Anyone for a Hike?

The past two days have been filled with good old exercise.  Monday morning Judy and I headed to the clubhouse for the walking class.  The walking class is held 3 days per week in the park.  There are usually around 40-50 people that attend and we power walk for 3 miles.  It is a great workout run from tapes of Walking with Leslie Sansone.  After that I headed to the pool to swim some lengths before attending an hour long water aerobics class.  After lunch Tom and I headed to the Mosaic Park which is out in the Fort Meade area. A stop on the east side provided us with a beautiful spot where we could put in the kayaks on the Peace River.  But it is looking like the river may be a bit too low for paddling right now.  But a great place for future activities.  

 On the other side of the road they have built a boardwalk throughout the area with a few stops with views of the Peace River. Here are the stairs that take you down from the parking lot.

 It is a great walk through the park.

We drove home through the historic part of Bartow.  We have driven through this city via the highway but have not actually looked around.  A stop at the Dairy Queen was a nice finish to the trip.  We arrived home in time for our neighbors, Dwayne and Marilyn, to give us a shout to come over for happy hour.  Dwayne was the one that told us about the Mosaic Park so we had to thank him for the tip.

Today it was back to the walking class for another 3 mile hike.  A beautiful day again  in paradise so we decided it was a good chance to check out the Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring.  We had stopped in there a month or so ago but only took one short hike.  So Tom and I headed there today to give it a better look.  There are 8 trails in the park.  We walked 5 of them, skipping the little ones.  Plus walked the perimeter of the park..  About 5 miles all together!!!  

 This was on the Cypress Swamp Trail.  We walked this on the last time we were here.  The water looks just like a mirror!!

 This boardwalk only has a rail on one side.  Kind of makes you watch your step for sure.

We saw a water moccasin snake, some turtles and some deer in the park.  Unfortunately the battery on my camera died before we got to see any wild life.  We were pretty much worn out by the time we got back to the truck and headed for home.  This time another neighbor, Jim & Shari called out for us to join them for happy hour.  We do have some really nice neighbors.  Home for dinner and to rest up after all that walking.  But it was a beautiful day to spend in the great outdoors.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Until next time - safe travels.