Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I finally gave up and bought some web space so I could upload pictures to my blog. These are a few from my Florida camping trip. After the race, my partner and I headed to Coya Costa state park. We weren't going to veg out on some crowded beach. We were off to experience the Florida that the early Seminole experienced. Coya Costa is an island (key actually) that you have to be ferried out to. The weather in early March is just about perfect for camping in FL. The first thing to great us at our camp site was a 6-foot rat snake. I knew we weren't in Kansas any more. I reserved a site on-line about two-weeks in advance for $18. That's a lot better than the $175 you typically pay for a room on the beach. And we were right on the beach. Pick site #8 if you go. It has it's own little palm tree cove where you can nesttle your tent. They say that you can't bring alcohol on the state parks, but, the rangers say they are pretty lax on that, as long as you keep it on your camp site.




Coya Costa had a long beach and there were very few people so you could probably lay out buck naked if you wanted. There were plenty of hiking trails, but, my favorite part was the large lagoon. perfect for wading out and fishing. I caught several nice spotted trout. There were signs saying "No Swimming," Aligators. That was enough to keep my friend out of the water, but, I was pretty intent on catching some fish. The island is in a large estuary. That's a place where the fresh water meets saltwater. Which leads to an abundance of wildlife. The only animal that I didn't see that I really wanted to was the Manatee.




We stayed at another state park the next night called Korishon. It had a preserved, turn of the century settlement that where a very strange religious sect lived. They were all celibate, which explains why it eventually died out. Plus, it probably made it pretty hard to recruite. "Hey, do you want to join my religion? You can't have sex, though." No, thanks, I'll pass. It was on a the Estoria River, which we canoed for a few hours. It was gorgeous.