Monday, January 27, 2014

Myakka River State Park, Sarasota, FL

My plans for 2014 were changed a couple of times.  I finally settled on wintering in Florida and then going up to Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota for the spring and summer.   Much of what I plan on doing will be repeats, with a few new places added in.

If you notice in the next few blogs, I drove down to Sarasota and then headed back north for a few other parks, then back south again.  Due to some parks being full, I had to do a bit of back tracking!!

Anyway, I am not taking as many photos so some of the blogs may be shorter than normal. 

In early January, I stayed at Myakka River State Park for a week.  I had planned on hiking and biking a lot.  I biked the first 2 days and did a bit of hiking.  One of the bridges is called alligator bridge for a good reason.  On sunny days, you will see many alligator (and other wildlife) from the safety of the bridge.  Below you can see 5 alligators along the river.  

From the bird watching boardwalk I saw deer, feral pigs, Sandhill Cranes, Palm Warblers, a Bald Eagle, gulls, ducks…  I also learned something!!  I always thought that Snipe Hunting was a practical joke.  Did you know there really are Snipes???  Below is a Snipe, I believe it is a Wilson’s Snipe--

Have you ever cooked oatmeal in the microwave and had it run out of the bowl?  It’s a mess to clean up.   While cooking my oatmeal on my fourth day at Myakka, I started doing something else and then remembered the oatmeal.  I ran to the microwave and hit my toe/foot on the bathroom door.  Well the oatmeal was ok, but my toe was not.  For an hour or 2 I was debating going to the hospital to determine if it was broken or just jammed as it had swollen quickly and hurt!!  After reading a bit on the internet, I decided to wait it out as there isn’t too much that can be done for a broken small toe.   For a couple of days I didn’t do too much, then  I had to head out to my next campsite.  Walking wasn’t too bad after the first couple of days, but it didn’t feel good!! For the most part, I have been wearing flip flops but I did find one pair of enclosed shoes that had a lot of stretch to them.  From Myakka River, I headed to Oscar Scherer State Park. 

Note – I am currently at Hillsborough River State Park and my toe is still not right but is improving slowly.   I talked to a retired nurse a couple of days ago and she said it sounded like a broken toe, but said that without an x-ray you really could not tell – I’m calling it a broken toe.  I am not hiking as much as I would like, but biking does not seem to bother it so I have been riding my bike a good bit when the weather behaves.  Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since I hit it.  Next time, I’ll just let the oatmeal run over the bowl!! 

3 comments:

  1. Hope your toe heals soon. I discovered that if I added some dried fruit or cut up apple to the bowl that the oatmeal does not boil over the side of the bowl in the micro. I sometimes use a tall microwave pot instead of a bowl.

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  2. Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope it heals quickly. It's probably a good idea to stay south for now. Cold seems to be hanging around the south longer than usual. Take care.

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  3. Jim probably broke his little toe last summer. Took him a long time to be able to wear his hiking boots again but he bought Chacos and could hike with them without too much pain. It is still swollen and tender if he bumps it, so it takes awhile!
    You are missing the best weather we've ever had in the SW this winter. Warm and no wind. I'm sure it won't last!

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