Hiking Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Dec 30

As part of the 28th Annual New Year’s Eve Campout at Doe Lake, Ocala National Forest – an annual event for Florida Trail members, hosted by Lou and Rachael Augspurg of the Central Florida Chapter- I’ll be sharing my travels on foot through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Areas I’ll show and talk about with you during the evening program include:

• Isle Royale National Park, one of America’s least-visited national parks due to its remoteness but a mecca for backpacking;
• Grand Island National Recreation Area, an island offshore from Munising with excellent backpacking to secluded beaches and beauty spots;
• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, where I’ve been taking on the “Pictured Rocks Challenge” of completing all 65+ miles of hiking in this national park over several visits north; and,
• Mackinac Island State Park, the “other side of Mackinac Island.” The fudgies never get here, so it’s a day hiker’s delight, with 80% of this famed island covered in deep dark North woods and hiking trails.

Hope you can join us! The event is only open to Florida Trail Association members and their guests. To become a member of FTA, please visit their website.

Learn more – directions, logistics, and schedule – about the 28th Annual New Years Eve Campout on Meetup

Florida Scrub-Jay Festival, Feb 4, 2012

Curious where to hike to see Florida scrub-jays?  Join me on February 4, 2012 for the 3rd annual Florida Scrub-Jay Festival at Oscar Scherer State Park in Venice.

It’s a full day of outdoor fun and workshops for folks who love to immerse in Florida’s good nature. I’ll be providing a presentation on Best Hikes for Florida Scrub-Jay during the event, which features biologists, naturalists, and birding enthusiasts eager to learn and share more about Florida’s most colorful endemic species.

Learn more about the Florida Scrub-Jay Festival, held by Friends of Oscar Scherer State Park.

Speaking at Leu Gardens Feb 11, 2011

Me and a cigar orchid in Big Cypress

I’ll be sharing stories and colorful images from my latest book, “Exploring Florida’s Botanical Wonders,” at the Florida Trail Association meeting held at Leu Gardens in Orlando the evening of Feb 11, 7 PM. C’mon down and take a ramble (and a drive) through the most gorgeous gardens and flora-filled wild places in Florida. I’ll be signing books afterward as well. Hope to see you there!

Get directions to Leu Gardens

SATW Institute 2008

I’m pleased to announce I’ve been selected as assistant faculty for the SATW Institute of Travel Writing and Photography, held each January in Orlando. I attended the Institute for the first time last year, and found the instructors full of brilliant ideas on how to spin travel information into various income streams. They inspired me to ramp up my Florida Hikes! website, to start Candid Travels and to launch a variety of efforts, some sensible, some not so much, to cash in with online content.

If you have any interest in travel writing or travel photography and want the real skinny on the business, or are a working writer looking for ways to ramp up your income, consider joining us at the 2008 SATW Institute, based at the Courtyard at Lake Lucerne, a splendid little oasis in downtown Orlando.  See the website for details. The image above is one of the windows in the Dr. Philips House, where most of our meetings are held.

Double dose of Blountstown

Doing the usual bounces across the state, I’ve been to the friendly rural berg of Blountstown twice in the past week. For those of you not in the know, it’s the seat of Calhoun County and perched above the Apalachicola River right where SR 20 crosses over into Central Time from Bristol.

The first visit was to join in the Blountstown Chamber of Commerce 60th Annual Dinner, where Rob drew and I, along with fellow FTA staff, helped to answer questions about the Trail. Mike DeWitt drove up from Tampa to see Willard & Linda Smith receive the Citizen of the Year Award for their hard work on the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement and to generally be there for the community – and he was quoted more than once by the Chamber president! (Thanks to Mike for the photo of us).

The second trip was this past weekend for the grand opening of the Blountstown Greenway. This new paved trail from Sam Atkins Park to the Landing brought out hundreds of community members to walk, bike, skate, and ride in wagons to test out their trail. Festooned with balloons, the Old Depot on Pear Street was party central and our Florida Trail booth was right in the center of it all. It was great to see folks look at our map and connect their new trail as a part of the whole Florida Trail.

Joe and Ron from the Panhandle Chapter showed up and helped with the booth, and I managed a hike down to the landing with Janette from Suncoast and Marti Vickers, Chamber of Commerce go-getter who got the media in for some great TV coverage. It was a very long and tiring day but did everything we all hoped would happen: connect the community with the trail.  A job well done to the many, many folks who worked on this for nearly a decade to help it become reality! For more details about the day, read Joe’s great writeup on the FTA Panhandle Chapter website.

Fourth graders at the Governor’s Mansion

While I was visiting the Governor’s Mansion last Friday I ended up speaking to three different fourth grade classes who were touring the Mansion on field trips. Curator Carol Beck introduced me to them as a “real live Florida author!” which I thought was pretty funny. Better live than not! They were very diverse groups from schools in Tallahassee, Manatee County, and Miami-Dade, and it was three rapid fire impromptu sessions of Q&A with the general introduction: “Here’s a real live Florida author! She’s written LOTS of books about Florida, including these childrens’ books. What would you like to ask her?”

I wish I’d had a recorder going. The questions were excellent, sometimes funny, and generally very well thought-out. A few that stick in my mind:

Q. Why do you write?
A. Because I love to learn new things, and communicate what I learn with other people.

Q. When did you start writing?
A. In second grade, when I wrote and illustrated little stories that my elementary school librarian bound and put in the school library. One of them was called “The Case of the Missing Straw.” (for the record, at Marshall Hill Elementary in West Milford, NJ)

Of course, I had to grin ear from ear when I was asked “Have you won any awards for your books?” I piled up the award-winning books to illustrate and said “for these ones,” and got a roomful of applause. Plus one sweet child piped up, “you must be the BEST author in all of Florida!” and made my day. Or week. Or year.

It was fun bantering with the kids and reminded me that I have several unfinished children’s books in various states of completion that I need to get back to writing.  Alas, Governor Charlie Crist was busy at work so I didn’t get to meet him. I have two more books coming out this year, so perhaps next time!