I’m at the Escapee park here, one of my favorite stopping places. I’ll be here for a week at least, maybe 2.
I was happy to get out of Florida. I enjoyed Big Cypress, the Everglades, and the Keys, completely avoided the big cities, and was disappointed that the state doesn’t seem to have a culture besides tourists and transients. It’s not the Southern culture (“If you want the South, go north” is what they say), and not Spanish or Latino. Military and snowbirds is what it’s about. And theme parks and tourists.
My main interest in going to Florida, or the east coast for that matter, was to see some new birds. I decided ahead of time that I’d be satisfied if I found 6 or 7 new species, and hoped for more. For the east coast states total I found 14, 10 of which were in Florida. I’m pretty happy with that. My favorite new birds were the Magnificent Frigatebird and the Limpkin.
I grew weary of alligators, enjoyed seeing a crocodile, and saw plenty of manatee. The Keys are infested with iguanas which thrive on garden plantings. Snakes and bugs have been, gratefully, conspicuously absent this trip. The worst threat from nature I’ve faced are falling acorns from the live oaks.
And I got to see a rocket launch at Cape Kennedy. I doubt I’ll be back to Florida anytime soon as it’s a long haul from my summertime place of Seattle.