Diet And Travel

Florida Day 10,

On this day we were in Ocala Florida and during this day we visited the Tuscawilla Park. It is Ocala's largest and oldest city owned park. The mossy oaks look gorgeous and provide shaded areas through-out the park.

These photos may look familiar to some of you,  I have shared them on my other blog. I just wanted to share this park on my travel blog so it is a repeat.


"Not all those who wonder are lost."  J.R.R. Tolkien


Ocala is known for all it's gorgeous horse farms. So, it is fitting that there were horse sculptures in the park.





I like this statue, it could be hubby and I in our golden years.


The abstract fishing pole is one of the many sculptures seen in the park.


We walked the pathway around the lake checking out the birds, the lake and all the sculptures. I hope you enjoyed our visit to the park. If you are ever in the Ocala area it is worth a visit.  Thanks for your visits and comments.

 I am sharing an overnight visit to Cape May/Atlantic City, New Jersey earlier in July. It was a pretty day to visit Cape May and the beach, I think I even got a little sunburnt.

A mosaic of the Cape May wildlife: Top Row is the Purple Martin house, Halloween Pennant Dragonfly, Sarah Fogartya Wren. Second Row : Black Crowned Night Heron, Muskrat, Bunny, Third Row: Least Tern, Oystercatcher, Black Skimmers. Bottom Row: Blue Grosbeak, Mute Swan, possibly Forster's Terns.

For my Skywatch shot, the Cape May lighthouse and the Purple Martin birdhouse.

You have to look closely for this fence, just a white string tied to the area closed sign. This is to protect the birds nesting on the beach and dunes.

Another sky shot,  hubby and I sat on our beach chairs watching the waves. A few dolphins swimming by and the planes with their advertisements.

The Least Terns recognizable with the white spot on their foreheads. LOL, do birds even have foreheads? My birds posts are just for fun and I hope the serious birders do not find my post on the birds, their birdie parts and or how I type their names unacceptable. I guess they are skipping the part, that I admit I am blogging just for fun, I am an amateur photographer and I must admit sometimes I might miss a spelling error or put a dash on a bird's name when it does not belong.

Which leads me to bird slang, are you a birder or a birdwatcher? Maybe you are a twitcher or a dude.  Definition of a Dude: a low-keyed birdwatching hobbyist with a lack of devotion or enthusiasm.  A dude, really? Why bother birdwatching if you are not enthused with the birds? I love all the birds and wildlife, my favorite thing to do is go out and look for any species of wildlife. Maybe I am not understanding the definition of a Dude, could I be a dude-woman? I found this link with bird slang check it out Bird slang

A fence scene and a happy couple walking down the trail to the beach.  I hope you enjoyed our Cape May visit.

I hope you enjoyed my post and photos. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments.

This post continues with our Florida vacation day 4.

On this day we did a lot of driving to the Viera Wetlands near Melbourne Florida  and then back to the Cape Canaveral National Seashore.

Click on the images for larger viewing.

The first three photos are from the Viera Wetlands, the marshland, an American Bittern and a gator.

The next few photos are back at the Cape Canaveral National Seashore





The Turtle Mound composed of oyster shells, the tallest shell mound in Florida.

The view from the top of the mound.

Me and my shadow on the Cape Canaveral beach.

Our Florida vacation.. day 2 on the east coast..We spent time at the Merritt Island NWR and Cape Canaveral National Seashore.

The top two shots are from the Merritt Island visitor center.

Following scenes are taken from the wildlife drive at the Merritt Island NWR.







Above White Pelicans in flight.

Cape Canaveral National Seashore.

Thanks for visiting, have a great day!

I am sharing some of our Florida trip photos March 14-25th. Our first stop was near and around St. Augustine on Florida's east coast. This is more of just a photo blog post, more scenic photos than photos of the birds which show up on my other blog.


Some scenes on the following photos are from the Washington Oaks State Park.

Saint Augustine Lighthouse.

A Gopher Tortoise seen on one of the local beaches.

If you like, you can click on the images for a larger size photo.. This is just part one of our trip..There will be more to come.

Thanks for visiting, have a great day!

Hubby and I enjoyed an ovenighter to the Jersey Shores.. We started out at Barnegat Lighthouse and beach and then worked our way back down to Atlantic City, New Jersey were we spent the night.

Barnegat Lighthouse and the beach are my go to spot to see the winter ducks..I was a little disappointed with the amount of Harlequin Ducks, usually we would see them all along the rock jetty. This visit we saw a few out in the ocean but nothing like the quantity we saw in past years.

When we checked the weather before leaving they were calling for sunny weather, I think someone goofed.. It was mostly cloudy at Barnegat..My sky and fence shots are of the Barnegat Lighthouse..

Another shot looking back at the lighthouse and a few Savannah Sparrows..also known as Ipswich Sparrow.. a lighter colored Savannah which is seen on the coast..The fences along the jetty wall are there to protect peeps from falling on the rocks and into the water..

Another distant shot of the lighthouse, a few male Harlequin Ducks and bottom right are some Common Eider..

Our cloudy sky at Barnegat Beach.. the wind picked up too. I think the weather arrived a day early.  At least it did not rain, I am looking on the positive side.. We missed seeing a lot of the usual ducks like the Long-tailed Duck and the Scoters.. We left Barnegat Beach and started our drive south again, we made a quick stop at Edwin Forsythe NWR which will be another post.. But, I have a sky shot from the wildlife refuge..

I hope you enjoyed the first part of our getaway and photos.. Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments..I hope you enjoyed your visit.