Fall in Florida

I never take time off from work, so this is monumental. Typically my adventures are limited to daytrips or a very brief overnight stay somewhere during a long weekend. However, my mom is staying in Georgia for the winter and we decided to take a road trip down to Florida after Thanksgiving to visit my hometown and all my other relatives. 

I grew up about an hour from Orlando near the beach (Merritt Island/Brevard County). Central FL tends to be very touristy and sadly a lot of the natural beauty has been destroyed by development. Of course there is Disney World, exceedingly large outlet malls, beach resorts, etc but that is hardly where I spent my time growing up. 

For your reference, please view the incredibly detailed map on the right, which marks all of the local breweries in the great state of Florida (don't worry about the panhandle- there aren't any there apparently). The little bump on the middle, righthand side is Brevard County.

If you know where to go, FL has amazing outdoor features. We were not been able to do as much as I would have liked because many places in FL are not dog friendly. If they were, this would be a much more interesting post about places you might like to go.

Chances are anyone reading this is either from Merritt Island and knows everything I am writing about OR will never go to Merritt Island and does not care OR may go to Merritt Island but will be doing things like visiting the Kennedy Space Center or going on a cruise. So if this all seems a little mundane and like "really she is writing about her grandma's neighborhood??", it's because it is. This may not be the Florida people imagine, but it's the Florida I grew up in.

We spent most of our time visiting with family but did go on a few excursions into the local wilds. My mom and I ventured out to the local wildlife preserve Ulumay one morning. This is located on Merritt Island near my childhood home. It may be flat, but try it on a warm humid day and see how strenuous it can be! There is an observation tower, about 11 miles total of walking trails and a "kayak trail". 
Disclosure- I hear it is a gathering places for less salacious types at night but we certainly didn't see anyone while we were there. It was very quiet and peaceful.

We also took the dogs to the beach. For the record, of all the many beaches up and down Brevard County, there is exactly ONE that allows dogs. So off to Canova Beach we went.

Apparently, there are two Canova Beach parks and the more southerly one off A1A is actually the dog beach. We ended up at the other one but it was relatively unpopulated at the time of our visit, so we stayed put. Technically, dogs are not allowed at this part of the beach.Some more on Canova Beach- no bathrooms or showers. We had quite an ordeal cleaning the dogs off before going home and there is still sand in the car.

Another word about dog beaches, dogs are supposed to stay on leashes but we let Tennille off. I mean, what is the point of bringing your dog to the beach if she can't run free? We all got lots of exercise running up and down the shore with her. Nova also had a blast and thought chasing birds was the best. 

One of the things I like best about FL is the likelihood of seeing animals. Anywhere, anytime. Let's see, we saw an alligator, a tortoise, many lizards, an owl, sea birds (not just seagulls), crabs, peacocks, various other birds, cows (lots of them) and probably more I am forgetting about (such as feral cats- lots of them at the beach). Not to mention, the neighborhood critters, such as the horses near my grandma's house. There have been horses at this pasture for as long as I can remember and going to visit them was one of my favorite things as a child. 

Speaking of horses and cows, there is somewhat of a belief that FL and it's inhabitants are somehow not southern. Sure, most people south of the panhandle don't have a southern accent, however, denim shorts, mullets, and Nascar do not discriminate. Neither does finger lickin' good fried food. In order to conquer one of my fears from childhood, we paid a visit to Lone Cabbage Fish Camp (just the humans because of course, NO DOGS ALLOWED). 


This place is located on the St. Johns River right on the border of Brevard and Orange counties (Right off on State Road 520 "The Beach Line", in case you need directions). It is quite literally a shack with a dock and several faded, air brushed signs guiding the way to either the air boat rides or the food. 

Now I am not bashing Lone Cabbage. It is a legit Brevard institution. I'm just saying the appearance, mixed with the Spanish moss on the trees, fog on the river and remote location scared me a bit as a child. (FYI, they did find a 9 foot anaconda down the river the same day we were there). But seriously, best fried shrimp I have had in years. James got gator, frog legs and catfish and he said the same. We didn't do an air boat ride because I'm cheap and not that touristy. I would recommend canoeing or kayaking if you want to get a real look at the FL wetlands.

Other than that, our trip just consisted of catching some beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It's funny, when I'm on vacation I don't mind waking up at the crack of dawn to see the sunrise. Hopefully we will return to Florida soon and possibly be able to take in some more remote outdoor locations (in the mean time, Google "Florida Springs" to see my all time favorite places in FL).

Blood Mountain 10-31-15

In the spirit of Halloween, we decided to hike Blood Mountain. It was a chilly, cloudy, blustery day and felt just like Halloween should feel. Although Blood Mountain is one of the taller mountains in Georgia, it is one of the closest major mountains to where we live. It's located near Dahlonega, which is a great place to visit in and of itself, and we have been there on several other occasions. However, yesterday we were on a timeline (had to get home to watch the FL/GA game- although we totally could have missed that!) so we focused just on hiking.

We started at the ever popular Byron Reece Trailhead off Hwy 19 in Blairsville. We arrived around 10 am and started out. I hiked Blood Mountain about 7 years ago but it was during the summer and everything looked totally different this time of year. 

I love the stream that runs along the beginning of the trail and the changes in foliage as the elevation rises. There were still some red and yellow leaves showing through but most of the leaves had fallen. The trail was a little slick due to some light rain and the leaves covering the ground. The trail is very rocky and root filled, so exercise caution if the ground is wet. I actually fell on the way down on a spot that didn't even look that slippery.

One of the things I like most about the Blood Mountain trail is the "pattern" of the trail. It starts off pretty slow and level, giving you time to warm up. The hardest parts are in the middle, briefly, and then the climb to the summit is pretty relaxed. So for me, it doesn't feel strenuous at all. It is a very enjoyable hike.

Since we had the dogs with us, we didn't spend too much time at the summit. It's hard to wrangle two 

dogs without someone falling off a cliff. It was also very windy and cold at the top and our sweet Nova was a bit chilly (we forgot to bring her sweater). I would say it was probably 15 degrees colder at the summit than in the parking area. We poked around the "hut" and took some pictures before heading back down. Both Nova and Tennille had a great time climbing around the rocks and exploring. Their dachshund noses are in heaven out in the woods. 

All in all, we had a great midday hike and now we can say we officially hiked our first 4000+ peak. We finished around 1:30 pm and made it back home to watch the game, although we should have just stayed in the mountains! The Blue Ridge was looking particularly blue and misty because of the clouds and it was so peaceful.

I'd definitely like to come back again soon and hike further along the Appalachian Trail, camp overnight or visit some of the other recreation areas nearby. Happy November!

Cloudland Canyon Day Trip 10-24-15

Cloudland Canyon State Park does not have a 4000+ peak but it is probably the most beautiful place I have been in Georgia. The last time we took a hike specifically to look at fall foliage was for my birthday in 2011. We went to Amicalola Falls and unfortunately, the foliage really wasn't that great that year. 

Cloudland Canyon, however, was stunning. We were seriously stopping every 2 minutes to take pictures and just enjoy the scenery. The dogs had a wonderful time also. They may have short legs but had absolutely no problem keeping up. 

Cloudland Canyon is about a 2 hour drive northwest from where we live in the north metro of Atlanta. It is not difficult to reach from 1-75. The bulk of the non-highway driving is on SR-136, which goes through the Chattahoochee National Forest and passes other hiking areas such as a Pinhoti Trail stop and Johns Mountain Wildlife Management area. It is a scenic drive with many farms, pastures, etc. 

The park was very crowded this weekend, because it is reportedly the peak weekend for fall foliage in north Georgia. There are several trail options and the Cloudland Canyon website clearly lines these out. We did the waterfalls trail first, which is only 2 miles long, but has thousands of stair steps. While the views of the waterfalls were lovely, I would not recommend this trail for dogs. The stairs are open metal grate type material and little Nova could not even walk on them due to her feet slipping through. Therefore, I carried her up and down. She only weighs ~8 lbs but it was not very fun for either of us. Tennille could handle the steps but was hesitant and we had to coax her up and down, with many stops along the way. It seemed most of the visitors wanted to do the waterfalls trail, so the steps were crowded with people going in both   directions. Not good to have dogs underfoot....

               

After the waterfalls trail, we went on to the West Rim Loop Trail, which is about 5 miles long, and provided the best views of the surrounding scenery. This trail features large, rocky outcroppings with many observation areas, panoramic views of the canyon cliff faces covered in various color leaves, a stretch of peaceful, relatively flat woodlands, and several hike in campsites. It is not a strenuous trail and has very little incline. The dogs had a blast on this trail and Nova literally bounced over all the roots and rocks. There was not a lot of traffic on this trail at all, especially the second half once we looped around.

         

These are just a fraction of the photos I took. It was hard to choose which ones were best, considering each and every tree had such unique colors. The weather also varied quite a bit throughout the afternoon which changed the ways things looked. It started out cloudy but then rained a bit and humidity rose, causing some haze over the mountains. Once the rain cleared up, the sun came out but by then was around 5 pm. Regardless, the changing sunlight created many different "filters" on the leaves and rock. 

In summary, our visit to Cloudland Canyon was a fantastic day trip. Honestly, we got a pretty late start and did not actually begin hiking until about 2 pm. We started the West Rim trail at about 4 pm, so even if you only have a few hours to spare, a hike around Cloudland Canyon is within reach. We got back to the parking area around 6:30 pm with daylight to spare. We did 7 miles total, with many stops for pictures and doggy water breaks. We easily could have spent the whole day or even the night here, but we do have other obligations today. Our niece is being baptized and and sadly, I have some work to do. But there is always next weekend...