Day at the Beach!

great blue heron

to be honest, I never thought I'd enjoy living in Florida, but I've found many advantages, such as living so close to the beach! Never in my life have I spent sooo much time at the ocean, and I really, really love it.

today in particular, we stopped at the local beach and just hung out all day. I myself didn't get in the water, but Joshua had a blast splashing around. I found myself wandering around along the shore, snapping pictures of anything that flew by. :)

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.

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.

Amelia Island, Florida

Our destination today was the beach, which seems to be the place we are always going lately, but let me tell you a little something. My dad was forty five years old the first time he ever saw the ocean. Needless to say, we're making up for lost time. I think he's trying to compensate for all the years he never saw the sea.

For lunch, our sandwiches have a label, with a word to distinguish whose it is.

Mine of course:

Surprise, surprise...

oh and hey, we found a sharks tooth for the first time!

And I got Joshua to smile for a picture!

And of course, dad is completely and utterly lost in the endless amount of shells that wash up to the sandy shores.

 This dude was pretty awesome, so was this dude:

Kathrine Abbey Hanna Park, FL

Today we went to Kathrine Abbey Hanna Park in Jacksonville, Florida. :)

I was suuuppper excited for today, just because it was so nice to get out of the camper and go for a little drive.








The park has several large lakes, along with beach access to the ocean, yay!

It is currently the 'off-season' here in Florida, therefore the kayaking and boat rentals weren't available today, but we had fun walking around the trails and eating a picnic lunch!

I've seen alligators in aquariums and at the zoo before, but I've never actually saw an alligator in the wild before!

Not until today, at least. I ended up wandering on my own for a bit, I tend to go at a slower pace than the rest of my family, considering I'm always stopping to take pictures of flowers, or something another that catches my eye.













So anyways, here I am walking down a path, and there are some people not far from me, one of them suddenly says, "do you see the alligator?" I walk faster over towards them, only to look over and see a gigantic alligator just hanging out on a log. I pretty much freaked -





my heart was racing, pounding out of my chest even. I felt so nervous and yet excited,
I was shaking all over. I ran back to find my family and I shown them the alligator as well, it was pretty awesome :)

Afterwards, we even saw an armadillo!!






Later on we drove over to the beach, and spent a few hours walking along the shoreline.

That's where we saw a group of dolphins! It was so amazing, I've never seen this many wild animals so up close before now!! :)

I didn't get a picture of the dolphins, by then it was getting clouded and dark and it started raining, so we had to leave.

I had such an awesome day, I really loved this park and I hope we come back here again sometime!

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!