This is a large state park, in central Florida. There is no lake, no beach, no golf course. Yes!
Not only that, but when we arrived, we scoped it the more vacant equestrian campground, and upon asking if we could stay there instead of in the regular campground with more amenities, were told we could.
We like this kind of flexibility, and had one of the best stays we have had anywhere.
Miles of hiking trails, more than we could have had time for in the two nights we were staying. We chose one that was recommended, and were rewarded with terrain and wildlife unlike anything we had ever seen.
Including something very special and exciting that I'm saving for the end of this blog post.
The hike went through miles of open areas. I wouldn't classify it as prairie, but it was flat. The plant life didn't consist of grasses as much as it did succulent plants, small trees, etc. It was different from anything we had seen, and was lovely.
Along the way we saw many large birds--some were turkey vultures and some were turkeys.
In the areas where there were trees were strung hundreds of spider nests. The spiders were huge--about four inches. All competing for food. Just glad it wasn't us.
Then, along a road through a wetland, we spotted, lying about 10 feet off of the trail, a humongous dinosaur--a 10-12 foot alligator (Actually, calling it a dinosaur is a bit insulting. Alligators are 180 million years old, and preceded many dinosaurs that became extinct 65 million years ago).
Well, if you live in Florida, apparently seeing an alligator is more common than seeing a deer in Washington. But it was exciting to us to see our first alligator that was not in a zoo.
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