Our Adventures: March 2011

This year in Florida there were 29 million and 2 visitors. We arrived in Northern Florida in November and our first stop was in Lake City. We had never heard of it and probably never would have had it not been on our way. But I am glad we stopped because if we hadn't we would never have seen, Ichetucknee State Park. Ichetucknee (itch-tuck-knee) State Park has a natural spring, unfortunately not a warm spring that you could get in and soak but it was very pretty. The water was crystal clear and the actual hole where the spring water flows in from was large enough that people could actually scuba dive down into it. At the beginning of the ¼ mile walk that let to spring there was a picture that showed someone in the opening of the spring from below, it was pretty cool. Picture watching National Geographic and seeing a diver from underneath looking up towards the sky. That is what it looked like but instead of a vast openness above there is a hole in the ceiling of the spring that is maybe 10' X 10'. If you don’t scuba dive you can still snorkel around in the pool or just swim. We didn't go there with that intention and it wasn't that warm anyway. Once we got to the pool we stood around and enjoyed it's beauty. While watched an older woman feeding the fish, she stopped and pointed out that she was also feeding turtles. She and her son used to live in the area and he told us as a kid he used to go there all the time to swim. We did get to see some small Leather Neck Turtles and even got a couple pictures. They were all pretty small but you could see them perfectly through the clear blue water.

Leather Neck Turtle

Ichetucknee Spring More on Florida next time!!

It has been a long time since I last shared our travels with you. We have yet to find anything that compares to Alaska but comparing, after all is not what it's all about. It is more about enjoying the NOW. And that is what we have been doing. I can't begin to tell you everywhere we have been and everything we have done since Sept. so I will hit the highlights!
Since we left Alaska we have hit, British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, which is where we have been since the 1st of Dec. Well, our motorhome has been anyway.
We spent almost a month in Columbus Ohio in Oct. enjoying every minute of being with our Ohio family. We especially enjoyed our time with our daughter, Skye, her husband, Jason and our 2 beautiful grandkids, Colin (4) and Rylee (2). I do miss so much being closer to them ALL the time but it sure makes the time we are with them special, but the leaving so hard!!! Thank goodness for cell phones. We just signed up for Skype and we have a new laptop with a built in webcam so our next step is to get them set up with a webcam so we can video chat.
While in So Dakota our highlight was attending the lighting ceremony of Mt. Rushmore. What a moving experience it was to listen to our national anthem while watching the faces of the 4 presidents become illuminated with a very soft light. ~sigh~ Deadwood was another highlight. I had never even heard of it until I watch the HBO show of the same name. That was a fun day. We drove along a river, through a forest of trees covered with fall colors. It was an absolutely spectacular day.
Actually in all the states we traveled through up until our time in Tennessee we were surrounded by fall colors. It was beautiful!
Once we left South Dakota we just traveled "through" the other states until we got to Tennessee where we attended a rally in Sevierville. What a neat place. We took a day trip to the Great Smokey Mountains and even though it was raining it was still very pretty to see the fall colors. We even were treated to snow flurries.
In Georgia we stayed in several places including Stephen Foster State Park. There we took out our paddle ski (inflatable kayak) and paddled through the swamp. We watched the 'gators slither along. It was interesting to see the 'gators sink under the water without making even a ripple on the surface. We had pulled to the side of the swamp and were sitting on our kayak having lunch, when a raccoon wandered by foraging for its lunch. It was a pretty small raccoon and it didn't pay any attention to us at all. It walked within 10 feet from the side of our kayak. That was very cool!
After Georgia we went into Florida and that is where we have been since mid-November. I will write again and share our travels through Florida. We have done and seen quite a bit since November as you can imagine. So Enjoy the pictures of our time up until this point. I promise it won't be as long for my next entry......... Until next time........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fall Colors Ohio Style~~~~~~~~~~~~~