Happy Birthday Anneke

Anneke is 29 on the 7th. (She made me say that)

Homosassa Springs Wild Life Park

One of the well known attractions in the area is the Homosassa Springs Wild Life Park. This was a private attraction for many years and was basically an exotic animal park. In the late 1980’s the park was purchased by the state of Florida and is now run as part of the state park system. We were here many years ago before it was taken over by the state.

http://www.homosassasprings.org/Homosassa.cfm

You can enter the park either by the east or west entrance. From the west entrance you can park and walk directly into the park. From the East entrance you can take a tram or a pleasant 15/20 minute boat river along a natural creek area. We opted for the boat ride.

After the state took over it was made into a exhibit for Florida native animals, with emphasis on those that are in jeopardy. All of the exotic animals were removed except the Hippopotamus. They could find no one to take it and it was decided that the animal had to be put down. The local citizens were very unhappy with this decision and petitioned the governor to save the animal. The Governor made the Hippo honorary citizen of Florida and thus was qualified to remain in the park. The Monday before our arrival they celebrated its 49 birthday.

We spent several hours walking the park and watching the animals. It was interesting to note how many of these we have seen in the wild as we explored Florida. It is well worth a visit and especially so with children.

Free Camping

We are back in Brooksville, Fl where we attended an FMCA rally in Feb in very cold temperatures, and staying in a developing park that is planning on being an upscale resort in the near future. We picked up a coupon for a free week at the FMCA event and decided to see how it is going. The park was purchased a few years ago from the former owners, who ran it as a trailer park and reportedly had mostly very old equipment on site. These have been all removed and the renovation has begun, but has a long way to go.

The park is in a very rustic setting with a very active pond, nearby woods, many old oak trees and lots of bugs. The fire ants and the caterpillar type bugs that live in the oak trees are the most annoying. While those who have been staying here for much of the winter report that there are big plans by the owners, but that the progress is slow. Indeed, during our stay we have seen some workers in the park, but could not see anything accomplished. The roads and sites are all dirt and some of the utilities are poorly laid out.

Having said this, we are enjoying our stay here. Watching the activities around the pond, the alligators, ducks, cranes, cormorants and a regularly visiting pair of bald eagles have made for a relaxing and entertaining visit. The alligators may be in for a surprise as the owners are trying to trap them and remove them to another location. So far, the alligators have shown no interest in the bait traps.
The few campers that are here say that they enjoy being here and like the quiet and low key atmosphere. We have attended a wine and cheese happy hour and shared some of our adventures and misadventures.

The Belle Parc Resort is a nice place to visit, but certainly far from a resort.

Back in Miami

Before leaving South Bay, Fl we received an invitation from our friend George to make a visit before we headed farther north. We quickly accepted and looked forward to missing some of the regular sugar cane field burn offs, which had increasing come closer to the campground.

We had a good visit in Miami, with George preparing a great meal and inviting our old friends the Randall’s and another couple which provided for lively dinner conversation. It was a very pleasant stay!

The day after our return from Miami, we headed to Wauchula, FL for a week in the Thousand Trails Resort on the Peace River. Since we have explored most of the area on our visit south in the fall, we have mainly relaxed and did some work around the motorhome. One thing we did not do on the previous visit was to hunt for fossilized shark teeth in the river. This part of the river is well known for these prehistoric artifacts. So today, we performed our first dig in the river. Keeping one eye out for the snakes and alligators, we proceeded to dig and shift thru likely looking areas based on the advice received from those in the park that have been successful. We, in fact, like many of the gold miners of the past, did find what we were looking for, but failed to find any really large specimens. But we can say that we have done it.