Hey hey USA - 8/9th October - parks and birds

 Florida is not just Disney. There are some fabulous state parks, full of water, Cyprus trees, manatees, birds, snakes and other animals. But hurricane Ian had passed through a couple of weeks previously and now there was just too much water. With the banks awash most of the parks were closed.

We did manage a couple of walks to local suburban parks in our first two days in Florida, one of which was Liberty Park where egrets and ibis were hanging out. We could not go that far before the paths became waterlogged.

On the Sunday afternoon we drove down to see our nephew and niece, Ben and Jenny and baby Ray at their lovely house in Oakland, a very pleasant location close to lake Apopka, a real wildlife destination.

Their back yard is very pretty and sits under the shadow of a huge oak tree festooned with Spanish moss. It had suffered a lightning strike during the hurricane but seemed to have had no ill effects.