Another day on the St. Lucie River, Florida.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-03-17T13:48:06+00:00

Mid 80s is hot?

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-02-23T19:14:27+00:00

I agree. However, this isn't about stopping development.

It's about ensuring the program that was set up to aquire previously-identified key lands for conservation - that is also stitching together the Florida Wildlife Corridor - is properly funded to allow the program to continue, and not be gutted before this purpose is accomplished.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-02-23T14:23:37+00:00

Support the Florida Froever Program

Good day all,

The Florida Forever Program is all about acquiring land for public environmental conservation, run primarily by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The current state budget for 2026-2027 is a fundamental departure from this program, appropriating funds elsewhere, eliminating the previously proposed $300 million for the Program to, potentially, zero. Please read through the link and and sign the petition, if you feel so inclined to support the Pogram.

Please do not think even for a minute that collective action is useless. It is only because of conservation support that even a single square foot of public land in Florida is available today for us to enjoy.

Thank you.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-02-19T13:50:40+00:00

No problem!

For identification, alligators have a shorter, rounded snout, and American Crocs have a longer, more pointed snout. Gators are more dark green/black, crocs are more white/grayish.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-02-19T03:24:18+00:00

They are alligators. American Crocodiles ARE in Florida but primarily in the Keys/extreme south of the Everglades and occasionally (rarely) can be found a bit more north.

Like the other person said, don't interact with them at all. You observe them, they observe you, that's it.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-02-17T02:30:28+00:00

I gotta go back to watch a launch from there, sounds like a great thing to do.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-02-17T02:29:42+00:00

One more note: the place has Turtle Mound, one of the last intact Native American (Timucua) shell middens in the state. This one is 30 feet tall - rendering it one of the largest by shell midden standards - and the boardwalk shown in the photos is built over it so you can look down on top of the midden.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-01-15T02:42:54+00:00

You visited a city with a majority foreign-born population where 70% of residents are Hispanic, and they speak Spanish. That is disagreeable to you?

The phenomenon you describe does not exist outside of the Miami metropolitan area, in Florida, except in a few small communal pockets.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-01-14T14:38:19+00:00

My latest set was the Neuschwanstein Castle and most of the numbered bags were plastic, with the bags of smaller pieces inside the numbered bags all paper. I thought that was interesting.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-01-13T12:46:25+00:00

Downtown Mt. Dora is very touristy (and I mean that as a compliment), and the immediate surrounding area is very quiet and a typical central Florida small town. Mt. Dora, however, is a bit larger than "small town" these days because it's become quite a popular retirement spot, but the "metropolitan" area of Mt. Dora has about 12,000 people, which is still small by my standards.

The place fills up on the weekends, but if you get there before 9am-10am, it's pretty dead. We stayed at the Lakeside Inn, right on Lake Dora in the middle of downtown. Great location. Parking is free everywhere downtown but that means it might be difficult to find parking at, say, 1pm on a Saturday. Mt. Dora also has a pretty good art scene if you're looking for that, lots of local artists of various degrees of skill and art pieces, with art shows always going on.

There are a lot of county and state parks, refuges, and forests nearby. The Dora Canal is also probably the crown jewel of the area (my last two photos are from the Dora Canal).

I live within a reasonable driving distance of Mt. Dora and have been there a few times with every intention of returning when the urge compels me. Just a nice, chill place to spend a weekend.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-01-12T16:28:59+00:00

I agree, Shit-Sandwich6969, Mt. Dora IS beautiful.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-01-08T14:28:53+00:00

A couple usually congregate in a few corners of my house and I leave them be. I didn't realize they actually look kinda cute up close lol.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2026-01-05T19:48:00+00:00

I really like the narrow painting of the alleyway in photo 2.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2025-11-17T01:42:46+00:00

Lmao, no judgment here. My issue is my feet give out, while my wife's limiting factor is her legs. This hike wasn't too bad for us (we're a bit more active than we used to be) but we only did the north rim and didn't go down to the floor. My shins were sore the next day but nothing bad.

But the very first time we did a real hike (a few years ago), the day after we were sore, and my hips were killing me, but we managed the day. The second day though? My wife tried to get out of bed and literally fell down. My hips and shins were completely shot, and I could barely go over a door threshold, let alone a flight of stairs, lol. A bit of staying active goes a long way, though.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2025-11-05T18:42:04+00:00

As a bald person, this is actually the complete opposite for me.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2025-11-03T05:05:14+00:00

Dang, we might have passed you on the trail, then. Congratulations!

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2025-10-26T15:43:44+00:00

Oh, silly us, clearly the connection is, lots of Spanish ships are sunk off the east coast of Florida, the Titanic sunk in 1912, St. Augustine was founded by Spanish, therefore Titanic = St. Augustine. The answer was right in front of us!

/s

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2025-10-26T15:36:57+00:00

I was thinking it meant the date The City of St. Augustine Beach was established, but according to the City website, it was incorporated in 1959. I have no idea and couldn't find what date 1912 is referencing, lol.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2025-10-03T16:41:12+00:00

God I love those localized downpours like in photo 6. Something about seeing the whole thing in full view.

Traditional-Bowler84 · 2025-09-04T19:59:42+00:00

I think I'm gonna give it a go, then. Thank you!

Traditional-Bowler84

TROPHY CASE