Ep. 146 – An amazing visit to Circle B Bar Reserve and the lakes of Lakeland, Florida to see Florida wildlife, beautiful scenery, and attractions!
FREE THINGS TO DO IN LAKELAND, FLORIDA (TAMPA & ORLANDO AREA):
📍 CIRCLE B BAR RESERVE in Lakeland, Florida is known as one of the best places to see wildlife in Florida. People come from all over the world to see wildlife here at Circle B, especially from fall through spring, when nature photographers flock here seeking to capture images of white pelicans, tropical-pink spoonbills, leggy sandhill cranes, iconic bald eagles, and dozens of other birds. You’re also almost guaranteed to see alligators! In this episode we hike Shay Oak, Alligator Alley, Lake Trek, Treefrog Trail, Windmill Whisper, Wading Bird Way, Marsh Rabbit Run, and Heron Hideout trails and get to experience alligator mating season. What a crazy experience! We also saw lots of armadillos close up!
📍 HOLLIS GARDEN & LAKE MIRROR: The little city of Lakeland, named for its 38 lakes, is located between Tampa and Orlando. It’s known for its antiques shops and early 1900s architecture. We came to see the lakes and the neoclassical garden. Hollis Garden is a free botanical garden located along the Frances Langford Promenade at Lake Mirror. It’s home to more than 10,000 flowers and ornamental shrubs, beautiful fountains, shade trees, a Grand Staircase, and picturesque views of Lake Mirror.
📍 LAKE MORTON: A small little lake with lots of wildlife including white pelicans, various types of swans, ducks, and more!
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👉 ABOUT US: We’re Steve and Audra, DIYers from South Florida who share a passion for cheap travel, nature, wildlife, and adventure! We’ve been working on converting our 2019 Ford Transit high roof cargo van into a campervan and are sharing our build and adventures along the way – all while trying to do everything on the lowest budget possible! While building out our van, we’ve been traveling the country as much as possible with our adventure cat in training, Lady Gray Gray Gillespie Pinkerton. We invite you to follow along on our journey! If you have any questions, we’re happy to answer! Comment below or send us a message on Facebook or Instagram and we’ll respond as soon as possible. And please don’t forget to subscribe to our channel!
00:00 Florida van life (waking up for sunrise in St Pete)
00:50 Circle B Bar Reserve (Lakeland, FL)
02:31 Alligator Alley trail at Circle B Bar Reserve
05:04 Alligator mating season at Circle B Bar Reserve
08:48 Armadillos & vanlife at Circle B Bar Reserve
10:27 Treefrog Trail to Wading Bird Way Trail (and more armadillos!)
13:34 Alligator encounter at Circle B Bar Reserve
14:13 Wading Bird Way & Marsh Rabbit Run Trails at Circle B Bar Reserve
19:27 Hollis Garden & Lake Mirror (Lakeland, FL)
20:53 White pelicans & birds at Lake Morton (Lakeland, FL)
22:52 Low budget vanlife
MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS:
Car race, Nordschleife, VLN, several cars passing by, tyre squeal 02 by Dominik_W found at https://freesound.org/people/Dominik_W/sounds/350677/. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.
“Ascending the Vale” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
“Fireflies and Stardust” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
“March of the Spoons” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
“Bike, Bell Ding, Single, 01-01.wav” by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
Light wooshes by florianreichelt found at https://freesound.org/people/florianreichelt/sounds/447806/. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.
“Winter Chimes” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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animals cormorants nest take off mono.wav by Soundholder of https://freesound.org/people/Soundholder/sounds/425374/ . This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.
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#vanlife #wildlife #floridawildlife
11 Comments
Thanks for joining us on another adventure! Watch our last visit to Circle B Bar Reserve: https://youtu.be/d4RE_JiJxbo
Also, if you’d like to check out more of our travel and vanlife videos, links to a couple playlists are below:
VAN TRAVELS: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7bb1Ftno7hhNuHOo8SYSTsaPmFd7o1zp
VAN BUILD: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7bb1Ftno7hhoqzCZ7kZUx2jL3pUVd6UZ
Great shot of that alligator! I would have been shaking too!
I don't know! If that alligator crossed in front of me, I would have said a word that would get me in trouble. I don't why you continued on the path. That would still be so neat. You want to see Armadillos, come to our house. They're right across the street and now in my sister's future back yard. We are so lucky to have all this around us. Ibis, armadillos, bluebirds, Racer snakes, deer and Tortoises!
Its "couldn't care less"…unless you only don't care a little bit and could care even less if you wanted 😂
Steve, you may need to start consulting a gps or paper map. It seems that Audra's nav skills may be slipping if lakeland is southeast of St Pete. I loved this video. Also is the tree with the large fruit an Osage Orange? also known as a Bodark apple?
Another great video! Hearing that deep growling among those alligators had to be an uneasy experience.
How amazing. What a great experience.
Omg Audra, How scary was that encounter with the gator…you are a brave girl, I would have ran screaming like a girl… lol
Thank you for the shout out, we really appreciate that so much!
Love love Florida
I remember hearing alligator growling first time was like Jurassic Park experience. They do that only in a spring time.
So much wildlife in Circle B Bar Reserve. Armadillos are night animals and they dont see well. They can run you over if you're staying still but as soon as you move they take off. That huge alligator was awesome. Incredible day in Circle B Reserve. Lake Morton is great place too, right middle of Lakeland. Nice variety of ducks, geese but the White Pelicans are my favorites there.
I have a cousin who lives in Lakeland and visited Lake Mirror and those beautiful gardens! ❤
Unreal! Those sounds!