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| A view of the spa building *sigh* |
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| Ibis by the water |
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| Kayaks are ready to go (But not for me – I saw an alligator in the water!) |
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| He was posing for me |
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| Cool looking bird we drove by (Heron?) |
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| Ibis – The most interesting thing (to me) is that these birds were roaming free! |
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| Zebra – Love these unique creatures. |
From my recent trip to the Naples, FL zoo. He (she?) was enjoying a snack of grass.
I enjoyed a wonderful lunch here, and made sure to bring my sketch stuff. The beach and weather were both perfect that day.
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| View from my table |
Naples Beach – Illegal beach chair!
Ok, confession time- I was looking for a beach chair. The first place wanted $20 for an hour! I said I didn’t want to buy it, just rent it for an hour. So on I walked, and soon found these lovely chairs and umbrellas. I went up to the hut, and said can I have a chair for an hour? I don’t need an umbrella, just the chair. He says, of course! I asked how much, and he said, oh no charge, they are free for guests of the hotel. Um, so I said, that’s great! He set it up for me, facing the correct sun direction, and I used it for my hour. After a few minutes, I realized it was the Ritz-Carlton, and the young man didn’t realize I was only a beach wanderer. The ‘real’ guests get a mini-flag pole, so when they raise their flags, they are waited on. Maybe next time I’ll be a real guest, haha.
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| Ritz-Carlton beach chairs |
I’ll guess visiting a swamp isn’t everyone’s idea of a Florida vacation! But since I did this trip on my own, I did exactly what I wanted. And Corkscrew Swamp didn’t disappoint. I spent several hours walking the boardwalk which meandered throughout the huge trees.
I got to see some beautiful birds, a couple of gators (still frightening to me, and I was grateful for the raised boardwalk) and an ancient landscape.
Here are some of my sketches so far – I’ll add others that I started but haven’t finished yet.
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| I had so much fun sketching here, I thought it deserved a title page! |
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| These were rather cool swamp items, or so I thought… I didn’t notice the er, um, rather embarrassing symbolism until I was halfway through! *blushing* |
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| These rather GREEN plants looked to be waving at the sun. While sketching them, a lovely orange butterfly went past, so he was included as well! |
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| I laid on a bench to sketch these trees and the sky! |
Here is a description I found online:
“Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary’s Boardwalk
A 2.25 mile boardwalk meanders through pine flatwoods, open prairies, and finally into the largest forest of ancient bald cypress in North America. These impressive trees, relatives of the redwood, tower 130 feet into the sky and have a girth of 25 feet. Their massive branches are draped with mosses, lichens, air-plants, orchids and ferns.
Almost 200 birds are permanent or temporary residents of the Sanctuary. Year round, visitors see egret, ibis, heron, limpkin and anhinga. Songbirds, including black-throated green warblers and yellow-billed cuckoos, visit during the spring and fall as they migrate. Corkscrew is world renowned for supporting the largest colony of nesting wood storks in the United St
I have always been fascinated by these trees. From Wikipedia – “In Hinduism, the banyan tree is considered sacred. God Shiva is nearly always depicted sitting in silence under the banyan. It is thought of as perfectly symbolizing eternal life due to its seemingly unending expansion.”
Used my new noodler’s flex pen (as so many others have acquired recently!). It seems to take ‘forever’ for the ink to dry. Am I just impatient, or maybe my lines are too thick? Suggestions are welcome!
While we were relaxing, about 40 kids showed up and parked their towels right next to us. About 6 or 7 years old, they all ran screaming & laughing into the ocean. So much joy! Here are some of their towels.
Surprise trip to Ft Lauderdale, spent yesterday at Deerfield Beach. Very hot! Air temp- 92F, heat index of 100F!!!
