ICHETUCKNEE.....

Some places have the most interesting names. This weekend was family weekend and we were all together. Our big adventure was spending time at Itchetucknee Springs State Park. I don't think that the weather could have been any better. The only drawback was to get six sets of lazy bones up out of bed and into the car at 6:30 in the morning. Hence, the first day we arrived around noon and could only get into the south end of the park for a much shorter tubing extravaganza. The water was a refreshing 74 degrees and it was very busy. Our goal was to start our journey at the North end of the park for the longer adventure and seeing the more pristine parts of the spring. However, it all worked out well and we did well to keep out of the cypress and in avoided the dangers of underwater branches from toppled trees, this is nature of course and there are unforeseen bumps in the river .... so to speak. Every once in a while one is bound to "bump" into another tuber...all compliments of the current.


Before we knew it, it was time to exit, and we got a quick bite to eat, and went down a second time. We celebrated Paul's birthday at Carraba's. It was quite delish, although, there are other local restaurants I still want to try, maybe next time.



Today, we got up early and went back to the park. Well, all but some lazy individual who chose to sleep in, I won't mention any names, CAITLIN, but she made her choice to snore rather than enjoy our happy little early morning group. We picked up our tubes at the same friendly vendor we used yesterday, and headed off. We were early enough to get the North entrance! However, we did end up going out of our way (I guess the co-pilot was either asleep or enjoying the scenic farms), so we turned around and went back. We were number 23r. Directions just weren't in the cards today. When we arrived the woman said to "drop your family off here" she stamped my hand, and a man handed me a paper with directions, then she proceeds to say "the driver must drive the vehicle to the South entrance and pick up the shuttle which will come back here". Easy enough, I dropped the family off there, I head on my way to park the care. The adventure of my family began when a park ranger wanted to know why they were standing there and not by the springs....well, the woman said.... I found that once I parked and dropped off my key and waited for the shuttle some other poor woman was told to take a left, another left, then another left and a left into the park...well, really that was one more left than what she needed and she stopped and asked for directions and ended up in Ginny Springs!!! She was gone for an hour from her family. Anyway, I got the shuttle and there was my family all patiently waiting for me. After the usual photo-ops we were off. I did have a bit of a time getting in the tube, Manuel feels he should just push me into the tube, of course, I'd have no part of that, I did make it in, as did the others and off we went. This part of the journey is most scenic. It is only opened from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and it is fantastic. We saw many turtles and egrets. The water is cool and crystal clear. In the parts were the sand is seen are fish. There a big, and I mean BIG cobwebs with Banana Spiders, they're big also!!! It was very peaceful (except for a few loud people), the scenery is awesome. We went down to the midpoint and then further down to the end. It took about 3 hours. A lazy river trip is better than any lazy river at a theme park. We ate lunch that Caitlin picked up from Crisper's and a few of us took a nap. I baked cookies and when we went to leave, the thermostat on the car turned red and we weren't 3 miles away, so back we went to the girls apartment to spend the night. I did workout and got caught up on homework that I completely for got about, while catching bits and pieces of the Olympic excitement. Tomorrow's adventure...spending a small fortune to fix the car....

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