I am a gardener by trade because I am obsessed with plants, all plants, so when a state park has gardens in its name I get a bit excited. When I arrived at Alfred B McClay Gardens I discovered Casey was not allowed on the garden grounds and I immediately felt disappointed. I did not let that ruin our day and decided that we would explore the rest of the park and leave the gardens for another time. Everywhere we wandered we got pristine lake views and I was so impressed by the very clean grounds. Although I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the serene lake, I longed to meander around the gardens. I decided I would put Casey in the car, with the AC on of course, just for a few minutes. I went through the gardens like a lighting bolt, just to get the feel for my next visit. I could not really soak in the beauty because I was too worried about getting back to my dog.
Even though I was sad about my dog situation, I was still happy I got to spend the time at the park, exploring the grounds and learning the history.
Before you visit, make sure you check out the parks website for all of the up-to-date park information: https://www.floridastateparks.org/index.php/MaclayGardens
