Happy Fourth of July!

 What a blessing to live in the beautiful United States of America!

I thought I would share a few photos from the past.

One of the fun traditions here in our community is the golf cart parade.

I walked over to watch it go by.

And loved all the golf carts that were decorated for the event.

Everyone puts a lot of effort to make it special each year.

My 'critter' for this holiday is the Bald Eagle.

It's a bird we see often here in Florida.

But it's still makes you stop and marvel.

More photos of the parade...

it's makes you feel so proud!

A special thanks to the sheriff's department and the firemen that come out to support us. 

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE. 

Hiking AND Camping! Ross Prairie State Forest

 I went back and looked at my hiking journal from 2013 and found our first dedicated 'hike' in Florida.

It was the Holly Hammock loop at Ross Prairie State Forest.

We had walked some trails and even hiked together in the mountains of NC but I started a hiking journal in November, 2013 to keep track of where we hiked and our sightings here in Florida. 

"Old photo"

We've sure had a lot of fun over the years and average around 150 hikes a year now. 

So how perfect was it to enjoy our first camping adventure at Ross Prairie Campground!

Our little Grand Design Imagine AIM.

We spent a week in the forest and I managed 8 hikes in 5 days! (then I came home and hiked one more, I felt so great and then I had to take a fews days off! hahahaha!)

The trails were all in great shape and the prairie was beautiful as always!

Some of our sightings included this beautiful Hermit Thrush.

Hermit Thrush

We've seen these birds every time we've hiked there so it must be the perfect habitat for these sweet birds.

Some of our sightings included deer, wild turkeys, black racer snake, lizards and other small birds,

The morning we were packing up to leave we watched an Eagle soar overhear. 

Bald Eagle

That really was special.

There were lots of wildflowers blooming so we saw butterflies and bees too.

It was so nice to just walk out the door of the camper and hike a trail! Twice I didn't even intend to hike and didn't take my camera. I started walking and next thing I knew I was on a trail!

It was glorious! I'm ready to go again!

Are you getting out more this Spring? 

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !  

Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway

 

I wanted to dedicate this post to the Greenway and share some of my favorite photos from my hikes there.

Of course I spent hours looking at 'favorite pics'!

I've been hiking the greenway for almost 10 years so I had trouble deciding which to share.

Please click on the link HERE to read the facebook page started by the Greenway Guardians. Duke Energy is proposing a project to build high voltage power lines THROUGH the Greenway! As you can imagine this would be disastrous to wildlife, birds, wildflowers and plants. Thanks go those fighting to preserve the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. 

And join me down memory lane as I share a few of my sightings.

White tailed Deer

Bald Eagle

One of my favorite sightings!

Fox Squirrel

These squirrels can be spotted all through the Greenway. My girlfriend saw one a couple of weeks ago and said it was the largest one she had ever seen! I'm still on the look out for that one!

Barred Owl

Florida Scrub Jay

The Greenway habitat is very important for this rare bird!

Red headed Woodpeckers up on the hill!

I've named this hill the Bluebird of Happiness Hill!

Eastern Bluebirds

Gopher Tortoise

Longspurred Mint

One of my favorite sightings was this Florida Bobcat. I'll include a link to the bobcat story HERE in case you missed it!

Florida Bobcat

What a treasure this Greenway is to our community and to our state of Florida.

49th Ave Trailhead 

I've met people from all over the country (and the world) that visit Florida and walk or ride bikes on the Greenway. It is a treasure worth preserving!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !  

A Tree with Character

 This was our turn around point in a hike we took at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve this week. (Pruitt trailhead)

It was very hard to turn back because there are trails taking off in every direction and they all look inviting. 

But we had been hiking for over an hour and had to be realistic. Our hike ended up taking 2 1/2 hours total and that's about our limit. I'm hoping there are leftovers in the 'fridge for dinner at this point! lol

We are hiking just about every other day now with the weather so perfect so I have a lot more photos to share.

I'll hit some of the highlights of this particular day.

I think the fall months are just as colorful as the Spring here in Florida.

The pink muhly grass is simply gorgeous.

And the brown eyed susans are in full bloom.

They spread out over the preserve with thousands of blooms.

It was amazing to see a young Bald Eagle.

 Northern Harrier

This Northern Harrier flew over us from time to time and a Hawk tried to chase it away.

 Thanks hubby for this amazing photo!!!

We were surprised to see the American Kestrel, too.

 Eastern Meadowlark.

Mockingbird

So much to see and do right now. It's hard to stay indoors!

Have you had a good week? 

I hope you've had a chance to get outside and enjoy the beauty of Autumn.

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !