A few weeks ago we took a walk through the Yellow River Marsh State Park in Milton, Florida, which is home to hundreds of pitcher plants in bloom. Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants. Like the Venus Fly Trap, they “eat” insects. You can read my review of Yellow River Marsh State Park at Pensacola with Kids. For today, Photo Friday, I wanted to share pictures of the pitcher plants.
Stop by DeliciousBaby to see where others are traveling!
If you haven’t been following Trekaroo’s blog this past week you should drop by. They have been showcasing National Parks and have had some great articles lately about Yellowstone, Yosemite and other great National Parks. I can’t believe that I have never shared one of my favorite things about living on the Gulf Coast! Being close to the Gulf Islands National Seashore! The Gulf Islands National Seashore is located in parts of Mississippi and Florida. Here are just a few of the things that you can do at the Gulf Islands National Seashore:
1. Visit real forts – Visit Ft. Pickens and Ft. Barrancas and see how the Pensacola area was protected. You can take a self-guided tour or join a ranger for a guided tour.
2. Go camping – There are several options for both primitive and developed camping at the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Our favorite camping spot is Ft. Pickens.
3. Play in the sand and the surf – The Gulf Islands National Seashore is full of miles and miles of beautiful powdery white sand. Play in the sand and then cool off from the humidity in the surf…mild as it may be!
4. Go fishing – No one in my family is a fisherman so we don’t have much experience with this but there is always tons of people fishing throughout the seashore.
5. Go for a walk or a bike ride – There are so many trails for walking and biking. It can’t get much better than watching a sunset while biking on a trail or walking hand in hand along the water.
Stop by Trekaroo’s Spotlight Thursday to read about other national parks.
When we went camping a few weeks ago, we stayed at Falling Waters State Park. It is home to Florida’s highest waterfall. Standing at 73 feet, the waterfall flows into a sinkhole. The waterfall had more water than we expected due to the crazy rain we have been having in the Florida Panhandle. The waterfall ranges from completely dry to a moderate flow but is usually a trickle.
The waterfall
The sinkhole that the water flows into
A view from above the waterfall
Thanks to Debbie at Delicious Baby for hosting
Photo Friday!
This past weekend, we went camping at Falling Waters State Park (blog post on camping with toddlers to come…I have plenty to say!). My mom had told me that she had heard about the Real Florida Passport for the Florida State Parks. My husband laughed at me as I asked the park ranger about this passport. I was expecting a flimsy little booklet…however, for a small fee of $8.51 I got this fantastic 188 page resource!
As I flipped through the passport, I immediately wished I had gotten one of these a long time ago. The book is broken up into regions of the state (Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest, and Southeast FL). Each state park has its own page. On the page, you will find a description of the park, special notes about the park, directions to the park and hours of operation. There is also a spot for you to write the date of your visit and any notes that you may want to make about the park.
The best part about this book? It is a passport!!! I don’t know about you, but I love to collect passport stamps. If my passport isn’t stamped, I seek out someone who can stamp it. I love running my hand over the freshly inked stamp and I love to look back through my stamps and remember those special trips. When you visit one of the Florida State Parks, you can stop by the ranger station and get your passport stamped!
Our first passport stamp!
As I was flipping through the book on the drive home, I was surprised at how many parks we have in this state. There are so many near me that I didn’t know about. My husband and I can’t wait to start collecting passport stamps!
On our way to Panama City this weekend, we saw this humongous cloud of smoke billowing out of the National Seashore. We almost turned around to hit the Interstate because we thought that whatever the smoke was coming from was probably going to keep us from moving through the area quickly. At the last minute, we decided to forge ahead. We soon found out that it was a controlled burn site. Behind the clouds of smoke, you could see the sun trying to shine through.
