#53 - Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground - Lake Buena Vista, FL September 4-7, 2012

 

 Our Campsite - #625 in Sunny Sage Way

We went camping at Disney World again...like my husband says, "there's campgrounds and then there's Disney."  We went to celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary on September 5th. 

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Disney gives you these cute button pins, if you are celebrating an event, when you check-in to one of their resorts. 

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We took the Disney bus to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at Earl of Sandwich on the first night. We have eaten here twice now and really enjoy their sandwiches.  

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Riding bike is something we always enjoy doing at Fort Wilderness. We almost always see deer, but usually just does. This trip was different, however. 

Our good friends, Duane and Annette, came over to spend one night and to help us celebrate our anniversary. This is all we saw the first morning on one of our bike rides; just the antlers of a buck lying down in the underbrush. One of the cast members (that is what they call Disney employees) told us that there have been two large bucks hanging around in this area for the last few mornings. 

   

 So we came back early the next morning and this is 
what we saw...what beautiful animals!

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They have redone the pools at the campground to include a new slide. 
Pool slides are always fun...brings out the kid in ya.

  Michael coming down the slide.

 This is Annette's "graceful" exit from the slide. I love the perfect toe point!

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Even the clouds look like Mickey Mouse at Disney World (no editing applied)...

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 As always, we rode our bikes to the Wilderness Lodge to walk around and stroll thru the gift shop. This is the fireplace in the lobby. It was built to represent the geology of the sedimentary rock layers of the Grand Canyon. If we are camping at Disney during the cooler months, we usually sit and have hot chocolate in front of the fire, but it was too hot on this day. 

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We ate dinner at Rainforest Cafe on our anniversary with Duane and Annette. We always enjoy eating there. This time we ate at the one at Disney Village, instead of the one at the Animal Kingdom Park. 

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The third day we went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see the animals and to eat dinner. This is the resort's lobby. Love the hanging lights.

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We always enjoy looking at the animals and
 birds they have surrounding the lodge. 

 Roan Antelope

African Spoonbill

Shhhhh...don't wake up the flamingos.

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We ate dinner at Boma's,  one of the restaurants at Animal Kingdom Lodge. 
They have a great buffet with some unusual culinary offerings. 

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Sky writing an anniversary note to my hubby...
(actually, someone else paid for the sky writing, 
but the sentiment still applies).

#52 - Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake Campground - Orlando, FL April 6-9 2012

This is a City of Orlando park. It's surrounded by residential and 
commercial areas, but once you are in the Park, other than some traffic

noise from the nearby Florida Turnpike (which soon becomes white noise),

you would never know it. It is a large park with a very nice paved biking/walking path, WITH HILLS, something unusual in flat Florida.

Our Campsite #13

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Turkey Lake Scenes

A beautiful lake, but...

I wouldn't go swimming in it.

A Monarch Butterfly on pretty purple Pickerel

An Osprey, flying over the lake, with 
some nest building material. 

A pair of Mallard Ducks performing 
some synchronized swimming :-)

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They have a Children's Farm with many

 farm animals for children (and adults) to enjoy.  

His place out of the sun.

Life is good.

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They have a new nature trail at the Park called Nature Connect. 

This is the trail's entrance.

 

 Lantana flowers along the trail.

They built musical instruments to play along the Nature Connect trail. 

What a fun and unique idea!

Sunset photo taken while on the 
Nature Connect trail later that day.
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There are many Gopher Tortoise dens throughout the Park. They have

them roped off so people will not disturb them; as per the sign, they are

an endangered species. We saw this one below while on a bike ride. 

It was munching on some tiny yellow flowers. 

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I love this water fountain along the biking/walking path. 

It has one fountain for dogs and one for people. Too cool!

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The Easter Bunny visited the Park on Sunday. Cute!

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 Michael went fishing, but had no luck. That's
 why it's called fishing and not catching :).

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They also have a nice fishing pier on the lake. 
We like to ride our bikes on it and Red-winged 
Blackbirds like to perch on it.

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A Great Crested Flycatcher visited our campsite on several occasions. 
Very pretty bird.

#51 - Moss Park Campground - Narcoossee, FL March 8-11, 2012

Our Campsite - #28

This is one of our favorite parks for camping. It's only about 52 miles from our house, so it's a great place for a quick weekend get away. The campground is well maintained and a majority of the campsites are large and secluded. 

We always see a lot of wildlife at Moss Park. It is one of few parks that does not allow dogs, and we think that has a lot to do with why there is always a lot wildlife viewing. As much as I love dogs, they can scare the wild critters and birds, and we enjoy seeing the wildlife.

One of the reasons we went camping here at this time of year, is there are usually baby Sandhill Cranes walking around with their protective parents. But, not this year, the Campground Host told us there had been four babies born late last month, but something had gotten a hold of every one of them, probably a raccoon.  Sad. 

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However, we did see many turkeys over the weekend.

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This is Resurrection Fern after having no rain for many days. 
   Looks dead, doesn't it?

         Well it's not...this is Resurrection Fern after it rained Friday night.                    You can see how this fern got its name!  So pretty!

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We always see deer at this park. This doe really wanted
 those tender new buds on this tree.  See the doe in the 
background watching me?

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A beautiful Black Swallowtail butterfly

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This is the elusive Fox Squirrel. This is the only campground where I have ever seen this type of squirrel. I have tried many times to get photos of one of them and this was the first time I was able to get somewhat close enough to photograph one. They are larger than the common Gray Squirrel and have some really unique markings and coloration.

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I thought this was so comical how these Sandhill Cranes were both standing on one leg in the middle of the road, while preening their feathers.

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Did you know that a group of Turkey Vultures, or I guess any kind of vulture, is called a "venue"? So the next time I see a bunch of vultures

eating something dead on the side of the road, I can say, "Hey, look at 

that venue of vultures"...hmmm, maybe not, that just sounds too sophisticated of a description for a bunch of birds that just eat dead things.

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Unbeknownst to us, the Park was hosting a triathlon on Saturday and Sunday. We were up early Saturday morning to watch the events.

The first leg of the triathlon was swimming 750 meters
 (a little less than 1/2 mile) in Lake Mary Jane.

The awaiting chariots

 The second leg consisted of biking 12.4 miles.

The last leg was running 2.8 miles. The course took
 the runners right by our campsite, twice! 
The race started at 7:00am and the last runner 

went by our campsite around 11:00am.
 I admire the participants' stamina and dedication.

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We built a campfire Saturday night, even
 though we had the AC on in the camper :-)

We even cooked our gourmet dinner over the campfire!

 Watching a campfire is so mesmerizing.

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A few parting shots...

Fly softly, and carry a big stick.

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Crab Spider to the fly.

This is the waterway that connects Lake Mary Jane and Lake Hart, 
the two lakes that border Moss Park. Frequently, there are 
kayakers, crew rowers and  jon boaters using this waterway.