Blog Entry 9 - Last Child of the Wild

Ringneck Snake (Source: Internet; link on image)

The reading reminded me a lot of the experiences I had outside when I was little. Although I watched a lot of television, and played video games when I was younger, I still spent a good amount of my time outside when I got the chance. I had always had a fascination with various types of animals, from insects, to lizards & snakes, to birds, etc. I became very knowledgeable about the kinds that lived around this area, thanks in part to books I would check out at the library. I would explore in my yard with my brother, turning over logs, rooting through bushes, looking for whatever we could find. Of course, living in a fairly urban area, we usually wouldn't find anything too interesting, but we would still make good finds none the less. Every once in a while we would find something particularly rare, like a Ringneck Snake. However, as fun as those outdoors adventures would be, the Crown-Jew of my outdoor experiences as a child were my trips to Fort Myers Beach. My parents bought an old motorhome with the intention to travel when I was younger, but due to its age, we were restricted in our vacation choices to sites near home. So twice a year (for about a week/week and a half) we were able to reserve a spot on the front row of Red Coconut RV resort on Fort Myers Beach. Due to the nature of our motorhome (next to nothing to do inside), I would always be outside during the trips. From building sand castles, to playing in the water collecting fish and other sea life, to skimboarding, to meeting and playing football with the kids from other families staying on the resort, I was almost always occupied. The interesting thing was that, despite the number of years I went to that beach, each trip had a distinctly different experience. There was one trip where the we endured a particularly bad thunderstorm, bringing heavy rain and winds to the camp site. But after it subsided, the beach would be calm, and along the shore would be all sorts of creatures (jellyfish, octopuses, exotic conches) washed ashore from the gulf. We returned to that camp site twice a year until I was about 14 (when the resort changed its policies, no longer accepting German Shepherds, the type of dog we had). I'd definitely say the trips there were among the highlights of my childhood.

The kind of RV we had. (Source: Internet, link on image)

The RV park (Source: Internet, link on image)