February 28, 2014

Myakka River State Park (Exploring our options)

Sarasota, FL

We have been checking out different State parks in the Southwest region to see which ones we might be interested in volunteering at as hosts when we leave Englewood at the end of March.

Earlier in the week we visited Lake Manatee State Park as well as Little Manatee River State Park.  We liked both parks but given a preference would prefer to volunteer at Little Manatee.  The host coordinator, Joey, told us he may have an opening for April and May but would have to check with his current hosts to see when they plan on leaving.  So we won’t know until next week.

In the meantime we decided to check out Myakka River State Park located in Sarasota, a short 45 minute drive from our current location in Englewood. 

When we explained the reason for our visit, the ranger at the entrance booth waived the fee.

We had visited the park in the past but it was quite a few years ago.  We had forgotten how big the park is.

Myakka River State Park is one of the oldest and largest state parks. 

After taking a ride around the first two campground loops we determined that only one loop would have sites large enough to accommodate our size rig. 

When we reached the Myakka Outpost we rode around the parking lot but did not get out of the car. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because we hadn’t paid the entrance fee I felt we should only stay long enough to do a quick drive through. 

 

 

 

Scenic lake tours are offered daily on the world’s two largest airboats and safari tram tours of the park’s backcountry are offered from mid-December through May. 

BUT, when we crossed the bridge over the water and we noticed a large crowd gawking at something, we had to park and check it out.

There was a man fishing with a heron and an egret for company. 

 

 

 

And there were a couple of kayakers crossing under the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

But the main attraction was the alligators.

There was a large one sunning itself along the bank

 

 

 

 

and another two surfaced as the kayakers passed them. 

 

 

 

 

 

But they didn’t appear to be interested in the guys.

 

 

Before leaving the park we stopped at the bathrooms where Monte struck up a conversation with one of the maintenance volunteers.  When we mentioned we might be interested in hosting, he suggested we stop in at the Ranger Station on our way out and get the telephone number of the host coordinator. 

 

Myakka River State Park is a small slice of paradise and it certainly wouldn’t be a hardship to work there for a couple of months.  HMMMMM!  JUST EXPLORING OUR OPTIONS.

We made a spur of the moment decision to have an early dinner at Steak N Shake. 

And regretted it the rest of the evening.  The food was good but we overate and even walking around Walmart, Home Depot and Sports Authority still had us feeling like slugs all night.