Birds, Beaches, and Bikes! My Florida Highlights 📷🌴🦩
Published about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Issue 98 • May 9, 2025
Favorite Photo from Florida!
What's up, fellow wanderer?
I hope you are enjoying the last bits of spring as temperatures climb across the country. It has been hot and humid in Florida, which is a vast difference from our snowy welcome to the state back in January!
Our first Florida Snowbird adventure ends tomorrow as we depart for South Carolina. We are excited to head to a new state and have new adventures. and It's hard to believe we have been circling the central part of the state for 5 months! There have been a few dips (the snow as mentioned earlier, a minor motorcycle mishap that put the bike in the shop for a month), but there have been mostly great times exploring and meeting up with friends. In this issue, I will share some of my favorite Florida adventures and photos in this issue. Let's go!
Favorite Nature Escapes
I was enchanted by all the birds I found, but the roseate spoonbills and their babies won my heart at Orlando Wetlands. We took a tram ride through the park and learned how the water is moved through the different marshes to clean it naturally before making its way into the St. Johns River. It's a fascinating process; you can read more about it here. Besides the spoonbills, the sandhill cranes were fun to photograph as they casually strolled through the park.
I was thrilled to finally visit Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and even though I didn't see a single spoonbill on my first trip, the other birds more than made up for it. The way the anhingas pose to dry their wings reminds me of Batman! Fun fact about anhingas: they swim underwater to hunt for food, poking their long neck and head up, which resembles a snake! I finally got to see one swimming, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.
wood storks,Wakodahatchee Wetlands was a fun surprise. The abundance of nesting woodstorks and babies was almost overwhelming, but in a good way! They were so loud it was hard to hear anything over the babies demanding food, lol. Wakodahatche is designed similarly to Orlando Wetlands but smaller and you stay on a boardwalk to tour the park. It's definitely worth a visit if you enjoy birds!
Sandhill Crane and colt
Anhinga drying its wings.
Woodstork family
Favorite Beaches
There are SO MANY beaches in Florida; we did our best to visit as many as we could, and three of my favorites were Jupiter, Juno, and Daytona. The water was vibrant and mesmerizing, so I foundchilled and enjoyedsights and sounds whenever we went.
Jupiter Beach
Juno Beach
Exploring Daytona Beach
Favorite Adventures
finally attendedandWe were able to finally attend a meet-up with our RV heroes, Keep Your Daydream (Marc & Tricia Leach), and it was every bit as fun as I always imagined. They were gracious and friendly hosts to all in attendance.
My Florida goals were all about the birds, but Jody was excited (in his own mellow way) to attend the 84th annual Daytona Bike Week. We did it without a bike but still managed to have some fun! Based on the rides we got to do, I think Sturgis was more fun. Florida is not an ideal place to ride a motorcycle, in my opinion.
A visit to Florida is not complete without a trip to see gators! We made a day of it at Gatorland in Orlando, and what a fun day it was! If you are interested, check out their website here.
KYD meet up
Daytona Bike Week
Gatorland Orlando
Extra, Extra! New Blog Post is live!
Wild colt at Theodore Roosevelt NP
We took the opportunity to explore at a slower pace here in Florida and really enjoy the places we went. A slower pace and a more mindful approach to capturing the wildlife has helped me to capture some of my favorite images. While I will always be working to get my photos technically "perfect" I have begun to appreciate the genuine moments, even when they aren't perfect.
That inspired me to write a new blog post about capturing authentic moments in nature. Check it out at the link below and let me know what you think!
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