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.

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!