Depending on the season Gainesville rearranges its face. The face during football season is painted orange and blue of course. GO GATORS.
Every semester Gainesville changes its feel and look as the city ebbs and surges with the academic calendar of University of Florida and Santa Fe College.
Gainesville changes with the seasons
Students here. Crowded. No place to park. Long lines wait at coffee bars. Students evaporate in summer. Park anywhere you like. No wait for coffee. The table of your choice is available for lunch. Come fall students return. The cycle starts all over again.
Another face of Gainesville has an entirely different feel, a natural look dependent on season changes, water and the beating of wings.
Sandhill cranes on La Chua Trail
Sandhill cranes return to Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park every winter. When water is low, so is the number of cranes. This year there are hopes the water is up so the numbers of cranes will be up.
There was a banner year for cranes a few years back. Visitors came from all over the world to see and photograph these stately birds with long legs and red topknots.
The cranes are found on La Chua Trail at Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park – which happens to be the first chapter describing five wonderful walks around Gainesville in my new e book 10 Florida Great Walks Around Gainesville and Ocala. It is available for Kindle on Amazon.
Somebody has to walk the walks. That would be me. And here is something I discovered: Gainesville gets it. The greener we get now, the rosier our future will be.
Take a look at the “Buy Local, Be Sustainable” signs found on restaurant windows. Wander through a farmer’s market almost every day of the week. Talk with local farmers who are finding steady customers for organic produce and herbs.
Gainesville offers parks, botanical gardens, greenways
Numerous city and state parks plus a delightfully diverse botanical garden are part of everyday life here. The good life!
Protecting and preserving natural and cultural habitats got really serious in 2008 when Alachua County voters passed a local sales tax to fund park improvements in a project called “Wild Space and Public Places.”
A nice surprise, right in the middle of the city, is the Hogtown Creek Greenway, chapter five in my new e book
This is a popular destination for moms with strollers, fitness walkers, owners with dogs (who is walking whom?)plus off road bikes. Shaded dirt trails and a gurgling stream along the way totally contrasts with busy downtown Gainesville.
My recommendation for dog owners: Do the two half mile walks (or one) suggested in the book, then head for breakfast or lunch at The Flying Biscuit at 4150 Northwest 16th Blvd., Gainesville. Outside tables welcome leashed, well-behaved dogs and their owners.
To me, Gainesville is not a day trip – so much nature and culture. Because of its different faces, consider an overnight stay at any of a number of B7Bs. I stayed the Sweetwater Branch Inn Bed & Breakfast.
Stained glass window in a garret room at Sweetwater Branch Inn
The lovely inn, nestled in a restored Victorian home plus several other houses, all located in a complex conveniently near downtown.
Here’s a possible plan:
On day one, do the culture tour – visit the Harn Museum of Art on the University of Florida campus and also go next door to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Be sure to visit the museum’s Butterfly Rainforest.
Early Indian culture in Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History
You don’t have to go far for lunch. Go back to the Harn and enjoy lunch downstairs at the Camellia Court Cafe open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
After lunch take in The Thomas Center. The building alone is worth a visit – a lovingly restored Mediterranean Revival-style hotel.
There is a thriving art gallery scene in Gainesville. Peruse the Artisans Guild Gallery then move on and meander through the Paddiwhack Gallery (near the Flying Biscuit).
Go upstairs at Paddiwhack and visit with artist Linda Blondheim She does wonderful plein aire scenes and sometimes does paintings on furniture. I have a table topped with a painting of sunflowers.
Artist Linda Blondheim brews coffee for guests to her loft studio inside Paddiwhack Gallery
If it is a Wednesday, go back downtown for the Farmers Market and check out what is playing at the nearby Hippodrome Theatre From there it is only steps to a vibrant dinner at Dragonfly Sushi and Sake.
On day two get out walking shoes, hat and sunscreen. Let’s go walking to enjoy both nature and culture. My new e book has five suggestions in Gainesville:
La Chua Trail, Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park
Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, Cross Creek
Alfred A. Ring Park
Hogtown Creek Greenway
If there is still some tread left on the walking shoes look up when the next campus walking tour will be held at University of Florida – the campus has a nice collection of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. This walk is Chapter 15 “A Walk on the Gothic Side” in my book 50 Great Walks in Florida.
UF campus has a number of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places
Gainesville Events
Kanapaha’s Annual Bamboo Sale going on now (December, January and February) at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, phone (352) 372-4981.
Dec. 5 – 7 p.m. Celebrating the End of the World, Maya Style at Florida Museum of Natural History, phone (352) 273-2061
Dec. 8 – 9 a.m. Wildlife Walk on the Boardwalk (easy pace), La Chua Trail, Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park, phone (352) 466-3397
Dec. 8 – 10 a.m. Dudley Farm Historic Park Tour, phone (352) 472-1142
See Visit Gainesville for a complete listing of December events.
Give yourself a gift
10 Florida Great Walks Around Gainesville and Ocala
Got a Kindle? My new e book with five Florida Great Walks in Gainesville and five walks in Ocala is now available on Amazon for $2.99. Enjoy. And reviews posted on Amazon are appreciated!
MORE TO EXPLORE
Photographers ready for their close up