Blue Springs

I’m so behind. This is what happens when your only access to a computer is at work. I’ve been wanting to write about the day after Christmas for a while now and I’m just now finding the time to get to it.

Christmas evening I got the harebrained idea that I wanted to go on an adventure.  I had no particular place in mind, but our middle-school youth had gone on a picnic earlier the week before to Blue Springs. This is a state park near Orange City, FL. I had never been there, and I love visiting state and county parks. So I convinced my parents that it was a good idea to do nothing but wander around on the day after Christmas.

So. . .as it’s been so long ago now, I figured I’d just post this brief note along with some pictures of the park.

My next blog will be about my passion for printmaking. However, I couldn’t just let these photos go un-posted.

Just in case you can't read the picture of the sign:

Brief description of the springs

 "Blue Spring Natural Feature: 

Blue Spring is designated an official state natural feature. It is the largest spring on the St. John's River. Each day, about 100 million gallons flow from the spring to the river between the evergreen banks of 
Blue Spring Run.
 In winter, manatees move out of the cold St. John's into the warm 72° F water of the run. The clarity of the spring water allows people to view without disturbing this unique gathering of endangered species.

He's used to being driven around, thoug

We didn't really plan on doing much at the park, but we did take a picnic lunch along (i.e. we stopped by Publix in Apopka and picked up some sub sandwiches). 

We also brought Elwood, our 13 year old Chihuahua. As we found out later, he was allowed in the park but couldn't really get down off mom's lap to do much sniffing around.

The boardwalk to the spring headwater

Mom and I walked down the boardwalk to where the canoers and kayakers were interacting with the manatees. Manatees are not a new experience for me. My mom grew up in Homosassa, FL which is another spring area that the manatees like to frequent. However, the fact of the matter is it's still really cool to get to see them!

  You can rent either a canoe or kayak at a shop in the park, and it really doesn't require any previous experience to use either boat type. I totally recommend it to anyone (but keep in mind everyone in the boat should know how to swim!)

Also, this is spring water so the temperature, as noted above in the sign, is not exactly warm. It's refreshing in the summer, but not so much in the winter. Keep this in mind when you have kids along for the ride!

 You can go swimming at Blue Spring, but only when the manatees are not in the run. This is usually during the summertime, because the ocean temperature at that time is warm enough for them to stay out of the rivers.  If you want to see a manatee in the summer, check out Homosassa Springs State Park.

But the main point of this particular trip was to see the manatees. Which everyone on that day wanted to see. And I mean EVERYONE! 

Manatees come right up to the canoes and kayaks

There is one thing I do not recommend, and that is visiting Blue Springs on the day after Christmas. This is because everybody who has family down for the holidays wants them out of the house on the day after Christmas. What better activity (and cheap) than to take them to see some of Florida's natural beauties!
Therein, the park was full, and it's very well marked that it fills up on a regular basis. So don't go there expecting to have a quiet, serene experience between you and the manatees. This won't happen unless you spend the money to rent a canoe/kayak. Even then, there's plenty of other people who've done the same thing.  It's worth it though, because I've never seen so many manatees in the wild in one central location.

The Thursby House

 Just one more pic of the trip to leave you with. 
This is the Thursby House, which has been left on the park property and restored. I caught this pic on my way back from checking out the manatees. Gorgeous skies that day!





If you haven't already picked up on it, I love my home state. Florida is just about everyone's vacation destination, but most people who come here miss out on what makes it truly wonderful. Check out the Florida State Parks website for more great parks throughout the state!