Off from the fake Florida at Disney to the 'Real Florida' - the Florida State Parks, specifically, this day, the Suwannee River State Park. For those of you who did not know, 'Suwanee River' is the state song of Florida.
This state park is beautiful. About 5 miles off the highway (though fairly close to a passing train) this state park is picturesque and secluded. The site is actually quite a historic one, where the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers meet. This was the site of an earthenworks bridge, where numerous crossings were made. This was also a strategic site, the Union army was able to capture this location and cut off supplies to a portion of the Confederate army. Here is a picture of the Suwannee River.
It does not look that big (it isn't). I can see why, if you are travelling down the river in a paddleboat, you are worried about being attacked from the shores.
The campsite is very spacious and quiet. This is obviously not the busiest time of year at the camp. There were 31 sites total, with only about 13 occupied. Surprisingly, this is still about four times as busy as normal (straight from the park rangers mouth). Here the troop of us head off to check in (there was no ranger at the station when we came in, looks mostly like the honour system .. though I suspect he does check his records with who is in the campsite):
Pam and David had an evening walk down to the river (complete with star- watching .. although we were more worried about bobgators sneeking around so we were a bit unsettled on the swinging bench as we overlooked the river).
We had a wonderful fire (complete with marshmallows):
Then off to bed for a quiet sleep. In the morning Heather Lynn and dad head off on the Suwannee River Trail to do some hiking. Here Heather Lynn ponders life next to a bubbling spring flowing into the Suwannee River:
On the same hike, Heather Lynn finds a most unusual tree and decides to 'hop in' (actually dad's idea) for a photo opp:
Well, it is time to speed off to our next destination along the Florida panhandle, the Florida Caverns. P.S. We highly recommend this site, the bathrooms were particularly clean and the park ranger particularly nice.
On our trip to the Florida Caverns we stopped at a state gardens (in Tallahassee). The lake we were on had a swimming area and an accompanying sign:
Very inviting, don't you think?
We all had a picnic by the shores, and Heather Lynn started her pre-professional career in the FNFL (NOT Female NFL but Foamy Nerf Football League). Here is all of us (except David, taking the picture) enjoying our Alligator spot by the swimming beach for lunch:
