Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

Sunday dawned overcast and chilly and Jess decided to surprise me with our destination. All I was told is that it cost $13 and was outside. We headed southwest and arrived at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park to the sight of a giant manatee decked out in his St. Patrick’s finest. I remember adopting a manatee in elementary school and I‘m always happy to be able to see one up close. 

To my surprise, the manatees were only one of the many animals we got to check out. First, we boarded a boat for a short cruise over to the entrance of the park. 

Although we humans were shivering due to the 40 degree temperatures, the animals were loving it. We got to see a variety of native Florida wildlife up and about, including manatees, panthers, and wolves.

Flamingo

Bald Eagles=American

The elusive Florida panther

 

Red wolf

And of course there was a Hippo! He’s been at the park since 1964 and is 52 years old. I’ve never seen a hippo before and he was massive! It was very cool to check out.

There is an underwater manatee observatory where I used my special powers to beckon a manatee over for up close viewing. 

We were chilled to the bone at that point so we retreated to the car where Jess had wisely packed a picnic lunch of hot soup. I really enjoyed this park, especially how the birds were free to roam about.

Jess stalking a bird

DeSoto and Marshall Swamp

 

I took advantage of Jess’ spring break to head down to Florida for some fun in the sun. Despite the deep freeze that permeated the country that week, I still had an amazing time! I arrived in Tampa at 2am on Saturday and crashed at a hotel near the airport. Before heading up to see Jess Saturday, I took a quick detour south to Bradenton to check out DeSoto National Memorial. It commemorates the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto. It’s a free site that has a nature trail and a little living history camp. The Nature Trail winds along the shoreline and through several Florida ecosystems, including a mangrove forest. The trail encourages you to walk in the footsteps of the conquistadors from almost five hundred years ago.

Memorial cross

In May 1539, Hernando de Soto and an army of over 600 soldiers landed in the Tampa Bay area. They were executing the order of King Charles V to sail to La Florida and "conquer, populate, and pacify" the land. However, the expedition did not yield the gold and treasure they were looking for. Instead, they marched from one village to the next, taking food and enslaving the native peoples.

Soldier and his killer dog

Another thing to check out is Camp Uzita, which is a living history camp where there were 2 interpreters showing weaponry that would have been used in those days which was quite interesting (especially the cross bow).

I then headed back north to Ocala where I went to the Smith family home and was welcomed with open arms. Since it was such a nice day, Jess took me out to the Marshall Swamp. Thanks to Jess and her fancy new iPhone we were able to track our steps and calculate our mileage (6 miles out and back). 

 

Hiking in the late afternoon sun was so gorgeous and it was a great way to catch up with Jess and decompress from my plane trip and long drive in the car. You can read more about Jess and view her pictures on the Marshall Swamp here: http://www.forgottencompass.com/