
Sharing the water's bounty, Everglades
We spent most of our recent getaway in the different areas of Everglades National Park, but one day we drove from our campground in Homestead to Key Largo, the start of the Florida Keys. It's less than an hour's drive but a whole different world.

We'd sort of planned on just a look-around drive and an early dinner, but then we passed a sign for this State Park we'd never even heard of, so we stopped. Marked nature trails sounded good, so we paid the small self-service entry fee and set off.

OK -- so we didn't want to bushwhack through unmarked wilderness, but the "trail" above was too tame for us! It was very odd, like walking down the middle of the highway. But we persisted and eventually found some side trails that were more fun.

When we finished our walk we read the signs at the entrance more carefully and learned that the paved part of the walk is leftover from the early 1970s, back when the property was privately owned and slated for a large condo development. The developers had big ideas, but failed to get financial backing (fortunately). I'm glad they didn't get too far on their development before giving up.
Anna Dagny Johnson, for whom the park is named, was a lawyer and environmentalist who spearheaded the campaign to get the State to purchase the property. It has been a State Park since 1982.

Both along the main trail (the street) and the side trails, occasional signage told us the names of some of the unfamiliar trees. We learned that the park includes one of the largest tracts of tropical hardwoods in this country. It was an interesting walk and the cool shade more than welcome on this hot March day. The Coquina wall is probably also left over from the planned development but it fit into the natural area.

We took a closer look at the wall and found that a lot of the stones contained sea fossils. This shows that some of the history in this park is a few centuries more ancient than the successful campaign to thwart over-development.
The following pictures are from the Everglades part of this trip:

More shore birds and wading birds getting along together.

Birds-eye view of a smallish alligator.
And back at the campground where we stayed near Homestead, some more feathered friends:

Peacocks roamed freely through the old RV Park where we stayed and one evening we counted at least ten! A few of them wandered over to check us out on the afternoon we checked into the park and then we'd see them every evening when we returned to our camp site. We never saw them in the mornings. They're loud and probably kind of messy, but it was a delight to watch them strut their stuff as if they owned the place. (Who knows, maybe they did. It was only the manager who checked us in for them.) We definitely didn't eat on the picnic table however.
Linking this week to the following with thanks to the hosts:
MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS and RATHER B' BIRDING