Wildlife – Page 14 – Wandering Dawgs

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Florida

January 26, 2017June 16, 2026Posted in Birds, Florida, Historic Sites, Lighthouse, National Parks, RVing, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged Big Cypress Preserve, Dry Tortugas National Park, Everglades National Park, Florida Keys, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Key West, Perky Bat Tower15 Comments

State 7:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states we have visited alphabetically. If you are looking for Connecticut or Delaware, we’ve never been to either of those states (except to drive through the Delmarva Peninsula without stopping) so the next state is

Florida

Florida became the 27th state on March 3, 1845. The capital is Tallahassee.

We started vacationing in Florida back in the 70’s and have traveled all around the state both before and after our RV travels began. For many years we traveled to the Florida Keys at least once a year. We’ve traveled all along the Atlantic Coast, Gulf Coast, to small towns and big cities, gone scuba diving and snorkeling in the beautiful coral reefs, caught many fish, boated to remote islands, visited museums and lighthouses, attended sporting events, tasted amazing seafood and key lime pie, explored two national parks and a national seashore, observed graceful birds and other wildlife, kayaked and canoed in the rivers, swam in the springs, watched many sunsets, and walked on some of America’s most beautiful beaches.

Florida is famous for it’s beautiful beaches and theme parks.

Micky welcomes us to the Magic Kingdom — Mickey welcomes everyone to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World

There’s so much more to the Sunshine State than it’s beaches and theme parks.

With it’s many birds, wildlife, and beautiful landscapes, Everglades National Park is one of my favorite national parks.

Pa-Hay-Otee Overlook in Everglades National Park

The only way to get to Dry Tortugas National Park is to take a boat ride or seaplane trip from Key West.

Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park

Explore Fort Pickens and walk on miles of sugar white sand beaches in Gulf Islands National Seashore .

There are many small islands accessible only by boat. Picnic Island in the lower keys was one of our favorites.

Popular boating destination in the lower Florida Keys

Cedar Key is one of the small waterfront towns we love to visit.

I loved the Art Deco buildings in South Beach Miami.

It’s always fun to stroll along the waterfronts.

Shrimp boats on the Appalachacola Waterfront

There are interesting structures to discover. The Perky Bat Tower on Sugarloaf Key was built in 1929 to house bats to help control the mosquito population. Unfortunately, the bats flew away and never returned.

The Bat Tower, Sugarloaf Key — The Perky Bat Tower, Sugarloaf Key was built in 1929

The Spring House in White Springs on the Suwanee River was a huge tourist destination in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

There’s a famous headstone in the Key West Cemetery.

U.S. Highway 1 goes from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West and we’ve been to both ends. The Southernmost Point in the continental United States is also in Key West.

The variety of birds never ceases to amaze me.

White Pelicans and Cormorants around Cedar Key

Green Heron with fish in mouth Everglades National Park

Red Shouldered Hawg Big Cypress Preserve — Red Shouldered Hawk Big Cypress Preserve

Tiny key deer, endangered gopher tortoise, manatees, and of course alligators are some of the wildlife to be found.

Gopher Tortoise at our campsite Silver River State Park

Aligators along the Anhinga Trial, Everglades National Park 2012 — Alligators along the Anhinga Trial, Everglades National Park 2012

Manatee in Homossassa Springs — Manatee eating a carrot in Homossassa Springs Wildlife State Park

Florida is home to beautiful springs and rivers.

Don’t forget the lighthouses.

Nothing better than freshly caught fish for dinner! We cooked up this grouper after one of our most memorable fishing trips many years ago.

Henry with the biggest catch of the day!

Many Major League Baseball teams play their spring training games in Florida.

Atlanta Braves Spring Training at Disney's Wide World of Sports — Atlanta Braves Spring Training at Disney’s Wide World of Sports

The historic Fort Gates Ferry carries people and vehicles across the St. Johns River.

Waiting to cross the St. John's River on the Fort Gates Ferry — Waiting to cross the St. John’s River on the Fort Gates Ferry

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Colorado

January 18, 2017June 24, 2017Posted in Colorado, Historic Sites, National Parks, RVing, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged Garden of the Gods, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde National Park, Pikes Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, San Juan Skyway, Sangre de Cristo Mountains20 Comments

State 6:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically and the next state is

Colorado

Colorado became the 38th state on August 1, 1876. Denver is the capital.

It’s easy to see why Colorado is such a popular destination. With it’s spectacular mountain scenery, ancient ruins to explore, breathtaking scenic drives, picturesque small towns, Pikes Peak, and wildlife there was beauty every where we went.

As we visited the ancient cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park I couldn’t help but wonder about the people that lived there so long ago.

The San Juan Skyway through the San Juan mountains was one of the most beautiful scenic drives we’ve ever taken. Starting from Cortez, we took our time to enjoy the views from overlooks, stopped to stroll along the dog-friendly streets of Teluride and enjoyed lunch in Ouray before going by old mining camps around Silverton.

Another spectacular view along the San Juan Skyway — Spectacular views along the San Juan Skyway

Our campsite at San Luis Lakes State Park had spectacular views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and was a good home base to explore Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains from our camp site at San Luis Lakes State Park were amazing. — View of the Sangre de Cristo mountains from our camp site at San Luis Lakes State Park.

The people look tiny on the Great Sand Dunes

On the trail to Zapata Falls near the Great Sand Dunes

In the Colorado Springs area we visited Garden of the Gods and drove as far as we could go on the Pikes Peak Highway.

Garden of the Gods with Pikes Peak in the background

At elevation 11,424 feet, we were as far as we could go on the Pikes Peak Highway

The closest we could get to Pike's Peak was six miles away but the view was still amazing — The closest we could get to Pike’s Peak was six miles away but the view was still amazing

One of our favorite national parks is Rocky Mountain National Park. We love it so much we have been there twice. Our first visit was in the spring and even though there was a lot of snow we saw plenty of wildlife.

Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

Young Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park

That's a lot of snow! — That’s a lot of snow!

At Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, about 11,000 feet

A hike to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park

Our second visit was in August when the weather was perfect and again there was plenty of wildlife. We were finally able to drive to the Alpine Visitor’s Center on Trail Ridge Road.

The Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park

Alpine Visitor's Center View in Rocky Mountain National Park — Alpine Visitor’s Center View in Rocky Mountain National Park

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California

Wandering Around America one state at a time – Alaska

January 4, 2017November 28, 2017Posted in Alaska, Birds, Glaciers, Road Trip, RVing, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, Arctic Circle, Bald Eagle, Denali, Haines, Ninilchik, Talkeetna17 Comments

State 2:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride! I will be featuring the states alphabetically and next up is

Alaska

Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The capital is Juneau and it is the only state capital that can only be reached by air, boat, or birth. The largest city is Anchorage.

We spent 50 glorious nights in Alaska in the summer of 2013.

I loved meeting so many wonderful Alaskans and hearing their stories. Wildlife, glaciers, boat trips, a flight seeing tour, eagles, halibut fishing, Denali National Park, taking the RV on the Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines, and a train ride on the Alaska Railroad are just a few of the amazing things we experienced while we were there. Our favorite place was Haines. The most exciting thing we did was take a flight-seeing tour from Talkeetna to see Mt. McKinley and land on Ruth Glacier. The farthest north we went was Coldfoot, north of the Arctic Circle.

Pullen Creek RV Park, Skagway, Alaska

Waterfalls along the Klondike Highway

Arriving at the Haines ferry dock

Watching for whales in Haines, Alaska

Bald Eagle at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK

Haines boat harbor

Deadliest Catch!

Mendenhall Glacier

The free George Black Ferry crosses the Yukon River from Dawson City to Top of the World Highway.

Poker Creek Alaska

The signposts show other towns named after chickens. Who knew there were so many?

The Pedro Dredge in Chicken is a National Historic Site.

Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska

Downtown Talkeetna.

We went really close to Mt. McKinley

Loving every minute of our time on Ruth glacier

Home of author Mary Lovel in Sherman, Alaska

The Alaska Railroad runs right behind our campsite

Such an amazing sight to see their tail

Stellar Sea Lions on day trip to Juneau

Calving on Aialik Glacier one

A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

There were Puffins in the water

Sea Otters on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

Wandering Dawgs at the Arctic Circle

A good look at the Alaska pipeline as it goes underground

Four of these fish are ours!

Mount Redoubt sunset in Ninilchik, Alaska

Anchor Point is the most westerly highway point on a continuous road system in North America

Our first moose sighting was this cow by a pond

Lukor liked it on top of his house

Polychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, Alaska

Caribou grazing in Denali National Park

Do you see the profile of a face on the right side of the rock?

Chunk of ice from the Columbia Glacier

Fireweed behind our campsite made the beautiful view even better

Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez

Every day was memorable, every day was special, every day we saw something spectacular. Was it worth driving over 14,000 there and back? Absolutely!

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama

Backyard Wildlife

August 26, 2016June 16, 2026Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Georgia, Nature, WildlifeTagged Black Swallowtail, Diamonndback Terrapin, Gulf Fritillary, Horned Owl, Monarch, monarch caterpillar36 Comments

I never know what I might see when I walk out my back door.

One day a juvenile horned owl stopped to search for a tasty morsel in the marsh.

Another day this diamond back terrapin took a wrong turn into our back yard.

The ruby throated hummingbirds come by for a drink every day.

It’s been a constant battle keeping the aphids off my milkweed but I have had an occasional Monarch stop by.

I spotted my first caterpillar of the summer on August 24!

All the butterflies love the Mexican Sunflowers I planted this year.

And the bees love it, too.

Celebrating Ten Years of Wandering

July 15, 2016June 16, 2026Posted in Lighthouse, Road Trip, RVing, Sunset, WildlifeTagged black bear, Enchanted Rock, Fifth Wheel, Split Rock Lighthouse, Yosemite Valley33 Comments

What an amazing ten years! Each marker on this map represents a place where we camped in our RV.

Ten years ago, on July 1, 2006, we spent our first night in an RV park in Tampa, Florida. Two weeks later we left Georgia with no reservations anywhere and a bucket list of what we wanted to see. You can see highlights of that trip at Looking Back on our First RV Trip. Last year I posted a few of our most memorable experiences from our first nine years at Celebrating Nine Years of RVing.

Many of our trips revolved around either visiting family or attending a special event such as a wedding or Titanium Rally. Sometimes we traveled just for the fun of seeing new places. No matter where we were going, we always took the long way around to get there.

We discovered beauty in every state and province we visited. Sometimes the everyday things were the best.

I love watching the changing landscape and seeing the many farms and ranches.

I love seeing the farms as we drive along

We always enjoy seeing lighthouses.

Split Rock Lighthouse on Minnesota's North Shore — Split Rock Lighthouse on Minnesota’s North Shore

Seeing wildlife is always a treat.

Black Bear beside the road in British Columbia

And of course we loved visiting many of our National Parks.

Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View Overlook

Sometimes we enjoyed watching the sunset from our campsite.

We did a few amazing hikes.

At the Summit of Enchanted Rock in Texas

Chilling by a camp fire is always fun.

Now that we have ten years of RV’ing under our belt, our priorities have changed. Of course, we are ten years older and it is more difficult to make long trips. When we started our wandering, we only had two grandchildren. Now we have four and we want to spend as much time with them as we can. Going on long trips takes us away from them for too long.

Our wandering days are not over. There are still many places we haven’t seen in and near our home state of Georgia so from now on we will travel a little closer to home.