Click on the first photo in each group and scroll to see the square photos at full size.
To start at the beginning of this series, visit Dodging the Deep Freeze 2020.

We continue our escape from Wisconsin winter with a week in Kissimmee. We originally had two weeks booked in Orlando, but since we keep forgetting that our Bluegreen points are not unlimited (duh!), we decided to come here for the first week using an RCI week that was due to expire soon. Although the Fountains is one of our favorite Bluegreen resorts, sacrifices had to be made. We booked the Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort, and it was not too shabby!

Morning Visitors

Since we both like to have what we (think we may) need, we tend to take advantage of our ample trunk space. We were very excited when we pulled up to our unit with parking right outside our door. Especially at a new place, many trips with a luggage cart can get stressful, so this was a pleasant surprise – as was our single-story, two-bedroom, two-bath condo.

Our patio overlooked a small pond, a lake and a golf course. We spent many mornings sipping coffee on the patio, and often had a few Sandhill Cranes come for a visit. Our neighbors were generous with the snacks – so I’m sure they assumed we would be too. Since it’s been drilled into our heads to keep the wildlife wild, we just enjoyed the parade past our patio every morning.

The Quiet Side

Turns out, this resort is huge! There was a much more populated area with restaurants that we visited several times during our stay, but we always enjoyed coming home to the quiet. The high-rise area was very beautiful and the pools awesome, so you may prefer that area if you have kids in tow.

Celebration

The next day, I made a quick trip to Celebration to mail a letter and to look around a bit. Since I was on a mission, I didn’t do any shopping or check out the movie theatre that was beautifully situated on the lake.

“The Celebration Community was formed with the concept of building a better place and a better way to live. There’s a reason Celebration is not a town, but a community in every positive sense of the word.

In order to draft a blueprint for fulfilling such a vision and oversee its creation, the Walt Disney Company founded The Celebration Company. Utilizing the combined experience of a specialized group of world-renowned city and social planners, as well as the best architects of our time, The Celebration Company conceived five principles that would guide every aspect of the community’s creation. Those five guiding principles known as the Celebration Cornerstones, consist of: Sense of Community, Sense of Place, Focus on Technology, Focus on Education and Focus on Health.” – READ MORE

Celebration looks like a beautiful place to hang out for the day. Maybe next trip we’ll give it another look.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

On our way down to St. Pete Beach from PCB, we stopped by the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park to see what it was all about. Since we were pretty booked up that day, we gave a thought to returning to the area while we were in Kissimmee. Obviously we liked what we saw because here we are! It was slightly over a 90-minute drive today, but we took the scenic route, so it probably took us longer. Go figure.

The Visitor Center was very nice with a great gift shop and lots of history of the area. As part of our fee we were offered two modes of transportation out to the island. Since the boat ride was narrated, we took that on the way over to the island and we returned on the tram.

Our First Alligators!

It took us almost a month to see our first alligators but here they are! Most were basking in the sun to warm their blood to become more active, but it wasn’t really working. If they moved at all, it was in slow-motion, and probably because today’s temps were barely above that 70 degree mark.

Over the pond where most of the gators were basking, were trees-full of nesting birds. It seemed to me a risky placement, since gators seem like they may enjoy a birdy-breakfast, but I was set straight by a man who worked there. The real predators for the baby birds are small mammals like musk rats and raccoons – who the alligators keep in short supply! Chomp chomp!

“The life sustaining waters of the Homosassa Springs showcase the relationship between native Florida wildlife and people, giving the animals the stage to tell their own story of survival.

Some of our wildlife were injured, some were orphaned, some were born in captivity; regardless of what brought them into our care, they all share the same chapter in their storyline: they are unable to survive in the wild on their own. Though the furred, feathered, and scaled inhabitants who call the park home would not be able to live on their own, they are serving an important role as ambassadors for native wildlife, sharing their individual stories with visitors from around the world.” – READ MORE

Air Dry!

I think our guide called the birds on the left vultures. I thought maybe they were doing some kind of mating ritual, but they are just spreading their wings to dry them out. I guess my mind always goes into the gutter! The white bird is a whooping crane and the grey guy is a heron.

The Predators

A hawk and two juvenile bald eagles were next up. Our guide said juvenile bald eagles have more brown on their heads until they reach maturity when their heads turn all white. I don’t think the little guy in the fourth photo got that memo. He is smaller than the other one, but has a pure white head already. Kids these days!

The last two photos show a beautiful specimen with a problem with either his eyesight or hearing that keeps him from enjoying a normal life in the wild. He remains caged and his keepers change up their feeding regiment to keep his mind sharp. Isn’t he something?

Yep, We’re Old!

And by now you know much I love birds. A long time ago Jim’s little sister said all old people do is talk about the weather and watch birds. I guess we qualify.

Lu the Hippo

Lu is the oldest hippopotamus in North America, and the only animal in the park not native to Florida. Lu was born at the San Diego Zoo in 1960 and just celebrated his 60th Birthday!

Lu has lived in the park since 1964 and is famously known for his performances in many movies in the 1960s. When the state of Florida took over the park in 1989 and wanted to feature only wildlife native to Florida, they wanted to re-home Lu. After public outcry, the state of Florida made him an honorary citizen and he’s been here ever since! If you’d like to hear him laugh at some silly tourists, click here.

Warm Water Retreat

Homosassa Springs is a beautiful clear blue spring – loaded with fish – and at other times of the year manatees can be seen in the underwater viewing area beneath the boat dock in the photo. They migrate and spend summers as far west at Texas and north as Virginia and the Carolinas, but return to Florida as the water temperatures start to drop. I suppose we just missed them this year, since temps are on the rise.

“The springs environment creates a serene backdrop for the park’s three daily manatee programs, where rangers and volunteers provide visitors with interesting stories about the park’s non-releasable captive manatees and what they can do to protect manatees in the wild.

The state park currently provides a permanent home to three non-releasable captive manatees. Manatee become non-releasable when their injury or illness is so severe that they are no longer able to survive in the wild.” – READ MORE

Since my photos were horrible, I’ll share one from their website, since he’s a cutie!

Next up: Swan Lake

Happy trails,
Barb