I started making a list of things I want to do -- some general things, some specific places I want to visit in Florida. There are so many great things to do here that I could never experience in Ohio. Every time I try something different or new, it makes me feel like a kid. I still remember the first time I saw the boil at Blue Springs. I was amazed. I wanted to buy snorkeling gear and a waterproof camera immediately (never did though). Seeing the manatee's is on my list; so, when Jason called me yesterday morning and asked me if I could skip my run to go to Blue Springs to see the Manatee's, I jumped at the opportunity. My six mile run can wait until Sunday!!! :)
We woke up about 5:30AM (mostly because I have a freak internal alarm clock). We made banana nut and blueberry pancakes that were amazing. But sadly, my wanna-be food blogger self forgot to take a picture. We got to Jason's brothers house at 7 to pack the cooler and truck up. Jason had two hats this morning. The white one, aka the penis hat and the child size black hat. Both were horrible. However, the neon yellow circa 1987 sunglasses were awesome.
Jason and I had to stop and get lime juice for Jared so I wasn't able to capture the Short Bus being put in the water. We were waiting for some more friends to join so Jason was holding the boat.
It was a beautiful morning, sunny and about 52 degrees. It later warmed up to 70 degrees.
Abby enjoyed some powdered sugar donuts while we waited. She is such a cutie isn't she? She turns 2 years old next week.
Abby and Braden on the way to the Springs!
It took about an hour to travel to Blue Springs. We pulled up to the right of those canoe's.
The kids (little and big) hit up the playground first. I was so excited I headed up to the boardwalk to get my frist climpse of some Manatee! You can see these two guys below. There were hanging out about 50 feet from the St. John's. The Springs maintain a temperature of 72 degrees all year round. The manatee cannot survive for long periods of time in water below 60 degrees. So, when it's cold outside they make their way to springs to keep warm. When it gets warmer later in the day they venture back to the St. John's. Most of them were in sunny spots in the springs.
We made our way down the boardwalk and were able to see a lot of manatee hanging out in the sun. There was also a large gator hanging out with them.
I am very scared of gators. I will get in lakes and do open water swims, but in the back of my head I am thinking about a gator attacking me. After I saw this gator, I realized, when we swam in these springs in the summer, I was told there would be no gators in there. Even though it's abnormal for a gator to be there, I am still going to be paranoid when we go back to the springs to swim when it is warm.
Sailfin catfish
Tilapia
I hope my poisonous buckeye blood will keep these gators away!
The white marks on the skin of the manatee are scars from boats, mostly boat propellers. There are several no wake zones to avoid injuring manatee. We actually had to go around one on the way back. There are several precautions to prevent manatee deaths because they are an endangered species.
We went further down to the platform, where we jumped into the springs in the summer. We found this guy right below us and he swam under the platform. It was nice to be able to see one close up.
Then, we saw this baby manatee.
I really wanted a picture of Jason and I for the blog and I gave a guy, who looked like he would do a good job, take a picture. However, he did not get any of the background in. Oh well.
Then we headed down bird house creek. It's a cut through to another section of the river. People decorate bird houses and hang them from trees.
We saw this Dirty D tree house and I had to get a picture of it for my friend Danielle. One of her nicknames is Dirty D. We celebrated Dirty D turns thirty in Vegas this past April.
Remote control car treehouse
We headed back to Highbanks to drop someone off and we got some boiled peanuts!!! They are warm, soft, and tasty!!! YUMMY!!! They are all over Florida. People sell them on the side of the road.
Andrew and Abby resting on the way back.
This was a wonderful trip and worth waking up early to see. It is so different to be able to see animals in their natural habitat, instead of a relatively small tank in a zoo. It's beautiful and surreal. I also was able to see a bald eagle today.
I am also glad I was able to cross something off my list so early in the year. I plan on posting my list (once it is complete) and blogging as much as I can about the different things I am doing. Next week I hope to go to the Withlacoochee State Park, northwest of Orlando, and ride part of the 46 mile bike trail!! WOOHOO!!!
