Myakka State Park

We arrived at Myakka State Park after a pretty long drive, but boy was it worth it. It was also worth the $6/car admission price. I was really looking forward to this place as it was supposed to be really beautiful, have a canopy walk and wild alligators (not like those zoo ones that were everywhere). This also turned out to be the nicest day in terms of weather.
The canopy trail was where we headed first. Turns out, it was pretty high and like, and in similar fashion to St. Paul’s Cathedral I got a little nervous climbing up (though this height was nothing when compared to the Cathedral). This time it was because the wooden structure moved with not only the wind, but the movement of the people walking around as well. To be honest, the walkway itself wasn’t too bad as long as the others on it were not being mean (like Dave was). What got me the most was the tower that was connected to the walkway. At 74’ tall, it was quite intimidating when it was so windy and younger children were jumping around. It was also a pretty tight space up there for five or six adults (The Konings, Dave, myself and two other tourists). I did however, manage to take a bunch of photos including a really nice panoramic of the view from on top of the tower.
We then walked back to the car and drove to the next parking area. We had lunch in a little eating area and then walked around that area of the park. We saw some wild alligators (we also saw some on the drive in) and also some turkey vultures. John walked down a culvert which was designated as not for public use (he was scolded by Pat upon returning to our group).Upon leaving we had one of the only treats of the trip (well, while we were with the Konings that is) – chocolate bars, so yummy.
(photo of Dave and I on walkway was taken by John Koning and the technical drawing of the canopy walkway and tower were obtained from the Myakka State Park website, linked at the beginning of this post).