[In the spirit of Pottermania surrounding the release of the sixth Harry Potter movie The Half-Blood Prince, I'm making a reference to the series.]
Have you seen the fourth Harry Potter movie The Goblet of Fire? Toward the movie's end, Potter, competing in a contest with three others, finds himself in an elaborate maze of hedges. From time to time the hedges suddenly close in on him, forcing him to run to avoid becoming engulfed in green. I don't recall this aggressive trait of the maze hedges in the book, but seeing this in the movie reminds me of Gainesville. In the summer.
I grew up in south Florida and was accustomed to wide-open outdoor spaces with relatively few trees. In Gainesville, however, the environment is quite different. This is definitely a "forest" town, dominated by trees and bushes. And in the summer, it sometimes appears that they are trying to close in on everything with their accelerated growth. This probably isn't too beneficial to me, as I tend to suffer from respiratory allergies. But it does serve give a more three-dimensional sense to the outdoors, in contrast to south Florida's flatness (despite their asinine naming of places like "Hollywood Hills" and "Boulevard Heights").
Gainesville may be a city of more than 100,000 residents, but it is nevertheless immersed in nature. There are patches of wilderness all over the place, even in the heart of the city. Gainesville is crisscrossed by little creeks, many of which flow hidden underneath roads, but which elsewhere provide a more primeval environment around them.
Actually, it's possible to get more of a flavor of the wilderness experience by exploring Gainesville's particular little nature spots than by traveling into the surrounding countryside (which is often dominated by farms and ranches). There are several nature trails to follow, many of which border areas of heavy development. Perhaps I will explore some of these in future articles.
Have you seen the fourth Harry Potter movie The Goblet of Fire? Toward the movie's end, Potter, competing in a contest with three others, finds himself in an elaborate maze of hedges. From time to time the hedges suddenly close in on him, forcing him to run to avoid becoming engulfed in green. I don't recall this aggressive trait of the maze hedges in the book, but seeing this in the movie reminds me of Gainesville. In the summer.
I grew up in south Florida and was accustomed to wide-open outdoor spaces with relatively few trees. In Gainesville, however, the environment is quite different. This is definitely a "forest" town, dominated by trees and bushes. And in the summer, it sometimes appears that they are trying to close in on everything with their accelerated growth. This probably isn't too beneficial to me, as I tend to suffer from respiratory allergies. But it does serve give a more three-dimensional sense to the outdoors, in contrast to south Florida's flatness (despite their asinine naming of places like "Hollywood Hills" and "Boulevard Heights").
Gainesville may be a city of more than 100,000 residents, but it is nevertheless immersed in nature. There are patches of wilderness all over the place, even in the heart of the city. Gainesville is crisscrossed by little creeks, many of which flow hidden underneath roads, but which elsewhere provide a more primeval environment around them.
Actually, it's possible to get more of a flavor of the wilderness experience by exploring Gainesville's particular little nature spots than by traveling into the surrounding countryside (which is often dominated by farms and ranches). There are several nature trails to follow, many of which border areas of heavy development. Perhaps I will explore some of these in future articles.
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