Friday Me-Time ADVENTURE: Morningside Nature Center

So, my schedule at the new job offers me a Friday off. I've never had weekdays off before, so I'm pretty interested in this world of opportunity that has opened up before me. With weekends off, I am usually with my husband and we go on ADVENTUREs together, but there's nothing quite like the ones you have when you're on your own.
My first Friday Me-Time ADVENTURE: Morningside Nature Center in Gainesville.
The drive out to Gville is always nice. I take 301 most of the way, and it's very easy going. Sure, there are those pesky speed traps in Lawtey and Waldo, but they've never bothered me because I actually drive the speed limit (!). I've got a whole day and satellite radio - why hurry?
Leaving at around 11 got me to Morningside at around 12:30. It's relatively simple to find and the sign is large and obvious. I noticed only a couple of other cars in the parking lot, but the heat index being something like 110 degrees, I understood why only the brave or the odd (yours truly) would choose to show up in the middle of the day.
While the map and information for the facility was a little on the sparse side (only 2 waysides and a small brochure/map), it wasn't complicated and I found what I needed with ease. I was mostly interested in their 1870s Cracker homestead recreation, but they also have some lovely trails that I was planning on traipsing until I found that my bugspray bottle had lost all its propellant - and as I blow up like the Michelin Man when I am bitten by yellowflies, I decided to save the trail system for another day.
The Cracker homestead was lovingly rendered, and everything had a real authentic feel to it. It reminded me a bit of Dudley Farm, but Morningside had a sort of underdog charm that I liked. More than likely, I took a shine to it simply because it was completely deserted. There was nary a visitor or park employee to speak of. However, there was a jersey cow, two pigs, chickens, a couple of sheep, and a rather loud ram who was making all sorts of goat-racket.
I took my time meandering around the homestead. It was relatively small, only about an acre or so, but things were well tended and you could tell that if it weren't 4,098 degrees outside on a Friday in late July it would be a-bustle with visitors and park folk. (They do have living history reenactments on Saturdays September-May.) I was really hoping they would have a turkey that I could stare at, but alas they had none. I was very at home in the heat, but the abundant shade was a welcome respite from the glare of the sun. They've left many trees in and around the homestead I assume for just such a purpose.
There is a little Cracker house on the property, and there are two lovely rocking chairs that sit on its porch. Boy-howdy, once I was done looking around and taking pictures I spent about an hour sitting in one of those chairs, soaking up the peace and the heat. The little house (my dream home) smelled sweetly of pine and it was happily settled in its place. I rocked back and forth on that porch, trying to burn the scene into my memory: Junebugs wailing, chickens bok-bokking, sweet pine smelling, rocking chair creaking, no breeze blowing, sweat tickling my back, and the utter peace of it all. To my left, under a piece of wood on a bench, sat a recreated newspaper from 1870. I was quite pleased to pick it up and thumb through it. I will admit to you that I was in la-la land and was quite content pretending that this was my place, and I was just taking a break from working on it in the middle of the day. I think I ended up spending an hour and a halfvon that porch all by my lonesome, not a visitor to speak of, in utter bliss.
Morningside Nature Center is a lovely place. I'm sure a review of it during the cooler months when the living history reenactments are going on and more people are in attendance would be more useful, but I liked it how it was for me. For a small period of time, I had it all to myself, and that means more to me than any of that.

Apologies!

I promise promise promise I'll get something up here soon. Life's a sort of muddle right now. But soon!