Estero Bay Preserve State Park

While in Fort Myers we had a great time visiting a new-to-us State Park!  Another one crossed off our list!

  This park was very different from the other ones we've visited.  We had to park on the side of the road and then enter through a fence to get to the park.  There was a handwritten map on the bulletin board of the different trails.  We tried to memorize the one we wanted to do and headed off in what we thought might be the right direction.  What an adventure!

The bulletin board also said to watch for the wild hogs.  Oh dear.  That scared me a bit.  Especially when we saw some areas that looked like they had been rooting around for food.

We were glad to take Grammy on our adventure!

It wasn't steamy hot like it normally is in SW Florida.  But, it was warm with a very nice wind.

Then, it started to look quite dead!

After a while the trail opened up to a large prairie looking area.

We started to see places where small crabs had made their homes.

And even saw a crab!

Then, we saw lots of mangroves and mangrove seedlings.  The kids loved how it sounded as they walked through the mangrove "forest."

Then, we entered a large sandy area.   The wind was so loud and strong that we had a hard time hearing each other.  It was very interesting.

Then, it was time to hike back.  I told the kids to look tired.  They did a pretty good job!

This was a really neat park!  So diverse with lots of great things to talk to the kids about.  What a wonderful world that God made for us to live in!!