All Things St. Mark

Denisa gets to live with a saint named Mark every day. So it seems that we needed to do all the St. Mark things in the area. That would include visiting the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge ends in the Gulf, so we got to return to the ocean again this day.

Denisa loves visiting lighthouses, and this one was special. The picture above shows her St. Mark in front of the St. Marks lighthouse.

We took the hike along the Gulf, scanning the area for birds and water creatures.

As luck would have it, the only interesting things we spotted were snakes. In fact, Mark almost stepped on this 4-foot oak snake because he was gazing at the water instead of the path.

It would be worse to step on this pygmy rattlesnake that was sunning himself beside the path. Known for being small but packing a lethal punch, we were told this was very big for a pygmy.

It was late in the day when we finished our drive through the refuge. As we looked over this big marsh, there didn't seem to be anything to see.

Denisa had to keep herself entertained by the local birds. This red-shouldered black bird stayed close enough for a picture.

Then Mark spotted this curious bump in the middle of the marsh. We had to do some research to figure out this was a Florida soft shell turtle. It's the world's largest fresh water turtle, and we wished we could have seen him clearer.

That was when Mark saw some subtle movements among the sea weed closer to us. As we scanned the area more closely, we found ten different alligators swimming in that "empty" marsh.

We had learned that alligators were night-time hunters, and the long shadows must have triggered them to start moving. We were fascinated as we watched them catch the surrounding fish in their mouths. We were so entertained by this alligator hunt that we were some of the last people to leave St. Marks refuge. 

Another day, we took another St. Marks trip. This was a bike trail that spans from southern Tallahassee all the way to the coastal town of St. Marks. We love Florida for its totally flat bike trails. This used to be a railroad bed, and is paved the entire 20+ miles.

As much as we enjoy a good bike trail in the trees, 40 miles seemed a little long for the round trip. So we started in the middle and headed south.

Seven miles later we arrived at the end of the trail in St. Marks, Florida. We took the obligatory picture of Mark in front of the St. Marks River at the end of the St. Marks bike trail.

This was the best sign we could find so Denisa could take a picture of her saintly Mark in St. Marks.

St. Marks is a tiny town, but we had a cheeseburger at Cooter's Stew House before we headed back down the bike trail towards our car.

We were shaded by trees almost the entire trail, so it made for a cool ride even on a sunny blue sky day. Denisa had to stop and take a picture of the wild wisteria, draped over the trees along the path.

We decided that a 15-mile bike ride was the perfect length for good exercise and enjoying the day. If it gets too much longer, it feels a little like work. So we have visited all the St. Mark's in the area--St. Marks River, the town of St. Marks, the St. Marks bike trail, the St. Marks Refuge, and the St. Marks lighthouse. Denisa has always enjoyed spending time with Mark, so it was a great time!