Little Manatee River, Hillsborough River and Manatee Springs State Parks

Because we have visited a few more parks since our last posting we will cover three of them and a few days worth of experiences in this one blog.

You win some and lose some when you are picking out campgrounds. Some look good on paper and the on-line descriptions are good, but when you go there it is very different. Little Manatee River is a great place for someone with a horse. Okay, why horse? Well, some of the parks we have been to have had equestrian facilities and tons of trails for riding. That is very cool, however, the tradeoff is that there are few amenities for bicycles. Florida's soil is generally sandy, and horses churn it up to the point of being impossible for bikes. We've been in several campgrounds with equestrian camping and think that it a very nice option for those folks.

We spent late morning, lunch and early afternoon on Monday with David's sister Barbara and her husband Bob in Pinellas Park. We even got two bags of grapefruit picked right off a tree behind a vacant house. We are enjoying fresh squeezed grapefruit juice for breakfast! Thank you Barbara and Bob for those and also the key lime pie! And by the way, the juice from the fruit right from the tree isn't anything like the store purchased variety. It is sweeter and oh, oh so amazing.

best grapefruit juice ever

Hillsborough River State Park is very close to Tampa and has it all except equestrian! They have a huge family-friendly swimming pool, which even has a wheelchair ramp. There is even wifi at the swimming pool, where you can also rent bicycles and canoes or eat in the restaurant. There are also lots of walking/hiking trails and great access to the river even right from the campground!

We also stumbled upon a gathering (three, actually) of Ultra Vans; RVs from the 1950/60s, designed by an aeronautical engineer. There were only about 350 ever produced, and few still exist. The originals had Corvair engines in the rear, but one of the ones we saw at Hillsborough had been upgraded to a V-8! Really wonderful RVs of which the owners are quite proud and will quickly grant a guided tour to the interested passerby. There are always different rigs, but these were the most interesting. Plus one great little “wagon” that reminded us of a caboose.

Very interesting RV to be sure

As we were getting ready for dinner at Hillsborough Paul noticed a red-shoulded hawk in the trees. Before we knew it he swept down onto the ground and appeared to be eating something. All this within about 30' of us. And then in the later evening the vultures (mostly black-headed we think) decided to rest in the branches of the trees high above us. They are not graceful birds so as they landed and jumped around little bits of bark were falling down near us.

And yes, we are hearing so much on the news about Travon (sp) Martin's shooting and Florida's “Stand Your Ground” law (right to self-defence). The shooter said that he felt threatened by this young teen who was carrying only a bag of Skittles and a bottle of ice tea. We are as outraged about this whole event as our black brothers and sisters are. It is sickening and our hearts go out to Travon's family.

Over 100 miles north of Hillsborough, after several hours on a highway (mostly straight as an arrow) we came to Manatee Springs State Park. This is a moderately large park with 80 or so camp sites. It is located on the Suwannee River and has a wonderful network of hiking and biking trails plus a freshwater spring that feeds a large swimming area which Dee and Paul said is wonderful. There is also a long raised boardwalk through a stand of bald cyprus along the outlet of the spring to the river. Along this are some magnificent trees in which the vultures roost. Also in our campground is at least one small herd of white-tailed deer, which are quite accustomed to people and graze only meters away from the campers.

Too big to swallow?  Maybe, maybe not.

The Suwannee River is great for paddling and so we got in nearly two hours of exploring. We watched a deer swim to a small island and then later got to see a cormorant try to swallow a fish. The photo is here for you to see the size of the fish. Several more shots showed that she got the fish going in the right direction and part way down but in the last shots the fish was back to the original position. Maybe it was too big!

There was no cell-phone coverage at the campground, but David and Marty needed to contact daughter-in-law Arlyn to coordinate a visit in Tallahassee with Arlyn's mother, so we jumped on our bikes and rode out six miles in 90-degree heat to find coverage. Thankfully this is Florida and roads are nearly dead flat! Contact was made, so D&M will visit Flor and Arlyn after checking in to Ochlockonee State Park.