Category: Nature

Highlands Hammock State Park Or Bust

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 14, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. If you’re familiar with my social media work for the Sebring Historical Society – then you may remember a recent #HistoryTuesday Facebook post where I wrote about one of our true gems here in the Sebring Florida area – the 9,000+ acre Highlands Hammock State Park – established during the 1930s by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). I promoted their upcoming (at the time) 8TH Annual Earth Day Festival. Due to another scheduled event on the same day at the same time – I was unable to attend the Festival. It looked like a fun day out there at the park with some very interesting special guest speakers.

The following day on the Sebring Historical Society Facebook page I wrote about the historic CCC Museum inside Highlands Hammock State Park, and I included a photo of the building that I took on my last visit in February 2023. I visited the museum 4 times as a tourist – in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2023. During those 3 earlier visits I had envisioned myself serving at the CCC Museum as a docent. By 2023 – I had already committed to serving with the Sebring Historical Society in the same capacity. I don’t regret my decision at all.

Earlier that same week my Pastor took his family to Highlands Hammock State Park, and he posted some nice photos on his Facebook page. A couple of days later one of our members at the Sebring Historical Society told us all about her fun trip to the park with her husband and their daughter visiting from up north. They took the tram tour, and they had a wonderful time on it.

And that got me wondering. Why have I not even visited the park once since I’ve lived here over the past 3 years and 1 month ?

Well the answer is quite simple. The Sebring Historical Society keeps me busy. As does my home church. As does my home and neighborhood.

Anyway I got excited about visiting Highlands Hammock State Park for the first time as a local. (The park attracts up to 200,000 visitors annually, and I’m guessing that more than half are tourists from outside of the local area.)

I planned my day at the park. I’d leave home by 9 AM, arrive at the park 20 minutes later, pay my $4 admission at the gate, head straight for the Camp Store, buy my $15 ticket for the 11 AM tram tour, and then head over to the CCC Museum to check it out for a good solid hour until about 15 minutes before the start of the tram tour. After the approximately 1-hour and 15-minute tram tour I’d drive the 3-mile-plus / one-way Loop Drive through the park and stop at one of the trails that I’m not sure I’ve previously been on.

That was the plan alright. Let’s go !

So I went on a Friday 4 weeks ago. I arrived at the empty parking lot of the Camp Store, and (luckily) it was open. I walked in, and I asked about the 11 AM tram tour. I figured that the guy behind the counter would tell me that I was the first person to sign-up for it, and if he didn’t get a minimum of (whatever number) to sign-up for it then it would be cancelled. That’s not what he told me. He told me that it was sold out !

I’m silently thinking – how can it be sold out when I’m the only visitor within eyesight ? From what I understood – you can’t sign-up for the tram tour until the same day. (I later discovered that you can sign-up one day prior. Had I known that then I would’ve signed-up one day prior !)

He said that he’d be adding an additional 1 PM tram tour, but I declined. I couldn’t see myself being at the park until 1 PM. I looked around the Camp Store for a few minutes. They actually have some very nice souvenirs there. I actually wish that we sold some of those souvenirs in our own gift shop at the Sebring Historical Society. #MentalNotes

I went out to my car to plot my next move – since the CCC Museum was still closed until 10 AM. (They had recently switched from their 9 AM to 5 PM winter “peak season” hours to their 10 AM to 2 PM weekends-only – including Fridays – “low season” hours.)

My next move is revealed – next – #TravelThursday. And speaking of moves – what was that wild creature that ran right in front of me ? Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Hammock, Highlands, Park, Sebring

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Flamingo Gardens

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 9, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is Part 2 of my look back at my recent trip back to South Florida – my former home of 35+ years. It was my first trip back in nearly 9 months (38 weeks to be exact) – since the end of June 2025 – when I closed on the sale of my 30-year home.

I wrote about my Sunday and Monday in and near Homestead and Florida City in last week’s edition. This week – it’s Tuesday in West Broward (the western portion of Broward County).

But before we leave Homestead – it’s a milestone in my car. I hit 9,000 miles driving to Breakfast. It took 95 days to drive the next 1,000 miles from 8,000 to 9,000. That’s an average of about 10½ miles per day since the middle of December. My trek to 10,000 on the odometer will clearly come sooner than 95 days due simply to this road-trip alone.

It was a good 48 hours in Homestead and Florida City. After Breakfast at the local family-owned Flagler Restaurant in Homestead I hit Krome Avenue (State Road 997), and then onto U.S. 27 just shy of the Miami-Dade / Broward County line.

I made it to Flamingo Gardens along historic Flamingo Road in Davie. It was my 6TH visit since 2012 – and my 1ST visit in just over 4 years. It’s my favorite place in Broward County. If I had decided to leave Homestead and move up to Broward in retirement (very hypothetical) – then I’d very likely be volunteering or working there today. It’s part botanical gardens, part wildlife sanctuary, and part historic house museum. It covers about 60 acres, and it was established 99 years ago as a family homestead and citrus grove at the edge of the Everglades (back then).

Fun Facts: As an 8, 9, and 10-year-old in suburban Lanham Maryland (just outside of Washington D.C.) me and my friends would bring rakes into the woods on a fairly regular basis. We did so to rake the leaves on the ground, clear a path, and create trails and rest stops along the way – essentially creating our very own neighboring nature parks. On the left side of the creek that ran through the woods – I created “Chris Day Valley” (named after myself). On the right side of the creek – two of my friends (brothers) created “Wolf Pack State” (possibly named after misheard lyrics of a popular Gordon Lightfoot song at the time). After my friends on the right side of the creek lost interest in their unique park – I went over to the next street over and joined other friends who had already started working on their park. They gladly welcomed me. We even had a flag handmade of our park. (One of the moms did that for us.) It was so much fun while it lasted.

So why did I bring all of that up ? It’s because Flamingo Gardens looks like a grown-up version of those childhood parks that we created in the woods. It reminds me of those fun days outside 50 years ago.

After a fun 3 hours and 15 minutes at Flamingo Gardens – I headed north to Tamarac where I met my brother (visiting from Texas) at a hotel. (His 3 days of work was done at the Broward County Convention Center.)

We went to a noisy Yard House at The Oasis at Sawgrass Mills Mall for dinner, and then we walked across Panther Parkway over to the Amerant Bank Arena to see our Florida Panthers take on the Seattle Kraken. (The Panthers won 5-4 in overtime after a shootout.)

Next #TravelThursday – we’ll head back to Sawgrass Mills Mall for extensive shopping, and we’ll take an impromptu tour of West Broward County and many of its suburbs. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Broward, Davie, Florida, Florida City, Hockey, Homestead, Sunrise, Tamarac

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Homestead / Florida City

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 2, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. A couple of Sunday mornings ago I departed for my former home of 35+ years – Homestead Florida (at the south-end of Miami-Dade County). It was my first trip back in nearly 9 months (38 weeks to be exact) – since the end of June 2025 – when I closed on the sale of my 30-year home.

I departed my current home about 50 minutes before sunrise, and I arrived at my former home church in Homestead about an hour before the start of the 11 AM service. (It was a typical 3-hour and 20-minute drive.)

It was a great Sunday morning service – with wonderful Praise + Worship music and a relevant sermon from the Lead Pastor. And it was great to see everyone again. (I wrote about this church a couple of weeks ago on #SundayScripture. You can link to it here.)

I enjoyed ministering at the church from 2015 to 2024, and I learned a lot from the Lead Pastor. But nowadays it’s great sitting in the back row with friends as a guest observer and worshiper.

A small group of us went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch (my choice). I had a gift card from last year, and there is no Texas Roadhouse back home. Fellowship, food, and service were all great. I got to catch-up with everyone. I plan to visit again perhaps in 6 months. We have some birthdays to celebrate in September.

I checked-in to my hotel for 2 nights, and I settled in until the next day.

Day 2 was Monday, and after filling up with gas and shopping at Kohl’s – I met two former coworkers / bosses (also retired like me) at Longhorn Steakhouse. We enjoyed lunch together and reminisced, and we’ll probably meet again in 6 months.

After lunch I headed to the tiny mainland portion of Biscayne National Park (at the western edge of Biscayne Bay) for the 3RD time in the past 15½ years. I previously visited in October 2010 and May 2016. In April 2019 I actually took a fun boat tour of the 95% of the Park that is water. (Embarkation of that tour was actually about 10 miles up the coast at the Deering Estate.)

Biscayne National Park was stunningly packed when I arrived at 12:40 PM on Monday. There were only a few empty parking spaces remaining in their relatively large parking lot. I couldn’t believe it. Why were all of those people there ? Oh – Spring Break continued. I stayed there for about 2 hours, and by the time I left there were more empty parking spaces.

A lot of people were fishing at the Park. I have some unpopular opinions about that, but I’ll keep them to myself (as a non-fisherman). I didn’t appreciate how portions of the narrow bridge / walkway were essentially blocked by groups of people fishing (and not particularly watching who was walking behind them or in-between them). It was kind of a safety hazard. But who I am to raise a concern ? I’m just a tourist now. It may be another 10 years before my next visit.

Back in Homestead I hit some stores, and Starbucks, and Outback Steakhouse where I enjoyed dinner with a former coworker friend. And then it was back to my hotel for the 2ND of 2 nights.

The Homestead / Florida City half of my trip to South Florida was planned and implemented perfectly. I’m looking forward to my next visit later this year.

I’m headed to West Broward County for the next 2 days to hang out with my brother visiting from the Dallas Texas area. I’ll write about it – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Biscayne, Florida, Florida City, Homestead

Blogging Driving Food Geography Home Nature Travel

Ag Tour

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 26, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the middle 3 hours of my 9-hour “ag tour” that I went on 4 Thursdays ago – hosted by UF IFAS Extension – which stands for University Of Florida Institute Of Food And Agricultural Sciences. They have Extension offices in all 67 of Florida’s counties. (I’m in Highlands County.)

After our steak lunch at the Avon Park Community Center – we headed west for a very short drive (exactly one mile) to Classic Caladiums. Our group was greeted out front by Clay for a talk about their company – the world’s largest caladium grower. Created in 2000 – they produce about 30 million bulbs annually of about 100 varieties. Clay led us on an extensive tour of their very busy working warehouse. It was very interesting. They have a well-run operation there with about 25 full-time employees and over 100 workers during peak harvest and grading season (October to March).

Our 5TH stop of the day was right across the street from Classic Caladiums at the Barben Blueberry Farm. We stayed on the bus for this stop, and Bobby Barben came on to tell us all about his family’s farm and their long history (4TH-generation / over 100 years) in the citrus business.

Our final stop of the day was 23½ miles away at Lake Istokpoga Park. This stop fulfilled the “Natural Resources” portion of our day-long tour of the region. A young guy led the talk. I think maybe he’s a Highlands County Parks & Recreation employee. His talk was mostly a geology and geography lesson of the County, and most of his facts were accurate. I didn’t really learn much from this segment, as I’ve previously studied it.

We returned back to the Bert J. Harris, Jr. Agricultural Center Highlands County at about 5:10 PM, and our 9-hour tour / 10-hour experience was complete. I enjoyed it all. All 6 stops were places that I had never been to before (aside from driving by). The first two stops before lunch at the citrus farms were the most interesting. Lunch was good. And the first stop after lunch at the caladium warehouse was educational and informative. The last two stops were the least interesting.

TODAY – Thursday March 26TH 2026 – is actually the final UF IFAS Extension “ag tour” of the season, and I am not on it. They are on a tour of 6 different stops – including a steak lunch. I’ll try to get on 1 of the 3 tours next winter season. As for today – I’m returning home from South Florida. I was down there for the first time in nearly 9 months. I’ll write all about it – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.