Magnolia Park

Last weekend we went to Lowe's and by chance saw a faded flyer announcing an Adopt-a-Tree program from the county. Who knew?! Once a month, at one of the county parks they bring trees such as Live Oaks, Bald Cypress, Maples, Magnolias, and Crape Myrtles. Each household can pick up up to two trees at no cost for any Orange County resident.

So we showed up at 8:00 this morning as soon as the gates were opening. There was a huge line! The cars continued through the park and we followed in the car. Quite odd, but it was just like a drive through. We showed our i.d., received a care guide and were told to go ahead and pick out two that we wanted and load them up. The county actually made something free and easy. I was amazed!

Sam and I picked up two: A Southern Magnolia for me, and a Red Maple for him. Hopefully we'll get them in the ground this afternoon!

Since we drove almost an hour away to get to the park, we decided that we needed to enjoy the park as well. As we parked the car, a peacock started calling from a nearby fence. This park has several peacocks. We saw about 4 males and 2 guinea hens. They were just beautiful to watch!

There was a small herb garden that sat vacant. Then we wandered through the woods. The park has a campground, but i don't think they have the campground open right now because of fire risk. Little trails criss-crossed the wooded areas of the park. We saw crab spiders, millipedes, and a few snakes slithered off the trail ahead of us.

As we came out of the trails, we used the GPS and quickly located a Geocache in the park. It was about 5 feet off the ground in a tree. Quick easy find!

And to top it off, I just made my first video slideshow :-) Hope you enjoy!