I hadn't really made a special effort, but I've begun to discover places that I am going to call "Quiet Florida." If I find enough of them, I might even add a listing to a special page here. Quiet Florida is going to be about the places off the beaten path. Pam and I had the pleasure this past Monday of exploring a new one... or at least new to us, anyway. Friends of ours sent us a link to a site that gave us information and directions on how to reach "The Split Oaks Mitigation Forest." Split Oaks covers several thousand acres to the southwest of Moss Park on the southeastern edge of Orlando. Moss Park is near one of the locations where Go Graphics Group, Inc. once had an office. Larry Wood had a house at one time on Lake Mary Jane Road which runs along the northern shore of (go figure) Lake Mary Jane. Moss Park straddles land between the eastern shore of Lake Mary Jane, Lake Whipporwill and Moss Park Lake. The Mitigation Forest was created around 1993 by the Game and Inland Fisheries department of the state government to provide and protect habitat for a number of endangered species, mainly gopher tortises and several species of wading birds, deer, armadillos and other wildlife that was being pushed out of land that was being developed around the Lake Mary Jane area. This tract of land now figures to be even more important as development continues on Orlando's "Medical City" complex; consisting of the Birnham Institute, Scripps, the UCF Medical School and the new Veterens Administation Hospital, all being built around the Lake Nona area. The two parks lie just to the south of one of the fastest-growing areas in Orlando... even in this economy, there's a lot going on in this area. You can get to this park in one of two ways: 1. There is an entrance off Florida State Road 15, Narcoossee Rd., south of the new Lake Nona High School. You turn east onto Clapp-Simms Duda Rd. (be careful, the sign is small and the road is under construction in the area at present so its easy to miss. If you get to the 7-11 on 15, you've missed it). Follow Clapp-Simms Duda to the dead end and you will be at the park entrance. Or you can enter Moss Park (fee required) and park your car and walk a trail about .8 of a mile that winds through a swamp wetlands and connects to one of four hiking trails in Split Oaks Forest. The four trails are all laid on fire and maintenance roads in the forest. It is a fairly young uplands pine forest area, somewhat shaded. There are no facilities, so make sure you bring your own water, a hat and if you happen to come in the summer, bug repellent. We didn't have any issues with insects as we did our walk in January. Like the Disney Wilderness Preserve that I reported on a month or so ago, this location's main offering is... quiet. You can wander out onto one of four well-marked hiking trails and just get away from the madding crowd for awhile. The location is not far from the Orlando International Airport, so every now and then the peace is disturbed by the rumble of jets taking off, but for the most part, it is a peaceful, quiet location to wander and let the cares and troubles of life just fall away. During our 2 hour walk we saw white-tail deer, armadillos, and several species of birds. There are no fees at present to walk the trails if you use the Clapp-Simms Duda Rd. entrance. If you come down from Moss Park, there is a fee to get in there.

Its coming up time pretty soon for Pam and me to auction ourselves off and take a carload of kids to the The Florida Aquarium. This remains one of my favorite non-Disney attractions in the state. We are truly blessed in Central Florida to have three top-flight ocean attractions: Sea World, which focuses on the ocean mammals; Disney's Living Seas, which focuses on the coral reef environment and the science of oceanography and The Florida Aquarium, which focuses on the springs, lakes, rivers, beaches, estuaries and the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. This place is on my "don't miss" list. Enjoy!