February 12 - February 20, 2016

I could have stayed at Lake Kissimmee State Park for much longer. It is such a peaceful place. Our nine days there went by very quickly. The drive to our next destination, Highlands Hammock State Park was a just over an hour long. We stopped on the way for groceries and checked the Sebring Golf Course and booked a tee time for tomorrow. 

After checking in at the Park Office and setting up at our site we headed out on our bikes and hiked a couple of the short trails. We had hiked all of the trails here last year and so knew which ones we wanted to see again.

                         

The golf course was extremely busy and it took us much longer to play nine holes than it normally would. However, it was a gorgeous day and a great walk, along with a few good drives for each of us.

      

After two nights at Highlands Hammock it was time to head to Venice so that we could volunteer at the Swing for a Cure golf tournament; a Scleroderma fundraiser. Our day of volunteering was a long one, with our day starting at 8:30 am and ending at 7:30 pm. Our jobs included monitoring prizewinning holes and selling raffle tickets. Thanks to Janet we did not have to travel far for this event as she put us up at her place for two nights.

       

       

Our next stop was Alafia River State Park, a park we visited for the first time. The park is a former phosphate mine. The reclaimed mine altered the landscape creating several small lakes and steep grade trails. The park has numerous mountain bike trails and horse trails. We hiked many of the trails and attempted a couple of the easy bike trails. On one long hike we spotted three very large black creatures in the distance. We didn't know if they were wild hogs or black bears. Needless to say, we walked very quickly from that location. A stop at the ranger station verified that what we saw were some of the enormous black hogs living in the park.

        

This park is very quiet. Our site has a great view of the water and includes a large picnic table and a fire pit. It is very easy to relax here.