Back from the Sunshine State

The girls and I just got back from a short visit to grandma's new house in central Florida. She lives about half an hour from Orlando but animated characters, pavement, amusement park rides and especially crowds were not on the girls' "to do" list (per their request). A couple of boat rides, a canoe paddle, an EarthCache, a hike and some birding and nature watching (and taking pictures for my aspiring photographer G.) were on the agenda.

I'll get to sharing some details of the great adventures we had after I catch up on all the things at work that need some attention.

In the meantime, here's a few photos of the fun we had in central Florida...

Lake Louisa State Park

U-Pick Citrus Grove near Lake Louisa State Park

Glass bottom boat ride at Silver Springs

Alligator educational workshop at Silver Springs

A canoe paddle at Alexander Springs in Ocala National Forest

Sightings of these on our paddle and other boat rides...

... and these

A short hike at Alexander Springs after our paddle

A boat ride on Lake Dora in to the Dora Canal where we saw lots of birds

It was a whirlwind trip but we managed to fit a lot of fun in to a few days and took in some fabulous nature watching locations.

More later...