Travels with Sasha Day 13

February 1 

I’m doing my morning journal writing at the kitchen table. Andrea comes out of their bedroom for coffee and says she wants to paint on Tuesday and go to Tucson on Wednesday. I agree she should go as she needs to get items to sell at the mine this summer. She says I should stay until Tuesday. 

We talk about what to do for the day. I need to check the internet for anything that came in to the folders after I signed off yesterday. We agree on Rainbow Springs Park and she gives directions. They will meet me there and call my cell when they are ready to leave.  

I head off to McDonald’s to finish up the last minute work for the InterTown Record. Again, there are so many people pouring through the doors. It’s amazing the business that McD’s gets. I order two hash browns and a medium orange juice, set to work, and finish in just over an hour. Now what? 

I hear a ringing. Where’s that coming from? Wait! That’s my cell phone. I dig it out, but it’s so noisy in McD’s I can hardly hear what Andrea is saying, so I say, “OK, I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.” I pack up and head out. 

There’s no problem finding the park. I wait for about ten minutes and Andrea and Lance show up with the two dogs. (They had further to travel than I.) We head off down the path to the ticket booth and once we pay the fee, we move further. This is on a hill and it looks down onto the river. I have never seen water so… turquoise. I thought the Caribbean waters were beautiful, but this… this is totally amazing! It’s so beautiful, tears come to my eyes. 

How to describe the water… it’s a gorgeous shade of turquoise in the sun and very clear. Andrea said if the breeze wasn’t creating ripples, we’d be able to see where the water bubbles up from the ground. There’s even a swimming area and the water temperature is 72 degrees all year round. The sand on the bottom is very light, almost white. There are not words to tell what this is like. 

For a short time, the three (five counting the dogs) stay together. Andrea and Lance explain about the park. Soon, they head off. I don’t want them waiting for me and I am very slow. Berlin and Dana need serious walking as big German have to have more exercise. I take my time and take many pictures. At one point, I see cigarette butts stuck in a fence post. Disgusting! 

It’s a climb back up to the visitors’ center and the trail goes off the other way. Thankfully, it’s brick, cement, or boardwalk, so that makes walking easier, but the hills are tough. I find downhill is worse the walking uphill. Photographs are taken of the various waterfalls and remnants of the old phosphate mine… very few ruins. (I’m curious about phosphate mines. They said there used to be a lot.)

Further along, I come to an area where animals were once kept. After the phosphate mine, this was turned into an animal park. (I’ve got research to do later.) The walking becomes a struggle. Arrghh! Why is it hurting to walk? I push on as always and at one of the highest points in the park is a pool and here bubbles can be seen where the spring pushes to the surface. I make my way back to the VIC. More people are swimming now and I will not take pictures of that, however I did take some of the azaleas that are coming into bloom. They are beautiful.

I get back to Andrea’s. It’s 71 degrees. She’s trying to book air fare, hotels, and car rentals. It’s not going well. She gives up and we hang out chatting. I get out my laptop and import 832 photos. Yikes! I work on deleting excess and poor photos while she and Lance go to Carol’s to help her with something. That also gives me time to finish reading the book she let me borrow. 

They get back. “I don’t feel like cooking!” Andrea announces.

“Let me treat you both to dinner for putting up with me,” I offer. 

They take me to Stumpknockers on the Withlacoochee River. (Stumpknockers are fish who live around the roots of the cypress and cypress knees to avoid predators.) Again we sit at an outdoor table. Andrea and I wander along the river bank taking pictures while the food is being prepared. Oh, this is lovely with the cypress along the banks and in the water. Long dreadlocks of Spanish moss hang from the limbs. Absolutely gorgeous. I’m hoping to end up with a couple of pictures that will make good drawings. 

The food is delicious and later, after talking for a couple of hours, we remember the Super Bowl. It’s the middle of the third quarter. Arrggh! We agree the commercials are disappointing, but, boy, am I glad we got to see the end. What a fantastic finish!