morning and began our day of outdoor fun.
First, we visited the Gamble Plantation Historic State Park, a restored and preserved antebellum plantation home, the only surviving one in South Florida, which is pretty impressive with its architecture, and beautiful landscape sprinkled with live oak trees covered in Spanish moss. On the grounds, we found a picnic area, a gazebo, a small bamboo “forest”, and a few artifacts. After a stroll around the property, we moved on to our next destination.
Since hubby knows my love for plants, he took me to Palma Sola Botanical Park, a 10-acre oasis, featuring lush tropical plants, rare fruit trees, 3 tranquil lakes, a wealth of butterflies, screened pavilion, and two gazebos (per their website).
You can probably tell that we spent some time there, strolling through the grounds, admiring fruits we’ve never seen or heard of before, and taking plenty of photos of butterflies and beautiful flowers. It really did feel like an oasis in the middle of the city, and we enjoyed our time there.
As we exited the botanical park, we noticed that right next door was another place on our list - Robinson Preserve, which has a 40-foot tall Observation Tower and is free to visit.
The tower offers stunning 360-degree views, including views of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, one of Florida’s symbols. And since we were there, we decided to walk to the tower, and back as we weren’t prepped for a hike through the entire park.
FYI, there is no elevator to help you get to the top of the tower. We climbed at least 6 flights of stairs and reached a truly wonderful observation deck. It was windy, but since it was around 85F outside, the wind felt amazing, and we stood there for a while, watching big fish jumping out of the water (there were so many), birds chirping, kayakers having fun, and of course, the incredible views all around. It felt great being away from the city noise and listening to the nature around us.
As we saw several bridges in the park, we decided to walk towards one of them to maybe see the fish up close. Well, one bridge led to another, and before we knew it, we were somewhere in the middle of the park, not anywhere near the entrance (or exit). So we involuntarily had to go through the entire preserve to make it back, which, of course, took us a while.
As we walked the trails, we saw too many dead horseshoe crabs (probably due to the red tide), several ospreys, and, of course, a snake, which scared the bejesus out of me (if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I have the “talent” of coming across them way more than I’d prefer). At one point we thought we were getting attacked by some wild animal running at crazy speed towards us; they turned out to be either squirrels or bunnies chasing one other. It all happened so fast and they disappeared before we could see what they were, but of course, that scared us plenty once again.
If you find yourself in this preserve (or any for that matter) for the first time, make sure you pay attention to the trails - we found them to be confusing, which led us to getting lost in there. Some portions of the trails are paved, while others are dirt-only. Always be on the lookout for wildlife, and try to walk away from the brush, in the middle of the trails, if possible.
We had more planned for this day, however, due to our impromptu hike, we ran out of time, and had to return home. We got back tired but happy to have spent a day in nature.
Are you a city or nature kind of person?
Until next time.
xoxo,
Em
