Tag: Florida

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Animals Blogging Geography History Home Nature Travel

The End Of The Innocence

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. For this edition I’m not traveling anywhere. I’m standing in my own kitchen and living room. I’m looking out both of my windows here that face the northwest. Over to the right is the northern fenceline of my dream forever neighborhood of the past 3 years and 3 months. On the other side of that fence is what is now recently-annexed land for the City of Avon Park.

That land – as it looks right now – is raw undeveloped Florida scrub. It sits here on the eastern slope of the Lake Wales Ridge at about 140 feet above sea level (same as my adjacent neighborhood), and it’s probably looked like that for thousands of years. It sits on ancient land here on the Ridge. When sea levels were over 100 feet higher than they are now – this land existed as a series of islands – surrounded by sea – much like today’s Florida Keys.

The remnants of these ancient islands are present here with lots of sand – 80 miles away from the sea on each side of it. Low trees and bushes grow in the scrub due mostly to the poor and arid ground conditions. (Rainwater drains quickly into the sand.)

Here in fast-growing Central Florida these undeveloped scrublands are critically endangered. And the one right next to my neighborhood will also soon be gone – changed forever after thousands of years.

The City Of Avon Park has approved developers to begin bulldozing it all very soon to prepare the land for a big multi-phase / multi-year residential neighborhood with 300+ new homes (single-family houses and duplex villas). The densest portion of the new neighborhood would be closest to my neighborhood – with backyards right up against our fenceline. (Earlier reports had suggested up to 800 new homes, but I think the development has been scaled down since.)

Nevertheless – it’s “The End Of The Innocence”. Once destruction and construction begins – manmade noise will be endless. It will never be as peaceful and serene as it has been since my neighborhood was built 40 years ago. All of the birds, rabbits, squirrels, and other wildlife that live over there will have to find a new home. My view will be changed forever.

My neighborhood replaced scrubland 40 years ago, and maybe that angered the residents in the already-established neighborhoods behind the destruction and construction. I’m grateful for my neighborhood, and I’m also hopeful that we can protect surrounding area scrublands to keep – at least this part of Florida along the Lake Wales Ridge – as natural as can be.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll stay home and look back at our weather from this past Winter season. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Bugs Driving Geography History Nature Travel

Arcadia Or Bugs

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Yeah you read that title above right. It’s a play on words from my last 3 editions – “Highlands Hammock State Park Or Bust”. Let me explain:

5 weeks ago on May Day I drove north on U.S. 27, west on Florida State Road 64, south on U.S. 17, and west into the historic city of Arcadia Florida for my 3RD visit in a little over a year.

The occasion – the grand reopening and ribbon cutting ceremony of the John Morgan Ingraham House Museum of the DeSoto County Historical Society at the corner of North Monroe Avenue and Whidden Street.

I had previously visited the museum for the first time 14 months earlier on March 06TH 2025. I wrote about it here.

But let me get to the “… Or Bugs” portion of my post here. So here in Florida we have what is known as “Lovebug Season”. I suppose that parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and maybe even South Carolina also experience it. There are actually two distinct seasons a year – each averaging about 2 to 4 weeks in length based on local weather conditions. They are in late-April / early-May, and late-August / early-September. I may be wrong about this, but I don’t recall lovebugs being a problem at all here in South Central Florida for the past 2 or 3 or more years. I don’t know where they went, but I don’t think that they were here. In fact I actually remember news reports over the past few years suggesting that lovebugs were declining, disappearing, and maybe even going extinct.

Well they’re back with a vengeance this year. As I drove those 43 miles / 55 minutes over to Arcadia – my car was swarmed and inundated by thousands of lovebugs – two at a time of course. (Every so often I saw a lonely lovebug all by itself – not getting loved. And then I also saw the rare three together, so that was weird.) It was essentially “raining” lovebugs virtually the entire way to and from Arcadia. And of course they went splat and died together on the grill, bumper, and windshield of my car. (The average lovebug only lives for about 2 to 4 days.)

So me and my scattered, smothered, and covered with lovebugs car arrived at the historic house museum in Arcadia, and there were surprisingly a lot of people there (maybe 50 or so). Everyone seemed like they knew each other (except for me), so it was overwhelmingly locals. I may have been the only one from outside of DeSoto County. I represented the Sebring Historical Society there, as I felt that it was a good idea to be there to support our neighboring county’s Historical Society museum which is just like ours – a restored historic house.

Their house is much older than our house. It was built about 140 years ago. (Ours dates back almost 105 years.) Their house was donated to them (the DeSoto County Historical Society) in 2002 after over 110 years of private family ownership. It is a very nice museum inside – all about the history of Arcadia and DeSoto County.

The program itself for the grand reopening of the museum was very nice for the attendees. It included hot and cold refreshments, LIVE musical entertainment, an Invocation, a Pledge Of Allegiance to the U.S. flag, a welcome message from the President of the Historical Society, a special message from the Mayor of Arcadia, a brief history of the house, the formal ribbon-cutting on the front porch, and a Benediction to conclude. The house was then open for self-tours.

Incidentally the lovebugs were swarming all around us during the program. I guess it could’ve been much worse – like mosquitoes. (They were not yet out.)

After lunch downtown – I headed back home for Round 2 of the 43-mile / 55-minute lovebug splat-a-thon. Later that same day – I got my car washed at my favorite place to do so. On the other side of that – perhaps 90% of the dead lovebugs were wiped clean.

Next #TravelThursday – it’s the “End Of The Innocence” – and I’m not talking about Don Henley’s classic album from 37 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Animals Blogging Driving Geography History Home Nature Photography Travel

Highlands Hammock State Park Or Bust

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I continued writing about my trip out to the 9,000+ acre Highlands Hammock State Park here in the Sebring Florida area (about 10 miles from home).

#Recap – So the 11 AM tram tour was inexplicably sold out, and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum was closed until 10 AM. I drove the 3+ mile “Loop Drive” through the park, and I walked the 3,005-foot in length Ancient Hammock Trail in the oldest part of the park. A large wild animal crossed in front of me from left to right. It was either a Florida Panther, a coyote, or a deer.

So now we’re back at the main Camp Store / CCC Museum area, and that’s when I saw 2 big yellow Highlands County School District buses.

I parked in front of the CCC Museum, and I got out – eager to enter the museum that I had promoted online just 2 days earlier. But from my car I could hear the joyful noise of children from inside the museum. They were quite loud. Hopefully they were learning a lot of good history inside. I decided that perhaps it wasn’t the best time for me to enjoy the museum with all of that rambunctiousness going on. I decided to wait until they were done before I would enter. I walked around the adjacent grounds of the area – amongst the picnic tables and pavilions. More school children were enjoying a portion of that area. As the group of children inside the museum were congregating outside – the group of children at the picnic area were forming a line and getting ready to head towards the museum. Soon after I was surrounded on both sides by children coming and going in both directions – led by their teachers.

Looks like I would have to wait a bit longer to enter the museum. I ran out of things to look at in the picnic area, so I approached the parking lot. A couple of vehicles were arriving at the same time, and they were full of visitors (who knew each other). They approached the front entrance of the museum, and it appears that they were turned away from entering and told to return after 12 Noon due to the children inside with more children expected to arrive after them. So the visitors got back in their vehicles and drove away. As did I.

So – my visit to Highlands Hammock State Park on Friday April 17TH 2026 was a – BUST !

No tram tour. No museum visit. But I did get to drive “Loop Drive” and walk a trail and have a close encounter with a wild creature.

I learned some lessons. I should call the park the day before any future visit to find out if there are any school field trips scheduled for the next day. I should also reserve my seat on the 11 AM tram tour (if it’s running), since I now know that you can do so a day in advance (instead of the same day). And I should also find out what hours the CCC Museum is open the next day. (Those days and hours change throughout the year based on demand.)

Applying those lessons learned will help in knowing what to look forward to at the park, and I can spend more than just 1-hour and 4-minutes there. (I was originally planning to spend up to 4 hours there.)

I’m going on another field trip – further west. I have a feeling that it’ll be far more successful than this one was. In fact I know it will be since it already occurred. I’ll tell you all about my return trip to Arcadia Florida – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Animals Blogging Bugs Driving Geography History Home Nature Photography Travel

Highlands Hammock State Park Or Bust

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I began writing about my trip out to the 9,000+ acre Highlands Hammock State Park here in the Sebring Florida area (about 10 miles from home).

My plan for the morning at the park was set, so it was time to go !

First setback – the 11 AM tram tour was inexplicably sold out, and I didn’t want to stick around for an additional 1 PM tour. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum was closed until 10 AM. So my next move was to drive the 3+ mile “Loop Drive” through the park.

“Loop Drive” is a one-way counter-clockwise paved road with room for one vehicle to traverse with a bike lane running alongside it. The speed limits is 15 or 20 MPH, and you don’t want to drive any faster than that because the whole idea of the road is to see things as you drive slowly by. You also want to stay safe and not endanger any wildlife along the way, or bicyclists, or visitors walking around. Nature owns the park, so it should be respected.

Once on “Loop Drive” there are 8 walking trails where you can park your vehicle, get out, and walk on. Most are between 1,400 and 3,000 feet in length (a quarter-mile to a half-mile). Some of the trails meet each other, so you can go on a longer walk by combining adjoining trails.

I’ve been on most of the trails previously. One of the last ones along the road is the Ancient Hammock Trail – at 3,005 feet in length. It’s the longest trail in the park. It’s connected to the Sweetgum Trail (1,445 feet). It’s in the oldest part of the park, and it features towering cabbage palms and live oaks – some of which may be over 1,000 years old. There’s also an old CCC bridge near the top of the trail. I selected the trail to be the one that I would get out of my car for, and walk, and explore nature and hopefully not too much wildlife. I didn’t want to encounter any wild creatures that were bigger than me.

But that’s exactly what happened. About two-thirds of the way around the trail – out of nowhere – a large wild animal crossed in front of me from left to right – running quickly like it was being chased by an even bigger creature. It was either a Florida Panther, a coyote, or a deer. I didn’t get a good look at it since it was a blur while running, but I saw a tan color all over. That was the only excitement on the trail. Other than that – the bugs were surely out. It wasn’t too bad though. I imagine that the park is saturated with bugs during our 4-month rainy season from June through September.

I got back in my car, and I headed back to the main Camp Store / CCC Museum area. What did I see upon returning to that area ? I saw 2 big yellow Highlands County School District buses !

You know what that means. I’ll tell you all about it – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp