Mike Roess

We like the Mike Roess State Park in Florida. Lots of hikes and bike rides are possible…though with daily rains it makes it more difficult. Luckily, we were able to get a camping spot for July 4^th.

Lots of streams in Florida have white sand bottoms.

Hot and humid with rain everyday feels like a jungle.

Mimosa trees are blooming. The ranger said these are not native to Florida but are from Asian and considered invasive if found within the park.

There is no wifi in the park but the nearby town of Keystone Heights has a nice library with wifi. I found out beside it is a “Moon Tree”. The seed for this tree flew to the moon in Apollo 14.

Ohio Family

Nice family picture by my sister-in-law. People always said we were different. Apparently at least one of my relatives is an alien.

The old homestead.

Crabby Morning

We’re back at St. Andrews in Panama Beach. I enjoy a morning walk along the beach. For some reason, this was the morning for crabs. This blue crab seemed ready to attack me if I got too close.

I saw small hermit crabs.

Ghost crab. I think the second picture is of two ghost crabs “doing it”. Or maybe they just like to hang on to each other?

In one area I saw quite a few stingrays. I’ve walked this beach quite a few times but this was the first time I’ve seen them here. Maybe it some sort of “season” for them?

Blue heron on the beach.

The park is always good for deer. We had 5 visit our site one afternoon.

I rarely see an alligator at Gator Lake but this time a small one (~4 foot) was right near the deck.

It’s hot and humid this week. Every afternoon we get a rain. This afternoon it was still sunny while it rained so there is a light rainbow in the center of the picture.

Every morning there is a rush of boats heading out to the Gulf.

Torreya State Park - Hiking

Hiking is this park is unusual for Florida. Instead of flat land, the trails are up and down. I had to laugh at the comment about roots. Several signs warn you about difficult trails with roots. I’ve hiked lots of trails with roots and they weren’t a problem. After I saw this section of the trail, I understood what they meant.

Plus this was along a creek.

Saw a raccoon in a tree one morning. When I think about it, I’ve never seen a raccoon in the woods, just in campgrounds around the garbage or stealing food from campsites. This one quickly climbed up a tree (no picture). I could get a picture of one of the turtles I saw while on my hike. Not that I’m slow in bringing out my camera or anything.

This hiking sign must have been here for a while. Poor headless guy.

It is raining a LOT this week. Got caught out in the rain on one hike. Luckily, I was on the main road on the way back. I waited under some trees and called John to drive me back. The rain meant that mushrooms were everywhere. Here’s a few.

Another trail in the park has is called the Torreya Challenge. I’ve seen this trail mentioned online before. The challenging thing for me was to find and stay on the trail. The signs were confusing so that I spent most of my time lost on side trails or going the wrong direction. Yes, it’s a challenge!

We’ve been having problems with cardinals attracted by the mirrors on our car and pooping on the door. Unfortunately, I put the plastic bags on the mirror after this happened.

Supposedly there are only 200 Torreya trees (a type of pine tree) in the world. Most are in this park.  John says they look like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.

Torreya State Park - History

Our next stop was Torreya State Park in the panhandle of Florida. Gregory House is an old plantation house that has been reconstructed in this location.

We took a tour of the house. Some of the interesting points included this ladies’ spittoon. For the “proper” lady?

The windows on the front and back doors were lower than normal. The story is that the owner was short and wanted to be able to see out. Yeah, my size!

This rocking chair was made from a spindle. Very cool and a bit bizarre!

I forget who this was (a daughter of the owner?) but the consensus was that she looks like Amy from “Big Bang Theory”.

There is a path with signs showing where a confederate battery was placed. Interesting to see all the work needed to build this line with 6 battery placements along with storage for the mortars. All the work and these were never used.

Ocean Pond Campground

Central Florida is just amazing with biking / hiking trails. Many of these trails are paved and 30-50 miles long. I didn’t go that far! The one near our RV park in Beverly Hills had lots of geocaches along the trail. Each one seemed placed to encourage you to go “just a little further”.

Northern Florida is more sandy roads for biking. When you get back you have to brush off the sand that is sticking to your legs. Nice views along the road though.

Ocean Pond is a nice campground that is popular with locals. Weekends are very busy but it’s pretty quiet during the week.

The nearby town is called Lake City. While John was getting the stickers for the license plates, I wandered the town square. There is a monument to confederate soldiers in a nearby battle. Plus, Lake City used to be called Alligator after a Seminole chief.