January 20th, 2026

Is it possible?  Could it be?  After nearly 3 long months, is this really a Photo Safari Report??

Well, it's Photo Safari-ish.  I mean, there are photos, and Joy and I were really out there in Myakka State Park but since I'm still in the boot and on activity restrictions, we didn't get out of the car.   Ok that's a lie, sorry.  I did get out of the car once, but only once and Very Very Carefully. (please don't tell my doctor!)

In truth, after me whining and complaining about being home bound and missing hiking, Joy took pity on me and suggested doing a drive-through "hike" at Myakka.  I don't think she even finish the sentence before I yelled YES!  We planned to head out bright and early, just past sunrise last Thursday.

But of course, it rained last Thursday.  Sigh.  Okay no biggie, we regrouped and pushed it off one day. Bright and early Friday morning, while the little birdies were still rubbing the sleep from their eyes, Joy and I set out, cameras in hand, eager and ready to roll.

It was 39 degrees which is brisk for Florida. Not only was the heat on in the car but the car seats were cranked up as well.  Toasty Buns!  We weren't just being big old whiney babies, we were driving around with our cameras turned on and the windows rolled down so we didn't miss any quick shots. Joy drove slowly as we scanned the forest on both sides of the road. There was hardly anyone else around, which was not a surprise at all. Who else besides us would be crazy enough to be out there that day?  

It wasn't just colder than normal for sunny Florida, it was also more than a little breezy which meant occasionally Joy and I had to roll up the windows for a few minutes until our shivering settled down and then we'd open the windows right back up. It. Was. Awesome.

Not so awesome on the other hand was that the very first thing that I managed to do was break my glasses. Dang.  I need my glasses desperately for any close-up work and looking through a camera lens is very close up. This now meant that every photo I took I would be snapping almost blind. Or at least Realllllllly Blurry. All I can do is the best I can do.

I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, after I got back home and looked through the shots WITH glasses on to find that there actually were a few halfway decent pictures in the lot.  Yayayay!  (I do believe I deleted a record number however. Oh well)

Let's see what we have. And please be kind, bearing in mine that nearly every shot here was taken from the open window of the car which is limiting, my hands were nearly frozen from the cold, and I couldn't see what the heck I was doing.

I'll start with some scenery and botanicals if you don't mind:

Moving on to the animal we saw the most of this trip, Deer!  There were the adorable does and fawns, as per usual but this time, for the first time, also a stag!  He was moving fast so it's a slightly burry photo but still recognizable as a male deer. He was absolutely gorgeous. Pretend the blurriness is an intentional effect to simulate movement in a still shot:

And lastly, the birds.  Not a huge variety, sadly, but birds nonetheless.  I laughed when I realized that what was probably my prettiest bird photo that day was of one of the least "pretty" birds out there, a vulture.  Oh well, for a vulture he was handsome indeed.  Here is a sampling of a few different birds:

That's it, that's all I got.  In my mind, at least, while not the best Photo Safari report ever, I was so happy to be out there once again that my delight made up for the limited photos and so-so shots.

Hope you enjoy the Photo Safari-ish Report at least half as much as I did.  (Thanks Joy!)