Care to take a walk with me?

Bernie and I are trying to get in shape for an upcoming vacation which will involve quite a bit of walking.
Normally we walk every other day when he is in town, and I walk around the neighborhood when he is gone. For the next few days we are determined to walk an hour or more each day, and hopefully twice a day soon.
The last time we walked we had deer bounding by, eight different kinds of butterflies, three types of dragonflies, three kinds of snakes (sorry...they didn't bother us, we didn't bother them.)
Today I brought my camera along, so of course all the wildlife got camera shy.
So enjoy the pictures sans beasts, scary and otherwise!

The meadow.

At the end of the meadow the Association has built a wheelchair ramp.

This is a pretty new feature, I just discovered it about a month ago. I love walking above the marshy forest floor.

Palmetto trees rarely get much bigger than this. I think they look like a primeval forest, and dinosaurs should be munching nearby.

The tree tops.

The path continues down to the lake.

I think the jungle vines are interesting, but I enjoyed them more before I realized we had tree climbing snakes. Before I just watched the ground, now I also watch the vines!

The lake is pretty today.

More path

Cypress Knees. The cypress knees help the tree oxygenate, if I understand it correctly. They can also be used to gauge if a lake has gotten much deeper, as the first set of knees will be submerged and new knees will form to accommodate the new water level.

Don't they sort of look like far away islands? I love the interesting shapes they take.

Wild Iris are blooming along the path. There were yellow ones a few days ago deep in the woods off the path. I didn't venture over for a close up of those.

This one was right next to a wood bridge part of the trail.

I wish I knew more about the names of all these plants. Note to self: Get a guide book.

Just a vine twining up. They really twine tightly.

The little green plant growing in the decaying stump is almost a visual sermon. The way the light hit it, new life in the midst of broken places.

The path has benches regularly along the way. We imagine that mosquito guide books have ratings on these benches, suggesting that arriving just before sunset you can get Barbequed Humans that are just salty and delicious.

This is posted at the beginning of the trail. Someone had quite a sense of humor. Be sure to read the Camping part and the Hours part.

Back to civilization, about a quarter mile away. This is our subdivision.

Our next door neighbor's magnolia tree is blooming. It smells so lovely.

That's all for now...gotta go to work. It has been really hectic for us the last few days!