St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, St. Marks, Florida

A friend of mine, Peter, came down to visit just before Christmas.  He had just returned from Afghanistan (Army Reserves) and I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years.  Coming to Tallahassee in December isn’t the most exciting thing.  Sure it’s a bit warmer than Topeka during the winter, but it’s not exactly beach weather.  Add in the fact that my wife and I are a little past the bar scene (even though we made a visit to Finnegan’s Wake with my friend and his girlfriend), and it could be downright boring.  So my wife and I sat and thought of what we like to do in our free time…hiking, kayaking, and reading.  Well, a group reading session probably wasn’t what Peter was coming down for and we stored our kayak in Sarasota through finals to make sure we would study rather than take a “paddling break” and losing an entire day of school work.  So we decided to go check out the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  Peter and Alana weren’t real exited about hiking though, so we just went and did the usual drive down to the lighthouse and let them see the Gulf.

It ended up being a really interesting day, since a huge bank of fog rolled in before we got there, which made it seem like a perfect time to be at the lighthouse.

The fog created a unique experience for our friends and we were grateful for that.

When we were ready to leave, the fog rolled away.  It seemed almost as if it was there just for us, since there weren’t many other people there that day to enjoy it.

Our friends had a great time, and Erin and I have been intrigued to go back as soon as she is done with her preliminary exams to become a doctoral candidate and after we return from my friend Josh’s wedding in Kansas.

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Florida and Alabama win the water war against Georgia

Florida and Alabama have been competing with Georgia over the water contained in Lake Lanier.  Atlanta wanted to increase their consumption of the drinking water, which would’ve been detrimental to the interests downstream, i.e. Alabama and Florida.  This ruling helps to protect the oyster industry of Apalachicola Bay.

Florida and Alabama victorious in water war ruling

Senate starts 2009 out on a pro-environtment foot!

Great news to see that congress is striving toward conserving wilderness in America.

Senate boosts wilderness protection across U.S.

Robinson Preserve, Bradenton, Florida

Over Christmas break, my wife and I stayed with my parents in Bradenton.  Thankfully the weather was warm enough that we got to make good use of our kayak.  My parents had been telling us about a little nature preserve on the northwest coast of Bradenton, near the southern edge of the mouth of Tampa Bay called Robinson Preserve.  The Saturday after Christmas, we decided to check it out.  Half of the paddling trail was closed due to bald eagles nesting in the area, but we still got to go for a nice little paddle.

After winding through some mangroves we came out into Tampa Bay and there was a small bar that stretched out into the shallows of Tampa Bay.

You can see the Sunshine Skyway in the distance from here.

We spent a little time exploring the shoreline.

We paddled back to where my parents were fishing in the preserve.  They decided to paddle the boat back to the put-in, so Erin and I went to the top of the look out tower and then walked the paved trail back, with an armload of fishing gear.  You can see my parents below, in the blue kayak, as seen from the look out tower.

Here are some other views from the tower.  First is Tampa Bay and the next is the rest of the preserve.

Robinson is a great place for a nice afternoon biking, hiking, fishing or paddling.  It is a great addition to the Bradenton area.

Robinson Preserve, through the Manatee County website

Camel Lake/Trail of the Lakes, Apalachicola National Forest

Finally, after trying to get to the Apalachicola National Forest, it happened.  Yesterday, I set off from Tallahassee with my friend Micah to go find the Camel Lake trail head just south of Bristol, FL.  We decided to start out on the Florida Trail from the Camel Lake campground and do a 9-mile loop that connects parts of the Florida Trail by way of the Trail of the Lakes.  There really is nothing like a walk in the woods.

We took a little detour down a logging road, which led to this shot.  It was impressive to see straight rows of pines as far as the eye could see.

The variety of ecosystems you encounter along the trail is impressive.  At one point, you are moving through little islands in a swampy area by way of log and cable bridges. 

The Trail of the Lakes takes you by two lakes/ponds.  The first you encounter is Sheep Island Pond.

Then you encounter some upland forest with evidence of prescribed burns as well as meadows and lowlands.

Then you come upon Bonnet Pond, surrounded by beautiful cypress trees.

The hike was a refreshing break from school and work.  It’s always worth it to get away from the grind when you can.  A walk in the woods can do wonder for one’s mental and physical state.

Next weekend, its off to Kansas for the wedding of a friend.  Nothing like the biting, brutal chill of the Flint Hills of Kansas in January.

Florida Hikes, Trail of the Lakes

Beautiful Photography

I have been visiting two blogs (written by the same person) for a while now and thought that I would share them with you.  The author takes some absolutely gorgeous photographs.

The first is dedicated to her paddling trips:  Kayak Paddle Tales

The second is dedicated to photos from trips she’s taken:  Photo Miscellanea

Please check these out, they are fantastic.

Paddling the Wakulla River

This past Saturday, my wife and I finally got to take our kayak out together.  We picked it up the previous weekend in Bradenton, where my dad and I gave it a test run at the Robinson Preserve.  But this week was it’s first real test.  We decided to take it to the Wakulla River, just south of Tallahassee.  We only spent a couple of hours on the water since we were both in the middle of midterm hell, but it was a perfect break to relax us a bit.  We had quite a wildlife adventure too.

This big guy was hanging out not too far from where we put in.

Then we had our most spectacular encounter of the day.

We saw five total on the day, but this first group we encountered must have been a little family.  There were two adults and a baby that really couldn’t have been much longer than 2-3 feet.  They seemed to be pretty interested in us, so we let them check us out and then paddled on.  It was quite the experience for us taking the boat out for the first time.

We were surprised that there weren’t too many boats out…just a handful of kayaks, canoes and pontoon boats primarily.  Not that we were complaining…it was, for the most part, completely serene.

So we were satisfied with our new rig, and our first foray into the kayak world as owners instead of renters.

And it worked perfectly with the Subaru.  We are hooked, for sure.

Let’s Go Rays!

Tomorrow, the Tampa Bay Rays play their first playoff game ever, after winning their first division title ever, in their first winning season ever.  Crazy.  I was a season ticket holder in 2005 when they went 67-95.  The next year.  It’s amazing the progress they’ve made since then, let alone since last year.  So here’s to you, Rays!  This year has been a success, but let’s make it even better.

Honeymoon at Lake Tahoe

I haven’t posted since I got married in mid-August.  The wedding went swimmingly, especially since we were directing people all over Tallahassee who had never been here before (not an easy task, with a street system as screwed up as Tally’s).  The day after the wedding, Erin and I drove down to Tampa, stayed the night, and then flew to Reno the next day.  Talk about an excruciatingly long plane trip to not end up in another country.  We flew from Tampa to Denver to Las Vegas to Reno.  Family friends let us stay in their house in Truckee, CA for the week while they went to Sonoma County to work on a new project, updating a hacienda in a vineyard they bought.

Before they left, they took us around the whole Tahoe-Donner area.  It was beautiful, and a great change of scenery from hot, muggy Tallahassee.  The first day, we wore jeans and jackets all day.  We drove up through Donner Pass, across the Rainbow Bridge, and looked out over Donner Lake, where we would eventually spend a day kayaking.

We then went to Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics, and took a cable car up to the top of the mountain.

At the top, there was a little Olympic museum, skating rink, outdoor swimming pool (!?!?!) and stuff to cater to the skiers during the season.

The next day, we went down to Sand Harbor, as our friends had suggested.  So, being Floridians and thinking it was cold outside, we went in our jeans and hiking boots, ready to tromp around.  It ended up being a little warmer than we thought, and we were the only people there without bathing suits and flip flops on.  Nevertheless, we found plenty of scenery and rocks leading out into Lake Tahoe to keep us occupied.

That afternoon, we went on our first hike of the trip.  The night before, in Tahoe City at a coffee/bike shop called the Gear and Grind, a local told us to take the 5 Lakes trail at Alpine Meadows.  So we did.  The trail was only 2.5 miles to the lakes, but it was straight up the side of a mountain in a ski resort area, so it was a little steep.  It was great though…absolutely beautiful Sierra Nevada scenery.

At the end of the trail, there was this gorgeous little lake.  We sat by it for awhile, resting for the trip back down, which would end up being nearly as strenuous at the trip up.

The next day, we started out at D.L. Bliss State Park, on the southwestern edge of Lake Tahoe.  When we began our hike, we were surrounded by trees that had been cut down in the name of defensible space.  In California, they cut down certain trees to try to decrease the possibility of wildfires.  Anything that is dead or dying is cleared out.  This made for an sawdust filled hike to the top of the ridge before descending down toward Lake Tahoe.

The view from the top of the Ridge was amazing.

So were the views along the rest of the trail.

That night, we decided to drive over to Reno to check out the city and pick up some stuff at Sierra Trading Post.  We enjoyed Sierra Trading Post, but downtown Reno was another story.  It was alright at first and we had a very nice dinner at Harrah’s.  We also won a whole $8.00 (high rollers, I know…we stuck to nickel and quarter slots).  But right around 11:00 pm, downtown started to get a little sketchy, so we got out of town and went back to Truckee. We did enjoy the neon signs a bit.

The next morning, we got up and went down to Donner Lake to go kayaking.  It was $18 to rent there as opposed to $70 at Lake Tahoe.  We rented a tandem kayak and paddled around Donner Lake.

Erin had never been before, but she fell in love with it.  I’ve always enjoyed paddling, so I was excited when she started talking about getting a kayak (which we did when we got back, thanks to Craigslist and Canoe Country in St. Pete).  The water was crystal clear on Donner Lake.

And there were great views from the water as well.

That night, our friends returned and we went out to dinner in Tahoe City, right on the lakefront.  It was a great honeymoon, and did a pretty good job of preparing us mentally for the coming semester in which we are currently entrenched.  Working full time and going to school full time is sort of a nightmare, but kind of a necessity to have cashflow and get through my program in a timely manner.

Tahoe was great and we are looking forward to returning hopefully next year!

Summer in Florida…

Well this has been an interesting, even though uneventful, summer.  My time has been spent wedding planning, adjusting my course of study for my Masters degree, visiting my parents and working.  With the hot/rainy weather of North Florida in the summer months, there haven’t been many trips over the weekends.  Part of that is also due to the imminence of our upcoming wedding (T-minus 2 weeks and 2 days!).  Trips that would have normally lead to the beach, fishing, camping, or hiking have instead taken us to Target, Sam’s Club, etc.  I did make 3 trips to visit my parents in Bradenton though.

Erin had to do some work on her thesis equivalent on the east coast of Florida, so my parents met us halfway and took me home with them.  This happened twice in the course of a month.  The second trip happened to fall over the weekend of July 4th.  I went to see the Rays play the Royals in St. Pete (Rays won 11-2) and then went fishing with my dad.  The fishing excursion was fruitless, except for seeing our first manatee in the wild, near the pier at Holmes Beach.

A few weeks later, Erin and I made the trip back down for my dad’s birthday.  We went to a Rays game again, this time to see them play Toronto.  Afterward, there was a post-game concert by MC Hammer.  Yes, it was Hammer Time at the Trop. 

The game was a lot of fun, with the Rays beating the Jays 6-4 and seeing Evan Longoria hit his first career grand slam.  The MC Hammer concert was entertaining, but for the wrong reasons.  It was ridiculous and everyone that stayed for it, stayed to laugh.  We left shortly after it started.

So, next comes the serious stuff.  In two weeks, I’m going to be married here in Tallahassee at the University Center Club (at Doak S. Campbell Stadium…GO NOLES!).  Then its off to Lake Tahoe for 5 days for our honeymoon.  When we get back, we’ll be greeted with the start of a new semester and a new college football season.  It’s going to be whirlwind month and I can’t wait!