08/31/2026
Lake Apopka!
Charlie has had visiting the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive on his mental checklist ever since we bought the house, and today we finally did it! It’s an 11-mile one-way driving tour around the lake where you can see all kinds of Florida wildlife residents. We saw turtles, an Anhinga (snakebird) with just its head popping out of the water, Little Blue Heron, Great Blue Heron, American Alligators (probably 15), Great Egret, and my personal favorite: the Common Gallinule with its bright red forehead. It took us 39 minutes to get to the entrance of the wildlife drive, and we went through in just under 2 hours. There are plenty of areas to pull off to the side if you’d like to park and watch for a while, and a few stops with portapots along the way. The Wildlife drive is free to visit, and is only open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.