Sunshine!

Kissimmee River State Preserve, Okeechobee, Florida

Today we awoke to some sunshine peeking through the clouds!  This is day 4 of our multi-day rain event which covers most of Florida.  There are still plenty of clouds and more rain is predicted today, but at least we saw a little blue sky and some sun!  Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

This is very unusual weather.  Summer time is rainy season for Florida and we usually get rain every day, but it’s just for a short time and then it’s gone.  This pattern is caused from a rare June cold front that’s trying to push through the state.   Some parts of the state have had over 10 inches of rain the past few days.  We have had very little rain here, so far.   Unfortunately, it’s not done yet.   Yesterday was the worst day so far and we were stuck inside most of the day.  Not much rain, but a lot of threats.

We did take a drive up to the corner store.   It’s a dumpy little store where you could buy a few staples, but you’d really have to check the dates on those products.  You can tell we were bored that we drove 11 miles to go there!  That’s the closest store.  There is a gas station (that sells diesel) and a small café.  We felt the need to get out of the house, so we decided to check out the store.

We didn’t dare do any hiking because you just never knew when the rain would start. 

Our little run into “town” proved to be very productive.  We saw two Red Shouldered Hawks sitting right beside the road.

They posed nicely for us.

I’m not a bit hawk fan.  They like to eat baby birds, squirrels and even dogs and cats.  No, they aren’t my favorite, but these guys posed so nicely for us, we had to stop and take a few pictures.

We had heard the park is home to another pretty rare (for Florida) bird.   It’s called a Crested Caracara.   We had been looking but hadn’t been able to spot one, until yesterday.

This is a huge bird, the size of a vulture.

It’s a member of of the falcon family.  It eats carrion.

It’s a beautiful and majestic bird.

After seeing those three birds, we felt like we had a successful trip.

We spent most of the day inside, watching “24” and reading.    We never got much rain, but a few scary looking storm clouds skirted the area.

We managed to get about a 2 mile hike before dark. 

There are so many deer and turkey here at the park.  You never take a walk or a drive that you don’t see deer, turkey, and rabbits.

Here is a big boy we saw yesterday.

As usual, the prairie was full of flowers.

We got another neighbor yesterday!  Fortunately, they are also at the regular campground, so we’re the only ones at the equestrian campground.  That makes for 3 of us now.

Here is a picture of our nice little campsite.

We have reservations through Saturday, but as of right now, we intend to extend our stay.  We want to do some more hiking on the many trails around the park, since the weather has limited what we’ve been able to do.