Slipped out of a soon-to-be frigid Massachusetts on Super Bowl Sunday and let Amtrak's Silver Meteor deliver Mrs. Trashpaddler and myself to the palm tree shaded railroad station in Winter Haven, Florida...
We knew we'd picked a good destination upon seeing this above ground water pump outside the station...
It reminded me of the old joke about a Yankee driving south with a snow shovel strapped to his car's front bumper and not stopping until someone asks him what the hell that thing is for.
After renting a car with Georgia plates (so as to go undiscovered as rube Yankees) we headed further south in search of Sanibel Air...
...which was encountered driving across the causeway.
A welcoming view...
Once on Sanibel Island we enjoyed the beaches, and also became Tarpon Bay explorers via rented bikes and kayaks at the J.D. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The 7,600 acre refuge is named for Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling who, among many accomplishments, designed the blue goose logo seen at U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuges across the country (such as this one at Oxbow back in Massachusetts)...
The highlight of our visit to the "Ding" Darling refuge was paddling the Commodore Creek Water Trail...
...a mangrove lined waterway...
...where the river banks look a whole lot different than those of my local rivers...
...with bird species we don't get to see up our way.
We encountered this yellow-crowned night heron ...
...ibises...
...and a brown pelican...
...as well as belted kingfishers and osprey before returning to the open water of Tarpon Bay...
Not a speck of trash was to be seen.
By bicycle on the park's Indigo Trail we saw a sleeping roseate spoonbill...
...an anhinga...
...and more white ibises...
In fact those guys were hangin' out everywhere...
The beach provided plenty of interesting stuff such as a high and dry stingray...
...and a beached needle-nosed fish...
...tons of sea shells and whelk eggs...
...and this waddling pelican...
Taking a dip in the gulf waters more than likely exposed me as a Yankee as no one else was seen in the water. A guy on the beach thought I'd captured a good-sized lobster...
...when actually I was just holding my sandals above the waves (forgot about the stingrays).
At length (too short) we boarded the north-bound Silver Meteor...
...which brought us back to a frigid Massachusetts where ten degree temperatures awaited. Fired up the stove and went to sleep before awaking this morning to minus seven degrees and wondering if it'd all been a dream. Could this really have been the view looking up from my hammock?...
Rather than ending this post with a photo of collected trash I can end with these sea shells Mrs. Trashpaddler collected along the beach...
No comments:
Post a Comment