Dora Canal - Eustis Florida

The Dora Canal connects Lake Eustis with Lake Dora. It was originally called the Elfin River. In the late 1800s the river was dredged so that watercraft could more easily move through it.

We were only in central Florida for a short time, visiting relatives. In the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, we often took boat rides down the canal when we visited Kathy's parents. Her father still lives on a canal off Lake Eustis, but it has been quite awhile since he has owned a boat.

The Dora Canal is only about a mile long, but one has the opportunity to have a shot at seeing just about all of the wildlife species that live in central Florida. I had a little bit of time to spare while traveling from one relative's home to another, so I parked my car at the bridge over Highway 441 and walked under the bridge to the canal.




Lake Eustis and the Dora Canal



Bridge Over the Doral Canal at Highway 441



Its only possible to walk a short way down the canal. The underbrush gets thick in a hurry.



The Dora Canal



Huge Bamboo



This trailer is not quite "move in ready." Several more abandoned trailers are scattered about near the entrance to the canal. A few decades ago, one could leave very cheap on waterfront like this - not now.



The little speck on the water at the left is an alligator. On the right is a partly sunken boat.



A Closer Look at the Alligator



Some of the plants on the canal are probably remnants of old home sites.



Ospry

Ute Rock Art - Arches National Park

When we were at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, we followed a path to these petroglyphs. They aren't real old. They picture horse and rider along with bighorn sheep. Petroglyphs are just etches in rock, so the only way to date them is subject matter. Horses didn't get to North American until the Europeans arrived, so this rock art can't date any farther back than the 1600s. They are the work of the Utes who gave the state of Utah its name.

Moab Utah Rock Shop

On our last trip to Utah we made the long drive from Salt Lake City to Moab to visit Arches National Park. When we left the park we stopped by this rock shop.







The rocks were interesting, but what got my attention were the prehistoric Indian artifacts that were for sale. I do remember back when I was kid seeing boxes of arrowheads at tourists stops and attractions, but we don't see Indian artifacts for sale at those places in the South nowadays.

The shop glued magnets on these pottery shards. I wouldn't do that. The fact they'd market authentic prehistoric Indian artifacts as refrigerator magnets illustrates how much of it can easily be found out West.



Here is part of a display case full of Indian artifacts - big pottery shards, tools, hammerstones, manos, metates ... The store even had boxes of flakes and chips for sale, kinda like the boxes of shells in our coastal souvenir shops.



Leading in and out of the shop, were (legit)dinosaur tracks.