I have always wondered what the attraction to south Florida for all the snowbirds who flock their every winter. So this winter we are off to south Florida to see what all the excitement is about. But the question is…. are we really snowbirds if we live in Alabama? I think not.

We took off for our latest adventure on Wednesday January 11th just two days following the Alabama thrashing of The Ohio State University 52-24 for their sixth National Championship. I did not plan it that way some six months ago when we make the initial reservations but it worked out pretty good for us.

Our first stop was at Suwanee River State Park near Live Oak Florida for a two night stay. The park is rather small but had several trails that proved to be interesting. The main trail meandered along the famous river of song and through the forest of live oaks filled with Spanish moss. It was a very quiet and peaceful stroll of a few miles. The campground is small with only about 30 sites.

Our next two nights were spent at Silver Lake Campground near Brooksville. It is a State Forest campground set along a rather large lake and near a flowing river. Once again it is small with only 23 sites spaced out nicely with plenty of room to roam around.

We arrived at our main destination early afternoon. The campground is very nice and better than I expected. We are on the end right along the shoreline facing the river. Across the way is the lock and dam where we will watch the yachts and sailboats go through during the day.

We spent our first day in the Ft. Myers area traveling about an hour to Sanibel Island and Captiva. We drove the entire island from end to end and enjoyed the tropical plants that were simply amazing and everywhere along the road.

The highlight of the day had to be the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It included a drive through the area that meandered around the bays, lagoons where hundreds of shore birds were busy feeding. We saw many different birds including white pelicans, egrets, Hawks and plenty of osprey.

We also took time to walk the beach around the Sanibel lighthouse. The beach is covered in seashells of all shapes and sizes. It was very different from the gulf coast and any other beach we have visited.

Our last stop for the day was at the winter homes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison in Ft. Myers. This is a very interesting place when you think about what these two giants of American history discussed across the fence dividing their properties back about 100 years ago.

It is Tuesday and we made the short drive to Manatee Park to view the manatees of course. They gather here in winter when the water temperature dips because of the warm water emitted from the power plant just upstream. There were many manatees here just floating along very close to the shore.

We drove about an hour to Myakka State Park just north of here. I took the back roads to see the orange trees and wide open spaces. It seems there are a lot of oranges still on the trees they have not picked yet. We did pass a couple of places that processed the citrus into orange juice.

The State Park is a single road that passes through the park for about seven miles with multiple stops along the way for some short walks. We saw so much wildlife at most every stop. Everything from alligators to many species of large water birds. I think we may be turning into bird watchers if you can believe that. I cannot believe it myself but they have such a variety of big birds in south Florida it is hard to resist the urge to stop a view them when possible.

Near the lake it was almost like being in Africa with the gators and spoonbills side by side along the shoreline. Truly amazing to watch and snap a few photos.

We took the long drive to Everglades National Park which was well worth the trip. We saw a lot of alligators, Osprey, a variety of large birds and even a crocodile.

The weather was coll but it did not keep the animals from coming out that day. Hopefully next year we will be able to spend more time here when we return.

We left south Florida after three weeks and traveled north to south Georgia where we stayed for a couple of weeks at Crooked River State Park near Jekyll Island and Fort McAllister State Park near Savannah.