Found a nice hike while waiting for our slide toppers…

There has been a delay in our order of slide toppers. I was really hoping to finish them up so I could publish  part two blog about installing them but that will have to wait till I get them. Such is life.

Although it has been a bit cooler in Bonita Springs and a lot windier than in the past 3 winters we spent here,we are still finding new things to do.One of those new things was a park with hiking trails just a stones throw away from where we are staying. How this little gem of a place evaded us during our other winter stays remain a mystery. But, alas, we finally did find the Bonita Nature Place just east of Interstate 75 along the Imperial River.

We drove the short 2 miles distance over to the park and found a small parking area where we could park to walk into Nature Place. Parking is free (and believe me, there isn’t a lot of free parking around here) which was great. We parked and found a trail map .After a look at the map we decided to hike all the trails since none were very long.

No sooner we had parked I spotted a Gopher Tortoise as I exited the car. It was in the sand right beside us so of course we had to snap some photos. I am not sure but I think it may have been a female about to lay eggs as she was still perched partially in a hole just where we left her.. After taking her pictures we found that the trailhead near some buildings but beside the buildings we found a fairly nice butterfly garden. Of course again we had to stop to admire and photograph the monarchs, viceroys and yellow sulfur butterflies skitting from one orange butterfly weed to another. It was so nice to see for sure…

We passed by a bat house designed to provide shelter for the indigenous bats but what caught my eye was the pileated woodpecker beating the heck out of the back of it. They better come up with a plan or they will surely need to have to replace the bat house real soon! We also found a working bee hive and another visitor center but both were closed this day.

The trails themselves meandered through typical riparian southern Florida vegetation and there were significant amounts of trees down and stacked nearby due to Hurricane Irma.It was sad to see so much damage and erosion by the river but actually the park was in great shape with the trails mostly cleared and lots of repaired boardwalks cross low spots alongside the Imperial River. We hiked the trails all of which were probably less than two miles but what a great respite it was for us and I feel sure we will visit again when the other buildings are open on Tuesdays and Thursdays especially since it is so close to our park. I look forward to another stroll in the Nature Place…our new find in Florida! 

With news of the flu epidemic we are sure hoping all of you are well. We avoided the flu but Sharon is battling bronchitis and I caught a cold. Ugh. However we are thankful we had the flu shot as so far we have avoided the epidemic. Our grandson was not so lucky. For two days our chats were sad because he felt really, really bad. Luckily the Tamiflu combined with bed rest kicked in and he called us the 3rd day saying he felt "almost like a normal kid again". What a relief. Stay well, everybody!

NOTE: We are now in our winter home until March 1st in Bonita Springs Florida at Imperial Bonita Estates RV park and Coop.