Fred Gannon Saturday and Sunday

Saturday.....Not a great start...Bob didn’t feel good, but we couldn’t do much anyway..it rained off and on most of the day..

Buffy and I did the small trail bright and early...but the storms came in 

pretty much right after.   I know it rained every single place we stopped at last year..hoping it doesn’t do that again this year.🤨 This little trail we did first, started at the top of the camping loop on the water side and led down to the beach area. There were kayaks for rent, stairs down to the beach, a large playground and outdoor 
exercise equipment. Very nice.

   I loved that the ground was covered with Powder-Puff Deer Lichen, it's so pretty. It's fairly common in Florida, but I've never seen so much in one place.

   It stopped raining long enough for us (Buffy and I) to try one of the longer trails.  The trail head (at the bottom of the loop) actually has two trails, they begin and end in the same area.

    They start between the bayou and a small stream that is in the process of being reclaimed. It's so clogged right now with water lilies and weeds you can barely see the water. The very beginning is about the only place where you can actually see water, although in a few places you can see lilies.

   

       This first trail, the Sand Pine Nature Trail, is about 1 1/2 or 2 miles round trip. Here's the beginning (below). The end is right beside it.  The first time we took it we started on the right side because it goes along beside the stream.  It had a lot of up hill areas.  So we took the left side first the next time as it was mostly downhill. 

There were benches, well made and mostly clean all along the path. 

 Not many flowers or butterflies but there were a lot of magnolia trees, just not in bloom yet.  It's only early May now though, it will probably be better later.

Sunday...up the next morning to take Buffy for a long walk. We took the left hand path all the way around....It's quite a bit shorter than the right hand trail.  It had a closed off area, so it might have been bigger at one time.  It has about three side paths that lead down to the beach. I don't think it was even a full mile loop. 

 

Then we did a short walk at dusk around the waterside trail again.  It was so pretty at sunset.  

      Bob went to Eglin to play golf (golf course photos at the bottom), but when he checked, they were really crowded (no tee times available). I figured he’d have a better chance of getting out without me...and I don't play well in crowds (or any other time really).

     Buffy and I walked the trails many more times on Sunday, and we hit the beach trail at dawn just before we left...I was lucky enough to catch two dolphins out playing...I got a bit on film and just one fairly bad shot...the sunrise was pretty, tho..

Eglin Air Force Base Golf Course