Despacio, Despacio.... A trip through several states of the USA ( and Mexico - sort of)

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5 - 8/12

Bid farewell to our friends, we convince them to drop and run. I hate goodbyes.

Onward- the plan is to fly to Orlando where we will meet up with Callum and Christine, they are catching a bus to the airport from Port St Lucie where they have spent the last few days. Our flight is uneventful- we fly Air Tran. For an extra $50 we get a big seat and food (like we really need it!), it's a novelty.

Arrive in Orlando and take off some clothes. It seems that the entire airport is full of people with Mickey mouse ears attatched to their heads. Actually you could just come to the airport and buy the ears as well as all your Disney souveneirs- there are several retail stores full of the stuff. In fact, you can go to the Universal Studio gift shop, the NASA gift shop, the Harry Pottter gift shoop, etc, etc. We find C & C and pick up a rental car. They give us a Grand Cherokee despite me booking a medium sized SUV- oh wait, everything is upsized in the USA! We dutifully go to the spot to pick up the car- no car. Go back to the desk and they give us a replacement, it is very shiny, very new and I am feeling somewhat nervous at the prospect of driving on the wrong side of the road again. We manage to get out of the carpark safely, get out of the airport safely and even get onto the right freeway. Stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right......

The plan is to drive to Lake Louisa National Park. But first.... we need food. Shake Shack or Speedy Shakes, or something like that pops up and keeping right, I exit safely. Park safely, and exit the car. It has been 1 hour so far and we are all still intact. It's still nerve wracking. It seems that it is happy hour at Speedy, 1/2 price mega, icecreamy drinks are the go. We also have some decent hamburgers and fries to complete the carb fest. Back to the car- stay right, stay right, stay right. According to the iphone app Lake Louisa is only another 30 mins away but we do need a supermarket stop. After an hour we find ourselves at the gates of the NP and a ranger waiting anxiously for us. Hmmm, the park closes at 5.30, so we just made it. We get our key and go find our cabin- C15.

Why are we renting a cabin in a forest in rural Florida?

Why not?

I got the idea to do something a bit different whilst on trip advisor one day and after posting a question on the forum several posters recommended Lake Louisa as a really interesting, fun place to visit.

The website http://www.FloridaStateParks.org/was very helpful in making a decision about which park to chose.

It cost $399 for a 2 brm cabin for 3 nights and was completely self contained including all linen. The cabin was one of the farthest away from the ranger station (about 2km into the park) and had a really good view of Lake Dixie. There were only about 3 other occupied cabins- we hardly saw a soul for the 3 days. The cabin had a big screened porch with rocking chairs, and table and benches. That led into a lounge and kitchen with the 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms off that. The kitchen had a decent amount of crockery and cutlery, paper towel, dish soap, etc. There was a microwave, an oven and decent fridge/freezer. It also had a gas fire and an aircon system. Good choice. Geoff and I were on dinner duty, quiet night.

Then there was the sound of gun shots....

Hmmm.

Then there was a big truck with big spotlights emerging from the bush.

We turned off all the lights and got down low.... Seriously....

More gunshots then they went away.

The next morning the peices all fell into place when we went walking- lots of boar tracks.... and a dead boar. OK.

Back to the story- Christine and I went for a hike the next day, we circumnavigated Lake Dixie which was pretty interesting. There are abour 20 miles of trail and 7 miles of road that are accessible for biking, hiking, etc. Lots of orange trees, all quarantined, growing throughout the forest. The park was once owned by the Hammond Family- they established a saw mill, orange groves and small town in 1910, the state then bought it in the 70's for recreational use. There is a lot of spanish moss as well as pine trees, cypress trees and grasses. I was surprised at how dry it was actually. We didnt spot too much in the way of wildlife- a tortoise and a few birds- mostly hawks (and the dead boar). Good walk around the lake, through the rv area and back. Geoff went birding.

Dropped C & C at Disney World for the afternoon- about a 40 min drive.

Geoff and I spent the afternoon walking the trails on the other side of the park - spotted a tortoise and a bunch of birds. Nice trails, well sign posted.

C&C were on dinner duty, another quiet night.

7/12

Made pancakes with Aunt Jemima maple syrup and american bacon, sat on the porch for breaky.

Spent the morning on the lake. We rented a canoe from the rangers staion ($8 for 2 hrs), circumnavigated Lake Dixie while on the lookout for alligators. Given the prolific signage warning us about them we were very keen to see one. We paddled into the most crocodile infested looking places we could but, alas, no luck. On the home stretch Christine spotted one so we rowed stealthily in that general direction. It would have been about a meter long at most and seemed to be stalking an egret. We spotted one other small one back near the shore. Really nice way to spend a few hours.

C & C went to Universal Studios in the afternoon so Geoff and I headed off to Christmas- liked the sound of it on the map. Christmas turned out to be a non event so we kept going down to the waterways in search of birds. We drove towards Titusville and across the parkway over the Indian River onto Merritt Island. There was a very nice birding centre but was about to close so we visited briefly. The way home was unpleasantly eventful - picked Callum and Christine up and prepared for a 4am departure.

If you are thinking of visiting Orlando Lake Louisa is an option to consider- its only 40 mins from the parks and good value plus you get a different experience to the tourist crowds of International Drive.

Miami is the next stop

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Photos

Lake Dixie
from the canoe- any alligators?

Canoeing
from the canoe- any alligators?