"Manatee Springs State Park" Gorgeous!

 

I tried to think of a better word than 'gorgeous' but you'll have to help me there. 

If after you look at the photos, you can think of a more descriptive word, I'll use it in my next post.

I'll include a link HERE if you want to read more about this park. This is a first-magnitude spring that releases an astounding 100 million gallons of water daily!

We spent a week camping here and had such fun. 

There are a lot of hiking trails and the Springs were only about 1/2 mile away from our campsite so we went every day. 

It was nice going at different times of the day to see wildlife and birds. We did not see Manatees on this trip but we weren't disappointed in our sightings each day.

Deer walked through our campsite. A raccoon climbed the tree next to the picnic table and we got back one evening to see a pretty white cat waiting for us.

And the Springs are just gorgeous!

Ibis in the water

The first evening we walked down there we saw a Barred Owl fly into a tree nearby.

You all know that's one of my favorite sightings.

And then we saw him 3 nights in a row in the same area. 

I have about a hundred photos. 

Want to see them all?

OK....OK! 

How about this Little Blue Heron!

And here's a mosaic of the owl preening!

I'll share more photos of some of the hikes we took in days to come. Hope you'll come back to hike with me!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !  

A "Wild" Cat?

Don't worry! I didn't see a wild animal in the woods!

  

But we did see an animal we've never seen before!

A cat! A cute little cat that let my husband pet it!

We've taken some nice hikes deep in the woods this week.

But this little cat came out of the woods at Blue Run Park.

And then it was gone. It decided to head for the sunshine!

We saw one of the wildest alligators we've ever seen at Blue Run Park but I'll save those photos for later. Some of my blog buddies would rather I save them for....EVER! heehee!

So I'll share this one!

Happy Holidays from Florida!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE .

PS A blog friend mentioned having trouble with comments NOT going through. And guess what! I went back to look and some of mine have not gone through. I'm using Chrome now and my comment went right through this morning. So I'm sorry if you are not seeing my comments. I can't go back and figure out which ones didn't but I'll try to use Chrome now and see if that solves the problem. It's always something....isn't it? Holiday hugs, Diane