beluga

beluga

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Mother Nature is a fickle gal

The weather here in Holt, Fl. (just east of Pensacola) is hot, drizzly and sauna like. It is very good that both our air conditioners are fully functioning.  To the west of  us, our route west, it  is not nice.   Heavy thunderstorms, wind and driving rain stand in our way.   After breakfast this morning we decided, once again, to wait Mother Nature out.    This is getting old.    Its a good thing that we have no deadlines looming, no place we have to be because she is pitching a real fit along I-10 this week.

Black Water State Park is just 10 or 12 miles from us so we unhooked the jeep and headed that way to see what we could see (while we were waiting for the Master's to be televised - we're now in the Central Time Zone).    I originally tried to stay there, but couldn't get reservations....strange at this time of year.

From our campground we took Rt. 90 east to the park.    It runs along beside Florida's historic SR 1, built in 1929, one of the only remaining brick roads in Florida.



The campground at the State Park was closed, with a temporary barrier stopping us from driving in.   I don't know why it was closed, was it full?   Were there floods across the road?    I do know there were flash floods in this area yesterday and we could see evidence of water running across roads in the entire park.  

No matter, we enjoyed our auto tour of the park, stopping here and there  when the rain wasn't to insistent.   The up side of this weather is that there weren't any crowds to spoil our visit!

no one at the boat launch


Carnivorous White Topped Pitcher Plants growing beside a stream




We followed a steamy and green nature trail to a white sand beach on a bend in the Black Water River, considered one of  the purest sand bottom rivers in the world.   It was fast flowing and clear, it's tannic waters perfect for reflection.






All in all, not a bad way to spend a forced "down" day.   We'll try to resume our westward trek again tomorrow.   Stay tuned.

5 comments:

  1. We're getting some of the rain West of you right now near Odessa, TX. We too travel tomorrow, hopefully it won't be too bad for either of us!

    Love those pitcher plants, always an interesting find! I would love to see a pristine sand river, those are unusual out west.

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  2. Spring is a tough time for weather. Good you are being so cautious:)

    That river is so clear! Those reflection photos are great. I love the pitcher plants:)

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  3. Nice to find clear water after a day of flash floods - the river looks beautiful. Fickle indeed, we've had 20 degree differences in the highs a couple times this week. I love the mossy, twisted tree branches. Glad you were able to see some sights on your delay day. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Great that you took advantage and just poked around. THAT is what days off are supposed to be! :)

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  5. Black Water River is quite pretty! And what a find to see the pitcher plant.
    Hope your travels resume....happy trails!

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