Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Boardwalk Shelter

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I've said it before. It's no secret. I love Hammock Park in Dunedin, Florida. It's a wonderful, peaceful place to wander about and unwind. It's also a great place to see some wildlife, and enjoy some wooded areas that are more like what Florida should be, or used to be at least. I've been to the park a number of times for a lunch break, and it always brings a little more relaxation into the rest of my day than would be there otherwise.

If you are looking for a nice place to stop and get away from the frantic pace of work for a while, or a good place to get close to nature without having to drive for an hour or two, visit Hammock Park and learn what all the fuss is about for yourself.
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Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Butterfly Garden Beautiful Red Flower

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I had the pleasure of strolling the new Butterfly Garden at Hammock Park during lunch one day recently. It was there I came upon this brilliant, beautiful red flower. It reminds me of some sort of Hibiscus, but please don't quote me on that. Either way, it is a very pretty blossom, and I have no doubt that it must be quite attractive to butterflies.

The Butterfly Garden at Hammock Park was created by the Friends of the Hammock group, and is very nicely done. I suspect it will only become more and more wonderful as it becomes more established. This is a real treasure of a park, and I would encourage you to join Friends of the Hammock to help support it.
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Dunedin, Florida: Mother Nature Awaits Her Opportunity

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Call me anti-social, but I love to see evidence of the fact that Nature is always standing by, patiently waiting to reclaim what we have taken from her.

We mine and process and build, and we re-shape the planet to our whims, but no matter how hard we work, Nature never stops working against us. I take great pleasure in watching it reclaim a bit here and there. :)
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Honeymoon Island Nature Trail 12

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I honestly cannot be sure that this is number twelve in this series... but I really didn't think you would mind if I got the number wrong.

What this is... is another shot of the trail on Honeymoon Island. The hiking trail, or nature trail, has various turn around points so you can enjoy it a little longer if you'd like, or get back to your car sooner if you'd like. Honeymoon Island State Park.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Honeymoon Island Nature Trail 11

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I have been feeling the urge to get outside a bit more lately. But I have been stymied by work. So, since I can't get there in person, I decided to post some pictures of the kinds of places I would like to be. Why? Because I like to share these beautiful places with you all, so you can enjoy them too!

This photograph was taken out on Honeymoon Island, also known as Honeymoon Island State Park, while hiking the Nature Trail. It's a really awesome place, that gives you a deeply natural feeling. It's easy to get out there, the trail is easy to get to and easy to hike. Definitely a thumbs up recommendation on this trail!
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: What's The BUZZ?

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Hmmm, what's that buzzing noise? I don't know. It's so... so... so deep. I mean, it sounds like a thousand bees all buzzing at the same time...

Yeah, that is one HUGE bee hive! I would put it at about 3 feet tall, and maybe a foot around. I spotted this beauty high up in a tree, and at first I could not be sure it was a bee hive. Then it seemed like there were little dots whirring about. Finally, I came back with my camera and telephoto lens. The result is there in living color. Each one of those little golden dots is a bee.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Sawgrass Lake Park: Baby Alligators!

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I was reminded recently that I had mentioned posting pictures of these baby gators when I posted a picture of their mother, back on the 6th of this month. So I am getting caught up in this post. On a recent field trip to Sawgrass Lake Park, we had great luck spotting these alligators and other wildlife.

If you look closely, you can see four baby gators in this picture. They were about a foot long each, and every once in a while one of them would make that little grunting/mewing sound they make to talk to their mother. If you click the picture above you will see an image twice as large. If you want to see a really big version of the picture, click here.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: FIELD TRIP! Sawgrass Lake Park

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GATOR! DW and I took an impromptu mini-vacation Sunday, and spent a few hours at Sawgrass Lake Park, in St. Petersburg. It is a really beautiful place. It's amazing to think that it exists here, in the middle of this densely populated county.

St. Petersburg is just about 15 or 20 minutes south of Dunedin, and it is really easy to find this park. This is actually not even the first alligator we saw at the park. I have some other pictures to share, perhaps, of the babies we saw too. But this shot was such a nice clear image of this wonderful animal. I'd say it was about 5 or 6 feet long. We were watching safely from a position on the deck, about 4 or 5 feet above.

All in all that day, we saw three adult alligators of about this size, 4 baby alligators that were about a foot long, a GIANT soft-shelled turtle, and a wide variety of other wildlife. It was an awesome holiday away from chores and work and worries.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Finale: Bridges To Cross

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It's true, we all have bridges to cross. Many of them, in fact, throughout our lifetimes. I couldn't help but notice the two bridges I came across in Hammock Park, and wonder about all the bridges in my life.

On a larger scale, you could say that we, as a country, have a bridge to cross, and that we, as a species (Man) have many bridges to cross in the future. Some of them worry me.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Trail Lunchtime Hike Bridge

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Ah yes, we all have our bridges to cross, don't we? Well, I crossed this one happily, lost in the dense 'forests' of Hammock Park. No, it was not difficult, it barely qualifies as a bridge, but I certainly enjoyed getting to the other side.

What about you? How goes the bridge crossing? I guess, depending on what is going on in your life, there are plenty of bridges to represent the varying degrees of difficulty or triumph of your endeavor. This one might stand for just getting to work on time, and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, that spans the mouth of Tampa Bay, might represent beating breast cancer. How about you, what's your latest bridge look like?
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Trail Lunchtime Hike 2

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This is just the thing that makes me long for more time in my life. Not just an extra hour or two, although I would gladly take them. But hours and hours of free time, time that I could spend however I want without penalty or price.

Then I would find a little spot in the woods like this, and sit there with my camera, or without it, and just wait. I would sit there and wait and watch and observe. I would let the forest sounds play to my ear, and I would seek out each different sound as I sat. Then I could truly hear what was being said. I could get to know the world so much better. Not the human world, the fabricated, manufactured world, but the real, natural world... That would be a wonderful thing.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park: Nature Trail Getaway

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If you are on a nature trail in Florida, don't forget to look UP too! You never know when there might be a delicious harvest of juicy citrus fruits dangling just overhead. I saw ample evidence of the local fauna enjoying these citrus fruits, with small piles of peels on the ground beneath the trees.

It's been some nice days of lower humidity lately, and we are still not into the truly hot months yet. So it's been very enjoyable walking the shady trails of Hammock Park lately. I imagine it will still be nice as the summer reaches its peak, as long as you can dress in shorts and a light shirt.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Trail: The Little Things

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Look down! Yes, don't forget to look down! That's were I found this little fiddle head, at about knee level. What an incredible thing, nature and life... this little fiddle head will grow and uncurl and expand to become a beautiful fern.

Are you familiar with Fractals? That's what this reminds me of. Nature's own fractals. I love to be able to get away from work during the day and enjoy some of the amazement that is nature and the natural world around us.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Trail Lunchtime Hike

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Here is a little bit more of what Dunedin probably looked like before all the houses were built and streets paved. In fact, this might be what a lot of it still looked like when the Fenway Hotel opened, in 1925! Yesterday, we first started on the Vivian Skinner Grant Trail N. But that is a large, wide open trail, and we are looking for something more intimate, a trail that will get us closer to nature.

So we take a sharp right turn, and start on a much smaller trail. The map is a little confusing. We are on either the Oak Trail W. or the Cline Trail. Either way, it is smaller, more quiet, and takes us deep into the woods (for just a little while). This picture makes me think of Robinson Crusoe. What do you think?
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Hammock Park Lunchtime Sweet Escape

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Sometimes, you just have to get away from it all for a while. Especially if you sit in an office crunching numbers all day. So welcome to my lunchtime escape. I offer you a virtual mini-tour of Hammock Park, in Dunedin, Florida.

So I had a very nice lunch break, enjoying a quiet walk in the woods, listening to all the birds and crickets instead of printers and copiers. Of course, it made it even better to have my camera and capture some of the beauty. This tour will cover just a small part of the park. It would take too long to see it all on a lunch break. But rest assured, we'll be back for more!
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: At Least They Said Please

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I'm trying to get my office, at work, classified as an Environmentally Sensitive Area, so I can post this Please Do Not Enter sign outside. My thinking is, if I don't let anyone in, they can't give me more work! Whattya think?

This sign protects some of the wild scrub and grass land out on Honeymoon Island State Park. It's a beautiful area, so I am glad to see it protected like this. It's easy to see how this natural area would support lots of diverse wildlife.

** HAPPY FRIDAY!!!
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Honeymoon Island Beach: Sea Oats Plantings

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I'll be honest with you, I am not entirely certain that these are Sea Oats, but that is what they remind me of. No matter what they are, they look neat if you ask me. I like that there is an effort being made to 'restore' the beach to a more natural state. It seems like we humans create lots of situations that require restoring, rebuilding or repairing.

This picture was taken when it was just about dark. I love my Nikon D80. With a little tweaking, it becomes a workable image, and a neat look.
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Honeymoon Island Nature Trail 10

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Ah yes, and here we are... back to the parking lot. Now for that... HEY! WAIT! What are you all doing running away to your cars now? What's that all about?? Helllooooo???? Where'd they go? I can't believe they all just ran to their cars and left! I don't understand...

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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Honeymoon Island Nature Trail 9

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Good luck, my friends, that clearing ahead means we are getting very close to the parking lot, where we started. We'll be back to man-made restrooms and water fountains soon! But I have a surprise for you... once we get back to the picnic area at the parking lot.

As it is getting on toward dusk, I know some of you are feeling just a little chilly. We'll take care of that right soon! Hey now, to hear all that grumbling back there, it's enough to make a Nature Trail Guide think you might be tired of hiking this trail with me!

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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!

Dunedin, Florida: Honeymoon Island Nature Trail 8: Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

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I seem to be hearing a lot of whining coming from that group in the back, so we'll take a break. While we are breaking, let's all have a wee swig of me Green Wonder Juice out of me little green flask, to celebrate the day! And keep in mind... hey, are you listening? You there, you pack of wheezing slaggards, are you hearing me? Good!

As I was saying, keep in mind it is St. Patrick's Day, so there is a very good chance that we might run into some Leprechauns out here on the Island, looking for some mischief. Don't you listen to nothing they be wanting to whisper in yer ears! I mean it! They'll turn you green and laugh while you sit crying!

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If you would like to see more of this area, check out Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your mini-vacation to Dunedin, Florida!