We did a walk through the jungle in Salad Swamp… OK, I made up that name as a lame April Fool’s joke. Its real name is Lettuce Lake. Really.

There are long boardwalks through the park at Lettuce Lake. (You can look it up if you want) Many places the “Ground” looks like it is solid underneath grass and small plants, but it is really just water plants growing on the surface.

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The lake was very smooth and peaceful.

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One of the boardwalks features a tall observation deck with a view worth climbing the stairs for.

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The large Cypress Knees are everywhere, looking like they want to become trees and tower over the water.

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We saw a few of these Black Crowned Night Herons carefully picking their way on the soggy turf.

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Some places the boardwalks were covered in green moss.

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If you have a minute and a half, and like watching nothing more exciting than a bird walking, you can view this video. The Night Heron has to step carefully so he doesn’t accidentally go swimming.

Notice the Great Egret in the picture below.

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The ever present warning about alligators…

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I saw this round rock in the water and jokingly said “Here’s a turtle”… only to find out it really was a turtle. You see his head towards the bottom of the picture, and we watched as he rotated all around, never leaving that little clearing, nibbling as he went.

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There were not a lot of ‘gators out, but we did see this little guy; maybe 4 feet long.

We’ve gotten into the habit of shopping at the Farmer’s Market a few minutes away from our “home”. They have now opened up “You Pick” for strawberries and flowers. This time we saw LOTS of people here… quite a few picking, and many crowding the stands where all the food is sold. Strawberries, lettuce, eggplant, squash, tomatoes, jams, jellies, salsas, honey and more. Great fun!

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