Abandoned golf courses are deeply weird places.

My parents live near a golf course whose owner walked away from it in 2006, after someone discovered high levels of toxic metals in the soil, and it turned out rehabilitation would be far more expensive than the place was worth.

For the last decade and a half or so, the place has been quietly returning to nature. Driven by restlessness, I spent some time wandering around it just before sunset this evening…and man, what an odd experience that was.

A fairway left alone for over a decade turns into…something else.

The remnants of the old golf cart trails still exist, slowly being reclaimed by the ground.

Apparently I’m not the only one who thought to walk the trail. Someone before me left a message of…hope, I guess?

I think it’s hope. Or maybe it means there’s a boss fight down this trail, who can tell?

This bit is actually quite lovely.

It’s been deserted long enough some of the trees have fallen.

I stayed out later than I intended, until the sun settled behind the trees. I hate Florida—the weather, the bugs, the politics, the stubborn and mendacious stupidity that clings to the state like a bad smell—but the sunsets, those are spectacular.

I think I will return tomorrow. There’s a peacefulness there I really appreciate right now.