Breakfast at 7Eleven, a short stop at Siesta Key, Sarasota, and then: Myakka River State Park. Originally I didn't have it on my list, but I'm extremely glad I visited it. It is very scenic and has a couple of short hikes. It is probably best visited by canoe, unfortunately I've never done that before thus I didn't dare to try it traveling alone...
The canopy walkway through the top of the trees (approx. 5 m high) is very interesting, however that thing is swinging quite a bit and a small challenge for people with acrophobia like me. Even worse was the 20 m high wooden tower at the end of it, even though it isn't swinging too noticeable. 15 m were the most I could do. But the view was great.
Also, I met this surprisingly large guy:
As far as I can tell it's an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), the largest species of rattlesnake, and the most venemous in North America, according to Wikipedia
I also saw a lot of lizards, wading birds and vultures. A lovely park and a lot of great wildlife!
Afterwards, I drove back to Orlando, taking the quite scenic route via Arcadia (FL72, FL70, US17) instead of the Interstate. It was certainly worth the detour, no non-descriptive urban sprawl like on the Atlantic side, no one fenced-neighbourhood-with-a-golf-course next to each other like on the Gulf side. It reminded me of East Friesia at times, though.
Now, one day later, I'm at a Best Western hotel in Orlando, they gave me a suite for the regular weekday rate, yay! Flight's scheduled for 2:40 pm, which means I have some time left. Perhaps I could do some shopping at Aldi a few blocks away, their salted cashews are great!
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megadog.livejournal.com 15 years, 4 months ago
I am envying your snake.
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