Old Florida

 

There is more to Florida than the big theme parks or bike week or the overcrowded Spring Break beaches. Old Florida still exists – the Florida before all that craziness started. The Florida of the early twentieth century with its mom and pop fruit stands, real life mermaids, manatees and crystal clear springs is mostly in the northern part of the state. It has almost been forgotten, but I think there seems to be a resurgence in interest recently.

Rainbow Springs State Park started life as a phosphate mine but was turned into a tourist attraction with it's man made waterfalls and jungle oasis. The main attraction though is the Rainbow River where you can swim, tube or even just look.

There are three man made waterfalls here. 
 This particular one is the only one that was waterfalling.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is another park that started out it's life as a tourist attraction. Back in the early 1900's, the train would stop at Homosassa and the people would get out, have a picnic, look at the springs and watch the manatees. This park is one of the prime places in florida to watch manatees. Nowadays, once you park your car, you have a choice. You can take a tram or a pontoon boat to get to the springs. I decided to take the tram over (because there was one leaving right then) and the boat back.

I listened to a lecture about manatees and then wandered over to the Fish Bowl where, back in the forties, they constructed a structure where you can go underwater and watch any fish or manatees that are in the area.

Look how clear the water is
My one manatee picture

Thousands of fish were swimming in circles around one of the spring outlets.
Almost looks like a painting.

After that, there is the one mile walk that goes through the animal enclosures. Every single animal here is native to Florida and most importantly, they are all unable to live on their own in the wild. This is not a zoo but a rescue. Well, every single animal except for Lu, the hippopotamus. Lu has lived at Homosassa since he was four years old. He was an animal actor that lived at Homosassa and when the park was being sold to Florida, there was such an outcry about Lu leaving, that Lu was made an honorary citizen of Florida and allowed to stay. Lu is now 60 years old and loved by many.

Lu is sorta cute

He put his head up on a rock. 
I could almost reach out and touch him.

When I first saw these guys I thought they were some sort of a pelican with a mohawk

The boat ride back down the Homosassa River

Back at the campground my next door neighbor knocked on my door and said 'Let's go play shuffleboard'.  I thought to myself 'well, ok - haven't played it in years, seems like a florida thing to do'. Let me tell you - this was not your grandma's shuffleboard.  It was inside the lounge and it was a blast.  Of course some of that might have been helped by the adult beverages that were being consumed.  

I want to set something like this up in my house.