Silver Springs Nature Theme Park

Today we visited Silver Springs.  This is one place we planned to visit since we arrived in this area.  We were going to buy a season pass, along with Rich and Donna, and at the last minute Donna saw something on their website.  They were in the process of changing ownership, and along with that they were reducing their attractions down to their glass boat rides.  So we decided not to buy the season pass and just to make a trip here sometime.  We were going to visit yesterday and went to Ocala NF instead.  We did make it today, which was the final day at the park before it did change hands.

The employees that were working today were understandably emotional over it being the last day.  One employee told us that over 300 people lost their job due to its closing.  I wish we had visited this interesting place while it was in full operation, because it looked like a great place.  There appeared to be animals, a water park, shows and some rides.  As the website said, there is not much there at this point except the glass boat rides.  The trip was worth it even with that being the only attraction.  The really neat part about a glass boat is that everyone can have a front row seat.

The other neat thing is you can see just how clear the water is and just how deep the water is.  It makes for a really beautiful ride.

The springs pump out 550 million gallons of water a day.  It is enough to support New York City.

We saw two alligators while on the boat ride, and lots of turtles.

After our boat ride, we ate lunch there and then walked around to see the rest of the park.  The rest of the park was beautiful also.

I'm so glad we did make it before it became a state park.  It was nice to feel like we were a part of its history.  I'm excited to see what they will do with it once it becomes a state park.

Silver River State Park

After eating our lunch, Donna and I decided we had plenty of time to do something else before heading home.  We tossed around a few ideas and then decided to go to Silver Springs.  I have never visited there before and am very much wanting to see it.  We drove over there, only to see they were closed!  After August 18th they are only open on weekends and holidays.  We passed Silver River State Park and decided to try that instead.  I asked the girl at the front gate what was at the park and after her giving us the run down we went inside the park.  We parked and saw the Cracker Pioneer Village and Silver River Museum, which are only open on weekends and holidays.

We looked at our map, then saw a sign for Sinkhole Trail and decided the sinkhole sounded interesting.  We started down the sandy hiking trail, with flip flops, and decided very shortly after that it was hot and we didn't have the best hiking gear on.  I also saw on the map that this path was 70 minutes long and we still wanted to do the trail to the river, so we turned around and backtracked at that point.  We then took the River Trail so we could see the Silver River.  We arrived at the river and I saw an alligator right near the boat ramp.

You can barely see him, but he is to the left of the wooden post.  We hung out here a bit, catching our breath and giving my aching calves a rest and listened to all the sounds of nature around us.  Then we headed back.

Just as we began to head back, it started to rain.  That should have been no surprise to us because we had noted that it felt like it was going to rain, saw clouds and heard thunder.  We must have thought we could beat it still, but we did not at all.  Since we were so hot and sweaty, the rain felt nice.  We were worried about our cameras but once we situated them in dryer spots we laughed the whole walk back to the car.  I am borrowing Donna's picture to show you what we looked like when we were done with the trail.

This was not the adventure we were expecting, but then again, they rarely are!  It was a great day.  Hopefully we will manage to get a few more day trips in again before we head back to Peace River!

Juniper Springs Recreation Area

Taking advantage of the extra weekend day due to the holiday, we went out to see more in the area surrounding The Villages.  This trip took us to Ocala National Forest, where we stopped at Juniper Springs Recreation Area.  Like Rainbow Springs, it was just beautiful!

This springs is in a subtropical setting and is one of the oldest and best known recreation areas on the East coast.  There are hundreds of tiny bubbling springs here.  This is the swimming complex and picnic area and you can see the Millhouse in some of these shots also.

The millhouse was a neat feature of this park.  It was built by the CCC workers.
From their website:
Juniper Springs was an ideal place for a public recreation area, but there was one problem. The site was located miles from the nearest source of electricity and the cost of running lines out through the national forest to the new park was prohibitive. The millions of gallons of water that rush from the springs each day, however, soon sparked an idea for a solution.

As work went forward on the recreation area in 1935-1936, the CCC came up with a plan to generate electricity while enhancing the scenic beauty of the springs.

They built the structure known today as the millhouse or old mill at the foot of the main pool of Juniper Springs. Water flowing from the springs was channeled into a narrow sluice and then allowed to pour back out to its natural configuration.

The rushing water that poured through the sluice turned an undershot waterwheel (so named because the water ran under instead of over the wheel). That wheel, in turn, powered a generator in the millhouse that produced more than enough electricity to meet the needs of the recreation area.

The concept worked like a charm. Not only did the millhouse create electricity, but the log and stone design of the structure added a beautiful touch to the setting of the springs. It because a much loved part of the site.

As interpretive panels at the old mill explain, the power plant was a good example of a 1930s “green energy” project. It generated electricity without destroying the scenic beauty of the springs and without producing pollution of any kind.

The Juniper Springs Millhouse no longer generates electricity, but the structure has been beautifully preserved. The stone wall at the waterwheel end is a beautiful piece of CCC masonry work.

After visiting the millhouse, we took one of the hiking trails to another spring where we saw a gator.  One of the rangers told me that someone asked him earlier if they feed the alligators.  The other ranger joked, "Yeah, we feed 'em tourists!"  It cracked me up.

We really enjoyed our visit at this beautiful place.  Next time we need to bring our swimsuits and enjoy this:

Rainbow Springs State Park

Today we finally got out for a day trip.  Once you are in The Villages, it is easy to forget there is a whole other world out there because you have everything you need right here.  There is so much in this area that is unique and beautiful so I'm glad we remembered it for today at least.  Rich and Donna graciously babysat Ava, so after dropping her off we headed to Dunnellon to visit Rainbow Springs State Park.

The first thing we noticed was the fact that the place was packed.  The second was the reality that almost every person except us was wearing a swimming suit, which meant the springs were a great place to swim.  Neither of those things especially surprised us.  What did surprise us was how gorgeous the place was.  We love most Florida parks, but this one was especially pretty in terms of the water.  The water was crystal clear and fairly warm temperature wise.  And it was breathtakingly beautiful.

Rainbow Springs is the fourth largest spring in Florida.  The springs and park used to be a privately owned attraction.  Based on how popular it seemed to be today, I am guessing it did well for many years.  Before the magical mouse took up residence in Florida, I am guessing places like this did very well.  It was nice to see families enjoying it and soaking up the fun still today.  I am happy to say, we did not see one child using an electronic device the entire time we were here which says a lot for the place!

Since we did not bring our swimsuits, we headed off to see what the nature trails were like.  We were very pleased with what we found there also.

Even with it being very hot and humid, we really enjoyed our nature walk.  It was very relaxing and peaceful.  There used to be a little zoo here but that is no longer in operation.  There was a nice butterfly garden that was full of beautiful butterflies.  We watched two that seemed to be doing synchronized flying together.  And beyond a group of kids throwing rocks down at the waterfall we were looking at and almost hitting us, the crowds were not overwhelming in the least.  We gave this place two thumbs up for sure.

So glad we did venture out today and see one of Florida's natural gifts.  Living the life in HOT and HUMID Florida!

The Pier at Fort DeSoto

After seeing the inside of the fort, we decided to go up on top of it and walk around.  We wanted to get a better look at what else was at the park.  We saw a nice beach.  Excellent!

Then we look the other way and see a fishing pier and more beach.  Even better!

Let's zoom in here and get a closer look:

Yup, that's where we want to head next!  We take the short walk over there.  We watch the fisherpeople fishing.  We watch the birds and note how fearless of humans they are here.

And then the truly magical moment happened:

I saved the best for last-dolphins!  I will tell you more about them tomorrow!

Living the life in Florida!

Fort DeSoto Park

Sometimes we visit a place that is nearby, and I find myself thinking I can't believe we have never been here before.  This park was one of those places.  We knew it was in the area, and we even tried to find it one day when we were with our travel buddies but we never actually made it to the park.

I am glad we finally did because it was one of the more awesome state parks we have visited in Florida.  The park sits on an island, which is always a cool bonus.  That means there is a beach, pier and park facilities like kayaking and biking.  There is also the fort, which you can walk through.

  Fort De Soto has the only four 12-inch seacoast rifled mortars (model 1890 mounted on 1896 carriages) in the continental United States. Also at the fort are two 6-inch Armstrong rapid-fire rifled guns (model 1898) which were originally mounted at Fort Dade, and are the last two guns of that model year in the United States.

 The walls on the fort were incredibly thick, meaning the inside was unusually cool.  I can't imagine how dark and lifeless it would have seemed though, to stay inside for any length of time.

 

I'll be honest, my favorite part was watching Nathan explore the fort.  He goes into complete guy mode in places like this.

He was trying to find evidence of firing, so I looked it up.  "Ironically, Fort De Soto was never the site of any major battle, and the weapons of Fort De Soto and Fort Dade were never fired in anger at an enemy. However, it played a significant part in the evolution of modern weaponry. In 1977 Fort De Soto was added to the National Register of Historic Places.  Very interesting place to visit!

 

Trees at Highland Hammocks Park

While we were at the park, I saw Nathan doing something and couldn't quite figure it out.  I snapped a picture first and then asked what he was doing.

He said he was feeling the tree move and when I did the same thing, sure enough you could feel it swaying.

We then talked about all of the cool things to do with trees, and moved to specifically discussing how neat the trees here are.

Next time we visit, I hope to get shots of the giant trees that Auburn calls Jurassic Park trees.

Living the life in sunny Florida!

Cypress Swamp Trail

I love this trail at Highland Hammocks Park.  It is a really unique trail, winding through a swamp with Cypress trees.  My favorite part is the catwalk/boardwalk type of path that you walk along.

It starts out as a wide path, big enough for two to walk along.  Then at some point it becomes more narrow and only has handrails on the one side.  It spans some creepy dark water where I hyperventilate if I think about it too much.

If I have not shared this yet, I can sometimes have a pretty serious water phobia.  Or to be more accurate, I can be phobic about bodies of water that do not allow you to see what creatures are inside of them.  I cross this section pretty quickly if at all possible.

This trip I reminded Nathan that I like to move quickly here and he stopped and blocked the walkway to ask me if I want to go around him.  I think I shrieked something like OMG...keep walking!  I am not going around you where I could fall right into the water and who knows what can get me...are you trying to kill me or something!?!  I think he smirked inside but he was smart enough to keep walking so we could get past this part.

There are benches where people leave their mark.

 There are areas that have me thinking surely the faeries live here! 

 Most of the areas get you so up close to your surroundings, it allows you to fully experience what exactly is in this section of the park.  All of the areas are beautiful.  It is just a really cool way to experience nature.

Even with the creepy part, I really do enjoy this trail for a nature walk!