So, the reality is that between MsBoyink and myself one of us has been sick for a week. We caught a nasty intestinal bug that has kept from doing much outside the trailer or feeling that creative. We haven’t had much sickness while traveling and there may be a blog post about dealing with it specifically in the future.
For now I just want to get a small post about our time at Hillsborough River State Park so that the blog feels current again.
We initially chose this park because it was close to Tampa and our friends the Keiters. It’s a popular park, but we were able to get almost 2 weeks there less the weekend in the middle which was already booked out. It has been quite some time since we were in a State Park and we really missed it. While they can be noisier than RV parks filled with retirees we always seem to have better experiences in them. In general - no matter the age bracket - people in State Parks seem to have better attitudes, interested more in nature, in exploration, and adventure. You can’t spend the season in one, so can’t get entrenched, lazy, or caught up in the politics of the park.
We endured a bit of heavy rain both weeks, but Keiters were able to join us in the park for a few days and we got to try out our new Sea Eagle inflatable kayak. I loved being able to get on the river and the kids made good use of the boat as well. In the river we saw a couple of alligators, turtles, loads of catfish, and many different birds.
While at Hillsborough River we decided that we were too close to the Everglades, Big Cypress, and the Keys to not visit them - so we left there heading south.