A Night in Milton

Yesterday we traveled from Lake City to Milton, Florida.  Yes, it takes two days to drive from Bradenton and across the “Panhandle of Florida” to the border on Interstate-10.  Unlike last year, the weather today was sunny for the most part making the drive very pretty over gently rising and falling hills that are claimed by stands of pine or cleared fields donning a new carpet of green, spring grass.  Here and there, lakes shimmer in the landscape and you can tell the water levels have risen with winter’s precipitation.

There are a few shrubs blooming with blossoms of a pale blue color with a trace of mauve.  Their lavender branches occasionally show up now along the roads.  New, red tinted leaves are appearing on some of the trees, but in their hammocks the cypress trees still stand with bare limbs above their mostly water-covered roots.  Actually, the majority of tree limbs are bare even this far south except for the pines.

Today we crossed over into the Central Time Zone gaining an hour in our day around lunchtime.  We also passed a sign for the Ponce de Leon Springs State Park.  The park contains a beautiful spring that maintains a constant temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit year round.   The spring is named after the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon who came to Florida in 1513 in his search for the “fountain of youth.”  It looks (from the photos on the park’s website link above) to be a very pretty place and maybe worth a stop on the way back in the autumn.  I think I may have said the same thing last year when we passed by so I better put it on my evolving “bucket list” for this year’s journey. 

Twenty minutes out from our destination, we encountered our first rain before arriving at Avalon Landing RV Park just off Interstate-10, slightly east of Pensacola and a thirty-minute drive north from the Gulf Coast.  The park is situated around a preserve with a view of a lake and marsh to the east.  In the overcast evening light it was a pretty view shared by a variety of birds we observed.  Even several pelicans sat happily on a fence built out in the water.  Apparently, you can rent a canoe here and paddle out into the water if you wish to.  They have “bird condos” in place here, six to either side where a dozen birds can (and evidence suggests have in the past) make their homes.  I recognized the calls of red-winged black birds and crows as we walked after dinner.  It is a park that is newer that I would happily return to just for the natural views and sounds of songbirds.  The Wi-Fi is good here too, so it is a pleasure for writing.