While most tourists to my part of the world tend to congregate at the beaches, there are so many other beautiful places to visit.
The perk for me when hiking at these lesser known Florida nature spots, is that I rarely have to share the trail with other people. That means I can do whatever I need to ‘get the shot.’ Which could be lying on my stomach, or back, to get just the right angle, or climbing over fences and on top of benches.
I’ll go off trail to capture a shaft of light shining through the canopy on a tiny spiderweb. It means using my hiking pole-slash-monopod to pull back brush to find an old rusted iron gate, or to hold my camera over my head for that full-view landscape.
It also means I can dance and sing along to the music on my MP3 player without worrying about being seen. There will, however; be no photographic evidence of that.
*Photos taken at Camp Helen State Park near Panama City, FL.
(Photos shot with a Nikon D60, using an 18-55mm, 55-200mm, 20mm f/2.8 wide-angle, 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, Nikon CoolPix S205 and/or iPhone4)
For more photos, please visit my Flickr photostream.
Thin spiral notebook 
1. I ♥ the header! LOVE IT!
2. I love the beach shot. JEALOUS of the beach shot but LOVE IT!
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Gorgeous. I particularly like the spider web–hate spiders, but love their webs!
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I love going to the beach, also, but can see where it would be a lot of fun to explore other areas! Very lovely photos a places people rarely visit!
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Tara R.: You’re making me homesick for my beloved OBX. Hoping to sneak on down there for a couple of days after Christmas. All these Snaps are certainly Superior, but my personal fave is the rusty chain…a mighty fine stocking stuffer!
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So pretty!
You are right — I love the beach so much that it is good to be reminded that there are so many other beauties to that state.
Happy Sunday!
🙂
Traci
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You have made hubby very envious of your shots. He often goes off the path to get a shot. Old trees fascinate him.
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You’ve got snow falling on your Florida blog! How fun is that. OR – – – are those tiny white sand grains raining down?
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Ha! It’s snow. Every December WP offers the special effect for the holiday season.
Sent from my iPhone
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Oh, how I love Panama City. I can’t wait to go back and visit.
Beautiful photos….of course.
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rusty chains are interesting, aren’t they. They tell stories.
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I really like the spider web shot.
You’re lucky to have places to go where you can find some solitude. There’s not much of that anywhere in my area.
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