I haven’t gone “hiking” in a while in the great Florida outdoors, so I decided to go up to Blue Springs State Park last weekend hoping to catch a glimpse of some manatees. One of my friends suggested it as being a great place to spot these giant floating creatures. So I took off with a friend and headed for the springs. When we got there I was kind of disappointed. There were people everywhere with their picnic baskets, blankets, and bathing suits. It felt more like I was at a recreational park than a state park. The trail was wood planks and you couldn’t go down to the water, but only see it from a lookout. Terrible!
The water was rather murky, so if there were manatees we couldn’t see them. I did, however, see my first gator in the wild of Florida. I’ve almost been here a year, and yesterday was the first sighting of a wild gator. So that made the trip worth it! We found out there was a 4 mile hiking trail to the water that we could do. So we decided to make our $5 entry fee worth it and hike all the way. It was an interesting hike. The first half of the trail consisted of a service road that lead into the Floridian canopy. The trees were beautiful, moss hanging from the limbs. Our destination was a very small beach and a river…nothing too spectacular. We sat for about a minute, then headed back 4.2 miles. When we got back to the parking lot I found three tics crawling around on my feet, and my friend found like ten on him! So we drove back in paranoia, worrying if there were other tics crawling around. I did find another crawling up my back when I got home. Disgusting!
Though we didn’t get to see any manatees, the springs were a beautiful place. I’ll probably go back when it’s cooler, because I’ll have more of a chance to see the manatees. For now, I’ll just live with The Living Seas area at Epcot to see some manatees.
After an exhausting day at the springs, we went to Universal for the night for dinner and a movie. We saw “Watchmen” and I was pretty disappointed. It was almost three hours long, and there was so much dialogue. I thought that being based off a graphic novel about quasi-superheroes that there would be a lot more action. The plot really didn’t accelerate until 30 minutes before the end. I thought it was interesting how they tied the story line in with the Cold War and the Nixon administration. It was an okay movie, but way too long, way too much dialogue, not enough action, and a little bit too much CGI penis!
dude, I would never hike through these “woods.” There are SOOOO many things that can eat you alive.
Just sayin’.
BUT, I would HIGHLY encourage going to a clear river and kayaking (sit on top kayak’s.) I LOVE IT and try to do it at least once or twice a year. I haven’t done sea kayaking but that is high on my priorities this year.