5 /5 Gina Marie Acker: We almost didnt come here because my husband read that it was a very short walk. However, we are very glad we did. It was fun and memorable!
We were immediately engaged by the stork walking around the lakefront by the parking lot. We actually didnt know what it was, but we found it later on inside the Center as one of the exhibits.
After that, we immediately saw a whole bunch of turtles while looking over a footbridge. Im not kidding you when I tell you we saw 10 turtles all at once. They kept swimming up to us and passing by. We were convinced they were looking for food, but We concluded that was not the case. The turtles were different from each other and were fascinating to watch. We spoke with some folks who had seen an alligator an hour before that. But, dont worry, you are well out of the way of the alligators.
The walk was indeed short, less than a mile, but if you pay attention to the educational signs and look for the bits of nature that they describe, it is a fun and engaging time. We saw some cool native plants that grow in the trees and we learned about bald cypress trees and how they are deciduous and their roots pop up and are called knees. Ive been around the block in these types of places, yet Ive never known these little facts!
The signs didnt talk about them, but I saw some spiders Ive never seen before. Im not a spider lover but I could not help but appreciate how amazing they were.
After our walk we went inside the Exhibit Center and were pleasantly greated by a nice lady named Rona. From start to finish, we had a really great visit. As far as it being small, I kind of liked that fact. Sometimes you just want to have a little outing, perhaps with kids or perhaps you just want to get out of the house for a little while but not commit to a whole day. This is perfect.
