Myakka State Park & Cats

Day 18: After spending the evening jockeying the car around to different sleeping spaces, we work at Lowe’s to a full parking lot, maintenance trimming hedges and loud birds. Oh, what an restless evening. Hopefully, we don’t have another like it! Thankfully, we were able to sleep in this morning to make up for lost time.

So, a slightly crabby Chad and a tired kitty walked into a coffee shop… and they got jacked on medium and dark roast quoffees.  Thank you, Starbucks.  I filled in the blanks from yesterday’s plunders and Chad worked on things.  I wasn’t sure what he was up to, I was ultra-focused to make sure I got everything taken care of so the rest of the day could begin as soon as possible.

I sat at my own table, juice cords hooked into the floor to my left, and even more left Chad sat at his own table. Ah, finally. A little distance! But, still close enough to talk comfortably and poke if necessary.

“Hey, at least it’s not the 5-foot rule” ….Chad scratches his face and looks sheepish… “oh, you would like that wouldn’t you?”

Chad widened his eyes and shook his head yes, “MMHMMMM, a lot!”

The first stop of the day was the Big Cat Habitat. To prevent me from getting burned further, I wore a thin, breathable long sleeve hoodie and Chad covered up with his long sleeve under armor quarter zip. It was noon, over 80 degrees and the hottest day we have experienced yet. Meoow, that’s hot.

We ended up having perfect timing to watch an indoor tropical bird/parat performance. The trainer led four birds through little exercises, the most notable was the Olympic rings completed by a large rainbow-colored parakeet.

In an hour, there would be a big cat show. To kill some time, we walked around the outside exhibits. They have a variety of bears, cougars, lions, tigers, ligers (only found in captivity), exotic birds, a variety of monkeys, and a petting zoo consisting of pygmy goats, emus and llamas. If you wanted, you could feed any of the animals with the help of a volunteer and a metal pole to reach through two layers of fencing. One layer to keep humans out and one layer to keep the occupants in.

The big cat show was our favorite. The MC for the show was on the Big Cat Board for the park, the son of the family who made the park possible and has been handling/working with big cats his whole life. He was also a hoot. He mixed facts about the lives of the cats in with his jokes to make for an entertaining show.

The biggest take away from his show was to do your research on the different animal activist groups before donating your time and money. He never named names or shared his opinion on where the funding should go, but urged the audience to make educated choices about who they are supporting.

The Big Cat Habitat hosts over 50-80 big cats, and each one can consume easily 50 lbs of meat a day. That’s wicked expensive! Big zoos may only have a few cats because of the costs associated with feeding them. Local grocery stores in the area of Sarasota have partnered with the Habitat to serve the animals the remaining unsold food and donors to the Habitat also help keep food in the animals bellies.

“They get a lot of organic foods! The monkeys are the worst, (valley girl impression) ‘o.m.g. this grape is not organic…. I can’t eat this.”

After the kitty cats, we went down the road to the Myakka State Park to hop on the last boat tour of the day. The tour, about 50 minutes long, scooted us out on a covered pontoon into a very shallow lake and the guide shared about the spotted wildlife.

We saw alligators (large and small), a few guys fishing for tilapia with nets, wild boars, birds, and turtles. The driver/tour guide was funny and shared a lot of facts about Florida, the animals and vegetation.

The park was filled with a mixture of Live Oak (they lose their leaves but grow them back to stay green all year long) and Palm Trees. The Spanish Moss hanging from the oaks swung over the road while we weaved to the

On the way out of the park, there was a little trail that led to a research suspension bridge within the jungle. We walked through a dried marsh/bayou (during their wet season, the trail isn’t accessible since it would be underwater by at least 3 feet of rain water) and explored the bridge. Aftter the bridge, we climbed the look-out tower to view the park high above the trees.

Oddly enough, there were a TON of horse flies at the very top and they swarmed our faces. The views were incredible, and the trees looked so green against the evening blue sky.

So, apparently the showers are ONLY for the RV-ers which subsequently, I learned WHILE I was showering. Oops. Literally as I’m showering the “camp host”!? (whatever that is) walks in to ask what I’m doing…..uhg….well, I’m clean soooo…..oh well, chad drive!...Quickly!

Bonnie and Clyde here, trying to steal showers! Lol I was thoroughly embarrassed, I guess even as an almost grown up I don’t like being scolded or in trouble…. I say I’m a grown up, but chad begs to differ… lol

After our great escape from the Park Law, we raced towards Venice. We plugged into the GPS Sharkey’s at the Point for food near the beach, but there was over a 90 minute wait. The sun was about to set, and it was pushing 8 p.m. We asked the hostesses for other food recommendations and headed to their historic downtown quickly before the restaurants closed at 9 p.m.

We were seated at an Italian outdoor pavilion and was given bread to eat with an amazing spicy spread. We were about to finish the loaf and hadn’t received menus yet. Hmm? Maybe we had to finish the whole thing before we can be served? We ate the rest. Still no menus.

A waiter came out looking confused and asked us if we were there for dinner. I guess the lady who seated us forgot to mention we were out on the pavilion and we were skipped! The restaurant only takes cash or checks too and we only had $14 to work with. Chad made a dash to an ATM down the way while the waiter put in a rush on an eggplant lasagna. At this time, the kitchen was already closed, but they put the order in anyway.

By the time Chad came back with currency, the food was almost done, and the waiter brought another loaf of bread. The food was out in no time and we devoured the super cheesy spread with a side of angel hair pasta in marinara. So rich, so cheesy, super tomato-ie, and left us full. We even took some to go. Fare well, Venice!

Finally, civilization. There were only three cars parked in the lot for sleeping (all in the best spots ofcourse) and we made camp. There was no wind, it was hot and there were potentially thunder storms coming in the morning; we were in for a long night.

I woke near 1 a.m. and urged Chad awake to drive to a gas station. Our stomachs were apparently done digesting the rich, cheesy dinner. After 19 days of being a tourist, I’m really going to need to tame my food choses and get on a better schedule.

We returned to camp and one of the cars had left the darkest part of the lot. We snagged their spot and went back to bed. I woke to hear a crunching in the palms next to my side of the car. Out from the brush snuck an ugly looking possum with the whitest face and tail. A minute later, I heard a small death squeal…I think it found dinner. About 30 minutes later, there was a horrific, blood curdling animal screams from the woods behind us??? Yikes!