Oh, why hello deer

so we're just sitting there and 

oh-

why hello

what's up

Manatee Springs State Park, FL

We've officially left and moved away from Georgia, which means I am happy yet very, very sad. :(
but nonetheless, life shall continue to move on, as it always does. quite frankly.
















Our stop for this weekend was Manatee Springs State Park, which is located in Chiefland, Florida! I unfortunately got sick a few days before moving here, to the point where I couldn't breathe through my noes, my eyes were pink, my head hurt, my throat hurt, and my body was weak.

Which is odd, because I eat like a rabbit. I am super duper healthy and nothing fights down the walls of my immune system! Or at least, not usually, so when I suddenly became sick this suckkkeed.



The first day we arrived at the state park, I just slept, and when I wasn't sleeping I was watching supernatural and eating soup. I was a mess. We also had no wifi, internet, water, or television here. (At least we had electricity!)







Something I loved most about this place was how our campsite was literally dead center in the woods, right in the trees. We're surrounded by birds and forest and deer and that just makes me so incredibly happy.





Also, hence "manatee springs", the park has numerous outlets to the ocean-fed river, which is currently home to tons and tons of manatee at the moment.

The water is over 70 degrees year round and is perfect for swimming! (I can see why the manatee are currently living in these waters) not to mention how crystal clear it is, you can see every fish in this water! How awesome!





The next day, after taking a long hot shower and blowing my nose a few dozen times, I was finally able to make it out the house, despite the fact I felt so sick, I just couldn't miss this day.

The sun was shining and the air was nice and cool. Dad and I went for a walk on the wooden bridge, it goes for almost a mile through the woods, and is alongside the water.














We happened across a hawk, and got very close to it, which is the highlight of my life right there because I mean how often do you get this close to a hawk and snap such an amazing picture.

I loved seeing all of the different animals - such as turtles, manatees, butterflies, hawks, squirrels, blackbirds, fish, and the list goes on.

Woods

I love the woods,

there isn't anything that sends more 

love through my veins

than the feeling of pine needles

under my feet

Cumberland Island, GA

I've never ridden on a boat before, so today, I was rather nervous, because dad and I were taking a ferry ride over to
Cumberland Island, Georgia.

We got up reeeallyy quite early that morning and drove over to St. Mary's where the boat docks are.

Dad and I bought our tickets, and stood outside with the other fifty-or-so people who'd be taking this journey as well. The "tour guide" preceded to tell us important things, such as when the boat would be coming back to bring us home, or where all the bathrooms on the island were.

     


And let me tell you, I was pretty freaking nervous about this boat ride, especially because it was over an hour long.

...But I have to admit, it was also pretty awesome to be on a boat.


Upon arriving at the Island, you had two options: 1 being you could follow the tour guide, or 2 you could just wander by yourself. Of course, Dad wanted to just go by ourselves... at least we had a map.

Our first stop was the beach, then we headed to the ruins to check out the fallen-down castle.








This island is actually an interesting place - the first thing that I was excited about was the wild feral horses that live on the island. It's an estimate of 150 in total that roam free here. (we even got to see one!) Along with the horses, numerous other animals live here as well. You have the white tailed deer, armadillo (which we got a close encounter with!), alligators, wild boars, and even raccoons.

So many years ago lived the Spanish Settlement & the English Settlement, but now the only people residing on Cumberland Island are the ones who work here, there is no stores or restaurants on the island.

I won't bore you with all the information about this islands past and such, but I hope you at least enjoy the photos I took, it was a fun day :)





 one of the animals we saw, which just so happens to be a common sight around here. The great blue heron, one of my favorite birds that loves to stalk fish in the water.

evening hike

I went for a well needed hike over to the more smaller lake. In the campground we're staying in, if you look closely you can see a small path leading into the woods. You follow it for about fifteen minutes (depending on how fast you walk, I tend to walk rather slow if I'm taking pictures, this day in particular, the cardinals were out-and-about) anyways, eventually you arrive at this lake.
Unfortunately you can only hike about half-way around it before the trees become too thick and the weeds are over grown. It was an afternoon that made me rather happy.

Back to Georgia

So I get back to Georgia, which is something I'm very excited for.

I missed it here, granted we were only gone for a week, 

for some reason I was just homesick...

And of course, I'm welcomed by cold.

My late afternoon hike was very,

very quite cold.

Hotels -_-

I don't really like hotels, mostly because the beds aren't very comfortable (at all). I feel the need to be super duper quite...
though I love the free breakfast in the morning. I just can't wait to get home...

Lizards

Here is the thing about Florida that really surprised me: Lizards.

I'm from the midwest, and the only reptile you are bound to see is a snake, perhaps the occasional frog or even a turtle...

But apparently, lizards are a very common sight here in Florida. While staying at my aunt's condo, I noticed dozens of these little lizards just running around, and needless to say, I was just shocked.





These little guys are called Brown Anole, and they do this really cool neck thing:

Luckily they aren't bothersome at all, and don't really care about you or I.

Though I've found they are very difficult to capture...

who would have thought those little legs could move so fast?

Fun Facts: Sea Lions

I got to meet some pretty awesome Sea Lions today,

And I have all this sea lion knowledge swirling around in my brain, 

and well, I guess I might as well share!

Sea Lions, not to be confused with their close cousins the walrus, or the seal, is an aquatic beasty-beauty.
These mammals can reach 8 to 10 feet in length, and can weigh a good 700 pounds! Granted depending on the sea lion you meet, their size can vary.
In some cases they've found sea lions that are even 1,000+ pounds.







Generally, the males are bigger than females and show quite a bit of dominance.


These lions of the sea are often described as having a
'torpedo-like body'
and just so happen to be powerful, graceful, and even acrobatic swimmers.

You can find these guys all over water-areas.
They've been known to live in California and even up into the Canadian coasts.
You can find them just about everywhere! Accept for the northern Atlantic ocean, (which, even researchers can't even figure out why the sea lions don't live there!) 

How do I tell the difference between Sea Lions, Seals, and Walruses? - Well, that's easy! Walruses have big tusks, it's easy to distinguish them from the others, who do in fact not have tusks :)

Here is a little list to help you tell the difference between Seals and Sea Lions (they just looks so similar, don't they?):

SEA LIONS:

• Earflaps
• Long hairless foreflippers
• Hindflippers rotate underneath to allow them to walk on land
• Swim underwater using foreflippers like wings of a bird
• Long smooth whiskers or vibrissae

SEALS:

• Earholes
• Short, hairy foreflippers & long claws
• Move on land by wiggling on belly & keep hindflippers straight out
• Swim by steering with foreflippers and powering with hindflipers
• Whiskers are crimped or beaded

Sea Lions luckily really only have two predators that are other animals - killer whales, and sharks. 

They are often and most likely found in extremely large colonies, consisting of numerous amounts of sea lions. For their protection, they will stay very close together both on land, and even in the water.
The big colonies though also have many sub groups, sometimes sea lions will move from one sub group to another. (yay, vacation time! at least they socialize) 

Sea Lions are considered to be very intelligent animals, which is a fact I definitely have to agree with upon seeing them preform at the MOTE Aquarium! 

Though, considering their size, Sea Lions can be very dangerous animals to be around, as they can become rather aggressive (especially the males).

Sea lions can even dive up to 600 feet for food in the water! They can even remain under the water for up to forty minutes before they need to come back up for air.

And if you thought you were a good swimmer, think again! These bad boys can swim up to 25 miles per hour! But they generally move about 10 miles per hour, unless they feel threatened. And although they appear lazy, they simply enjoy relaxing and basking in the sun, just like me! 

The average life span of this majestic lion is a good 20 years, but they might even see 30 years if they are raised in captivity! Pretty cool, huh? Surprisingly enough, these mammals aren't immune to all health problems.
They can often suffer from pneumonia, epilepsy, and various types of cancer... how sad. :( But research shows that the pups are immune to such problems as long as they are fed milk from their mothers. 

And remember to throw away your trash in the right place, because plastic is actually a huge threat to sea lions. Something that may seem safe to you, such as plastic rings from a six pack of soda, can be deadly for them. They will swallow the plastic, and then will have problems internally with the digestion process! Let's try and not let that happen to these awesome fellas', alright?
Also, forgot to mention - their diets consist of seafood - salmon and herring being their favorite!

How awesome, you are now super informed about these awesome animals, and have more knowledge than you did before reading this, cool!

Don't Forget To Be Awesome, my fellow animal lovers! Remember to be nice to the earth <3