The Trip:
Here was the plan. My wife (Beth) and I were to spend two weeks in the panhandle area of Florida (and a little bit
of Alabama). Beth's and my interests largely overlap, but to be fair we were each given seven days of the trip
to plan our most-desired activities.
My time was mostly allocated to looking at plants; Beth's time was more concentrated on looking for wildlife.
This was Beth's first time in the panhandle, so everything would be new for her. In contrast, for me this would be a matter of
seeing a number of planty friends that I had seen many times before. But I also wanted to see some new species,
so I needed the help of local expertise: Jim Miller and Randy Zerr.
Plants that were very high on my list to see were:
Utricularia floridana;
Pinguicula primuliflora;
Sarracenia rubra subsp. gulfensis.
I had never seen Utricularia floridana, so that was a source of particular excitement for me. Meanwhile, the
other plants were ones I had only seen once before.
Many of these plants are confined to western Florida, and some of the finest wild lands in western Florida are
on Eglin Air Force Base. Casual visitors to the area sometimes avoid Eglin because, after all, it is a military
base with additional visitation regulations, but Randy knew how to guide me through the permitting process--which,
it turns out, is trivial.
I knew that, even if we were unsuccessful in our bid to see the plants on my shopping
list, exciting times awaited!
Start the photo-essay!
