Bonus Tab-Clearing Post: Leon Sinks Geological Area

Planning on a day trip once the weather cools a little.  Links:

• https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/florida/recreation/leon-sinks-geological-area
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Sinks_Geological_Area
• https://floridahikes.com/leon-sinks/

Wow but that is a beautiful picture of Big Dismal, shamelessly stolen from the first link:

Expect a follow-up post in the coming months.

Worth Noting

This has been a remarkably unnoteworthy week, beyond a trip to Wakulla Springs and a side-trip to Bald Point State Park on the way home.  However, there is one weather condition worth noting and being thankful for:

Contrast this with a visit to Bald Point this time last year.  Somewhat alarming graphic, but there is a nice picture of  the beach if you scroll down.

I Sense a Pattern Here

Bay [St. Louis] named among Gulf Coast's top '7 Towns With a Slower Pace of Life' at The Sea Coast Echo.  Scroll to the bottom for the complete list, then click through to the original article.

Hm, and I've lived in three of the seven, Ocean Springs being the third.  Two others are fairly close by, and I've been to them but a re-visit  is long overdue.  The remaining two are way over in Texas; might or might not get that far.

There are of course many other small towns with the same slower pace of life, some of them even slower than these.  I'll keep those to myself however.  Wouldn't want them to get overcrowded the way some on this list of seven have.

Mid-August Monday

Prepared for Wednesday's emergency exercise at the FSU Coastal & Marine Lab with FCEM today, mostly getting gear (expectedly) set up and (unexpectedly) repaired.  With that complete and the hurricane situation looking alarmingly stacked-up but for the moment mostly out of my problem zone:

I then set out for parts unexplored, namely nearby Bald Point State Park.  It's the western point at the mouth of Ochlockonee Bay, and the farthest eastern reach of Franklin County.  Nice and quiet place on a hot Monday afternoon.  Will have to go over there and poke around some more.

Not a great swimming beach, but beyond that it's a pretty nice place.

Fireball Over Cape San Blas

Just go to the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day link here and see it in full resolution.  On mouse-over the image changes from long duration open shutter to light-enhanced short duration.  The former shows the spectacular streak, while the latter shows the ion & smoke trail.

Wonders abound, even close to home.

Finally Watched 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'

And it was pretty good!  I mean, for its time.  Not half as cheesy as I'd expected.  The simple plot was enough to hold things together, and the creature suit still mostly holds up.  Can't ask for much more than that out of this kind of flick.  Here, details at Wikipedia.  Read and run up onto spoilers at your own risk.

For all the times I've been to Wakulla Springs, you'd think I'd have seen it, but no.  It was long gone from theaters and even re-runs and deep re-re-runs by the time I came along.  Picked up a DVD, which as a nice surprise has the two sequels in the series.  

Rating this one is a hopeless exercise.  Either you want to see it or you don't.

A Visit to the Panama City Publishing Company Museum

A nice day, and only an hour-thirty drive from home.  I walked in, breathed in the type wash and lead, felt at home right away.  With the exceptions of a Heidelberg windmill press and a non-functioning Linotype, I could've gotten down to work within minutes.  Really nice people, on a slow day.  Here, read all about it.

Nice part of town.  There was a farmers' market going on this fine Saturday morning, and a nearby pizza emporium was ready with our lunch in just a few minutes.  A day well-spent.

Garden of Eden Trail on New Year's Day

Lots of people out for the hike.  Perfect New Year's Day sunny & cool weather.  Beyond that, not a lot to add from the original post about the place.  It was a nice way to start the year.

Monday at Wright's Lake Trail

Just knocking out one of the old standards before the cool weather gets away again.  Been there, done that, did it again today.  Here are some pics; as usual, click to embiggen:

The Lake

Just some flowers along the trail.

Lowest I've ever seen the water under The Bridge of Truth, maybe 2' below the deck.

Yep, low.  Often the water's 6" over the deck.

That's all for today.  Just another hike.

Manatees at Wakulla Springs

Not a lot to say, beyond you oughta go.  Be sure to bring a bathing suit as well as dry clothes so that  you can have lunch at the lodge.  Got to get back this winter in order to hike the trails.

ps: New tag, "localtravel".  Long past time for this one.