On Easter weekend I visited my family in Central Florida. My brother David, nephew John and I took two long hikes in the Ocala National Forest. I was amazed to see that the term "forest" doesn't necessarily mean what my mind conjures up when I think of that word. This forest is huge, about the size of a whole county. We had a precious time of just being together, enjoying each other's company, having long, philosophical conversations (usually instigated by John) and enjoying the awesome beauty of God's creation. Most of the time, we were "off-trail" which is more arduous, but more exciting.

This first photo shows some beautiful pine flats. As we hiked here, the sun was beating down and the air was hot. The fragrance of the hot pine forest was such a delicious perfume!


This picture is a lovely example of thick spanish moss draped over a tree, against the background of a beautiful, clear, blue sky.


This shot is of a section of cleared trail we hiked through an area of oak scrub:

Dave took us to a little creek he had found recently and led us along the creek to the source - a delightful little spring, where we drank and rested a while. Here is the spring:

As we were following the creek, Dave decided to show off his skill as a monkey:

He never goes anywhere without his "piece" and here, he let me take a picture of our "bear protection:" (Yes, he has a license to carry it!)

John had never been taught the fine art of bubble gum blowing, so before we set out this morning I bought him a lot of gum and started to teach him how to blow bubbles. He got frustrated at first, but eventually he got the hang of it. This is the first big bubble he was able to make:

Here is swampland beside the St. Johns River. It is filled with boston ferns, cypress trees and cypress knees. This picture shows the delicate colour of the ferns growing in the continual shade. The cypress knees are those things growing up out of the ground. Nobody knows the purpose for them, but wherever you find cypress, you will find their "knees" growing all around them.

It was in this swamp that I got christened - while trying to navigate a particularly soggy area by stepping on spreading tree roots, I slipped and went into the muck. My left foot went in and I tried to pull myself up onto a stump nearby. But the more I struggled, the more the muck sucked me in, until my leg was sunk into the muck right up to my knee! Dave grabbed a tree with one hand and hauled me out of the sucking muck with the other. We all got a good laugh out of it.

We went out to the edge of the forest where it abuts the St. Johns River. This is a pretty shot of the riverbank with the dead stump of an ancient cypress:

This last picture was taken on cleared trail in an area of palms, scrub palms, and palmettos:

I can't wait for my next visit there - will definitely bring my waterproof hiking shoes again.