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.

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.

MOTE Aquarium

I was like super-duper-duper excited about today, because, we'd be going to MOTE Aquarium!
And if you know me at all, you know that I have so much love for animals,
I mean, I don't care if it's land or aquatic, I love it.
I will literally TALK your ear OFF about animals, and animal facts and things I've learned
and what I know. I feel so bad for people that hang out around me, because like, we'll see a bird, and I'll spew out a bunch of information about birds.

Because I just love them. And we got to places like this - an aquarium - and you just lose me, I am gone.



Leah is no longer, what is present is a three year old with the knowledgeable mind of a learning freak. I will stand there and talk to the animals, "Oh, hello mister sea turtle, how are you today?"

I mean, it's ridiculous. If someone were to take me on a date here they would get no attention from me, nope noppers I'm gone I'm soooo distracted by everything else.





And, to top that off, they had a little show.
Three sea lions were in this big tank, and this lady comes out. And there is music playing
and it's just so much fun.
This lady is just so pumped up with energy, and she's teaching us about the sea lions

and telling us all about them, and then, they come out of their little swimming pool.

Sea lions, just chilling, but the best part is they do all these cool tricks and they dance to the music and seriously I was like in tears??

This was such an emotional moment for me, because it was just sooo awesome to see.
And I mean please forgive me for my jumbled text.
none of this probably makes any sort of sense
but I was just sooo happy. omfg.

I think one of my favorite parts was the manatees, because it was just so exciting to see them!! :)

 

That manatee became my buddie, I loved this fella'!

Also, they had an educational program where you could learn about dolphins and watch them train them, as well, which was pretty cool :)

Downtown Sarasota, FL

We ventured to downtown Sarasota, where the beach was. Also - we discovered a super awesome park! Although Joshua and I are becoming big kids (I'm still denying it) we still played at the playground.



It was suuucchhh a fun day! I loved seeing all the
cool-awesome-interesting birds at the water,

I loved the statues in the park and even the awesome old trees.

Plus, I discovered something interesting. There was these green birds in the trees, like jungle birds or something, the kind of bird that should be in south America right now. It was crazy!


 I've been sad about my aunt being in the hospital, and it made me even sadder to see her in that hospital bed. I honestly can't explain the heartbreak that runs over you, but I know damn well it hurts like lemon juice on a fresh wound. And, it doesn't help I've been battling depression for so many months now. Smiling has become a chore, but today, at this park, it wasn't. I was happy, even if it was just for a little bit.

water

So today I was feeling a little bit blue, about the same color as the skies look.
We'd be leaving soon, and I was getting a little torn about that. Also, not to mention, my aunt is currently in the hospital. She lives alone in Sarasota, Florida. My mother called, called, and called her on the phone, but no answer for days. Finally the cops arrived at her house. She's been in the hospital since, and my mom still won't tell me what's wrong. So, we're heading down there soon to go see her.

But as of now, I'm just having fun by the water.

I kind of have this love - hate thing with water. Like I mean I love the water, I love how it looks, how it feels between my fingers, how the wind creates waves and you throw a rock in and there is all these little ripples along the surface. It's awesome, water is cool, but I also fear it.

All my life I'd have nightmares of being trapped under the water, and I don't mean one or two, it's an on-going thing that happened several times in one night. It's not just recently, either, it's been happening since I was very little. This underlying fear of drowning, of not reaching the surface. If I was swimming and the water was above my shoulders, I'd have a panic attack. But I worked up my strength last summer, and my swimming abilities were good enough I was confident of being in the water, until i almost drowned and died. But we won't talk about that now, because, look~! I went from the swamp to the lake and I found an alligator :D

Swimming... in January?

It's January, and usually for me, being a Wisconsin-bred child, this is the month where you don't leave the house because the temperature doesn't get above -0, the wind doesn't stop and the snow is at your waist.

But today, it's January, we are in Georgia, and you know what my brother is doing?

Hunting Island, SC

This morning, our parents didn't even tell us where we were going... it was a surprise! Granted it wasn't anything special, it was still an awesome day.

We drove over to Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina!

And I was realllyyy excited about going here because on Hunting Island, there is a lighthouse! I love lighthouses, but I've never seen on in person before.
I was so happy! We packed a lunch for the day and arrived to the state park early in the morning. I was amazed at how beautiful this place is - driving through the state park looks like a jungle - I wouldn't have been surprised if a monkey flung out from behind the trees... I've never seen so many palm trees before!

We walked around various trails until we arrived at the beach! :) We made it over to the lighthouse, but sadly, because there was construction going on inside, you weren't allowed to enter :(
I was rather upset about that, but we still got to go inside the lighthouse museum... that was pretty cool!

After exploring the beach for awhile, we stopped and ate some lunch. I was glad, too, because by then I was starving! I liked it here... both the water and sky were so blue today.
Too bad it was cold outside, or else I would have put my feet in the water :)

Joshua and I had a fun time exploring the small island, it was a great day and we all had so much fun! Afterwards we drove through some of the old historic landmarks of the area... I had no idea South Carolina was so pretty!