Yesterday I had the opportunity to explore some parts of Florida that I'd never seen before. I took some pictures along the way and I thought I'd share some of them.

First up are pictures from the Crystal River Archaeological State Park, which contains a Pre-Columbian mound complex on the edge of the Crystal River.



This is a look at the Crystal River itself.



This is the largest mound at the site, and from the looks of it where it has eroded thus far, it looks like the side of it that's closest to the river is mostly made of clam shells.



This is one of the mounds in the middle of the site.

Next up was the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. This park is full of native Floridian wildlife species, and many of them are free to come and go as they wish. A river runs through the park which houses native fish and manatees, and most of the bird area is wide open allowing the birds to come and go as they wish, although most of them seem quite content to just hang out and get regular feedings.



This is the park's hippo. While I've seen hippos before, this one is really quite huge, and you can get really close at the park.



Not being a native Floridian, this is the very first manatee I've ever seen. This one is the park's biggest, and weighs 3200 pounds. It was a lot of fun to watch them feed three of the park's manatees some lettuce and carrots and bananas.



The bird area at the park is huge and has, probably, thousands of birds. In the middle this flock of flamingos was just hanging out.



Being Florida there's lots of gators, and this one was enjoying the water while the rest were sunning themselves on the edge.