Agreed. All the different types of plants / species. Some of the wildlife they see, etc. The only little mistake I made on the 2nd visit there was chilling down near the river. Didn't realize the bugs or sand fleas (? - I dunno) were present. Didn't feel any bites or itchiness. Didn't see anything either. Come to find out that night my calves are chewed up. We were leaving the next day, so I was wearing pants the next day for the flight home after a week plus or shorts & tees.
Regarding gardening ... my dad's always liked doing stuff around his yard, etc. He retired around 2009 and in the early-2010s took a night school course to be a "landscape technician" ... he enjoyed that. Learned more about stuff of interest, and was able to help out some friends with their gardening and landscaping too.
He's got a challenging property. Small house, but it has a bunch of stairs leading up from the front street, and a bunch more at the back to the elevated back alley. Moving around in the yard is a workout due to the incline and rectangular shape of the property. Get pretty winded when you help him with yardwork and we've encouraged him to downsize over time, but it's the first property he bought and he moved back there after getting divorced in the mid-90s.
