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!