Went a swampin'...

I am officially in Georgia and will remain in the area - give or take a couple hundred miles - through Sunday as that's the day I take the ferry to Cumberland Island. I could have gone as early as today, but weather should be just about ideal by then & worth the wait.

 

Besides this new plan allowed me to spend a few hours in the "Land of the Trembling Earth" - Okefenokee Swamp Park - so named by Native Americans. It is one of the oldest and best preserved freshwater systems in America (according to their website). The swamp floor is so unstable in places that you could feel trees and bushes tremble if you stomped. All the photos come from the park, except for the last two.

1. This cute little dude (Green Anole) was playing on the palm near "Crazy," the largest male alligator staff know of in the park. Staff think there might be 20,000 gators in this swamp land.

2. This is "Crazy" trying to eat an illegally tossed hamburger.

3. An old moonshine still that the government donated to the park after they confiscated it & after they filled the equipment with concrete!

4 & 5. The swamp from a boat, then from an observation tower 1/2 mile away.

6. I'm told this is a Fishing Spider. Apparently, they dive for their food. I want to know who went into an alligator swamp long enough to observe this?!

7 & 8. These last two photos were taken from the roadside into the park....two halves of one large area.

I think that's all the news for tonight. More soon....