Cypress Creek Preserve

We went to visit it previous to our move there to see what it was like and found the ~ 2-mile gravel road to it full of large holes. The campground itself seemed pretty small unlike most of them that are wide open spaces.

When we actually moved there it had rained hard the night before and the road was simply atrocious. I drove very slow and tried to avoid as many holes as I could. We then got to a point where men were working on repairing the road and had just laid some gravel mixed with shells. It was difficult going  through the soft surface as our truck kept sinking but we made it through. Michelle got stuck and had to apply the four-wheel-drive option to get out of the muck.

Upon arrival we found the place almost empty except for one couple in a tent. After walking around we found that there were pockets of open spaces accessible through openings between the palmetto groupings. We found the perfect spot for the two of us where, once more, we could face each other's trailer.

We love this place! It is full of wildlife and birds! On our first day there we saw an owl (thanks to Michelle who saw him land on a branch), several armadillos and different birds. There are several Cardinals but I keep missing the shots. We wake up in the morning to the songs of multiple bird species. We hear and see hawks regularly.

Barred Owl

Downy Woodpecker

Trying to leap right out of my shot!

Got a bit of a shot finally!

We found out that both Ally and Sadie get very excited at the sight of Armadillos. And Sadie is fast enough to catch them or at least get too close for comfort. She got scratched badly by the long hard claws of her prey when she tried to catch one. Thankfully Michelle applied antibiotic cream several times and it didn't get infected and healed well. Ah! Life on the wild side!

Busy looking for bugs in the ground

Such strange animals! This one kept coming towards me until he was just a few feet away.
 I had to move so he wouldn't bump into me. Didn't want to scare him.

By looking at these pictures I discovered that armadillos have hair on top of their carcass and on their legs.
 More like pig hair.

Ally is getting more obedient and is starting to understand our commands. She is such a good dog! There are numerous trails where we can take the dogs so they got a lot of exercise while there (and so did we!)

So tired!

A rare sight - Cheeka with her eyes closed

MeMe relaxing in her "tree"

So the campground is great but could use some attention. Several fire pits are bent and half destroyed and apparently the pit toilet was full - very full according to the nice couple that was in a tent. Possibly the road condition prevented the truck from coming in to service the toilet. The crew was busy all week resurfacing the road and it is now quite good.

On one of our last day there we spotted a Gopher Tortoise just walking near the road. The first one we saw there. Glen also took us to a trail that led to a swamp (oh, the places he takes me!). We saw a juvenile Little Blue Heron then an Egret sharing space with two Ibis. Surprisingly, we encountered a wooden swing on this trail. Of course I had to try it but I was cautious as the ropes seemed to be pretty old and perhaps not so strong.

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Beautiful Egret

A swing in the middle of nowhere

Michelle with Sadie

After nearly wiping out the side of the trailer on palmettos on our way out, it was then smooth sailing on the newly resurfaced road. A great place to be if you love nature!

Orlando 2018

We're back in Orlando - the land of Disney! Walmart now sells a ton of Disney related stuff - we just can't get away from it.

So Michelle and I went to Disney Springs which is a high-end shopping mecca and restaurants where Michelle was to meet with her son & family on the weekend for lunch. We found the place easily and it was a short 30 minutes away from the campground. Garage parking is free which must be the only free thing anywhere near Disney World. We felt like kids let loose in a forbidden land. We did go into some boutiques only to realize how ridiculous the prices were. But we did see some beautiful decor items for the house that had us debating whether we should splurge or not.

The place is beautifully landscaped and is quite magical by itself. Most restaurants are on an island that connects to the mainland by several footbridges. We stopped at Starbucks of course and enjoyed a drink while watching a huge hot air balloon that was taking visitors up to experience an above ground view of the whole area. The balloon was tethered and thus only went up and down.

The man-made lake that can be seen from a tour boat

The balloon on its way up

A nice man-made river

Michelle's and my shadow reflected in the water

We always stay in loop D as it is the most private with lush vegetation. It's also near the lake, the dog park, and the lovely trails just behind the loop. We were also close to the bathrooms and laundromat (which is the most expensive of all campgrounds we have visited).

We had a nice site with large yard and a beautiful tree in front.

MeMe stalking a bird

The recreation complex was opened for business after being closed for quite a while after hurricane Irma. The internet is not any better than last year though. It's quite sketchy and slow. I am writing this blog sitting in a laundromat with free internet.

Glen and I decided to go without dairy for a few weeks to see if his digestive problems would be better. But even though he was very careful about not ingesting any lactose, his problems persisted. Meanwhile, I fell in love with almond milk and even more with the dark chocolate almond milk.So, so good and creamy! While we were at it we also stopped eating meat. I've been wanting to do this for a long time but felt intimidated by what we could eat instead. Here in the States, there are many options available for vegans and vegetarians. I found some great alternatives! I even baked a pizza that turned out better than whatever we could buy frozen and that competed very well with the pizzeria. It is fun and exciting to discover new flavours along with new recipes. I was seriously due for a change from meat and potatoes! Glen follows along but has the occasional meat to satisfy his man appetite. I feel good about doing something to express my sadness regarding how animals are raised and treated for human consumption.

If you want more information regarding the Orlando Thousand Trails campground, read last year's blog at https://baboowaba.blogspot.com/2016/11/orlando-not-just-disney-world.html

The temperature has not been very wonderful. It's warm enough for shorts and T-shirts during the day but not hot enough to want to go to the pool. The temperature quickly dips when the sun goes down which is nice for sleeping but we tend to just go into the trailer and stay there nice and warm.

Seen in the parking lot of the grocery store

I've changed the colour of my brown drapes (what was I thinking???) by sewing a nice aqua/cream fabric right on top of the insulated curtains. A quick fix that brightened the place tremendously! I'm very happy with the result and hope to paint the TV console next week while we're boondocking (not much else to do).

Tomorrow we leave for Cypress Creek Preserve which is a new place for us to explore.

Smile a lot. It costs nothing and makes others around you happy.

An improved Dupuis Equestrian free campground

We just had to return to Dupuis this year as it is such a nice place and that is where we had seen the Great Horned Owls last year.

To our surprise the place is now equipped with a new building with individual showers and nice bathrooms. The old building that housed the one shower (dirty, with spiders watching you) has been cleaned and revamped and is now a nice place. These showers are with hot water and are free! The bathrooms have flush toilets and electric plugs so you can blow-dry your hair and look decent even when dry camping!

Large shower

The old bathroom now cleaned up

Unfortunately, even though we did hear the owls a few times, the nest was gone and they had established residence elsewhere in the park.

Another favorite of ours is the drive from Gate 1 to the small lake. Last year we saw numerous alligators, even small babies, by the side of the road. This year, we only saw one by the large pond and a couple of them in the lake.

We did spot a few hawks but they are quite abundant in that region (so are the kestrels).

Red-shouldered Hawk

We discovered Ally's hunting style: a series of jumps that keep her above her prey (we never did find out what she was after but she sure was focused as she didn't respond at all to our calls). We thought we had lost her when she appeared back on the trail ahead of us. What a dog! She also has a tuck and roll routine down path when she is being pursued by Sadie. She quickly does a complete roll on the ground which for that time keeps her out of reach. Clever!

Oh! And we finally got a new battery! What a change! Our solar kept it fully charged during the day and it was still left we plenty of  "juice" in the morning. What a relief to not have to get up through the night to run the truck in order to keep the battery from dying. Finally, Glen can sleep all night without worrying.

The new hosts Ed and Jo, who are retired military police officers, are super nice but make sure everyone there has a permit for camping and they keep everything ship-shape.

As usual, we met some very interesting people. A young couple who had a ChowChow as a service dog. He was the sweetest Chow I had ever met and a very handsome one too. We also met an older woman, kind of a gypsie, who was traveling with other women who all owned camping vans. What an awesome way to travel! All women with a sense of adventure!

We used the empty paddocks to let the dogs play. It worked well unless there was horse poop in them which made the dogs more interested in eating poop than running and playing. Disgusting!

We couldn't be this close to the coast without visiting Juno beach! A beach dedicated to the dogs where they can run off-leash, go into the water and meet a lot of other dogs. What a blast!

The gang!

Birdwatching is easy when you're camping in a more natural setting than actual RV resorts. We spotted quite a few around where we were camped and some on our walks in the trails.

A beautiful Anhinga

Northern Waterthrush?

Immature Little Blue Heron

Blue-ray Gnatcatcher

And the many different kinds of Sandpipers on the beach.

The African Redhead Agama was still there although I think this is a younger one as it was smaller than the one last year.

Immature Redhead Agama

Dupuis Equestrian Centre is still high on the list of our favorite free campgrounds. Now we are off to Orlando!