Park #12-Wekiwa Springs State Park

Yesterday (Sunday) we moved from Silver River down to Wekiwa Springs. Wekiwa is about 60 miles south of Silver River, in Apopka (so, yes, we backtracked a little, which is sort of against our religion!). We kept busy the last couple days at Silver River, in spite of the fact that it never did really warm up very much - probably topped out in the upper 50's. On Friday, we went to this huge flea market - called the Marion Market (named after the county it's in). It was absolutely pouring all day, but there were still a jillion people at the market - it's under a roof, so was probably one of the only things for people to do on such a lousy day. Knowing us, nobody will be surprised that we didn't buy much - but Dave did buy a big thick yellow tow rope. The package said it was 14 feet, which is exactly what he needed to more securely tie down the front of the kayaks to the front bumper of the car. But when he went to attach it (the next day) it turned out to only be 12 feet long - so we assumed that's why it was at the flea market, and for only $5!!! (PS - made in China!) By Saturday morning it had stopped raining, so we took a trip over to Rainbow Springs State Park, just to check it out. What a nice surprise - it was SO pretty! It was a beautiful clear springs, surrounded by gorgeous landscaping - lots of flowering bushes, with some man-made waterfalls and stuff - we had no idea what this whole thing was all about (because state parks are NEVER this "fancy") - but then we found out that it actually used to be a private "attraction" back in the early part of the 1900's. They had some really cute examples of postcards and brochures from back when it was a big tourist attraction. The state of Florida ended up buying it in the 1970's (...I think, anyway) and turned it into a state park. We spent about two hours just walking around in it - it was very cool. The campground is actually located about six miles away and we somehow missed the turnoff but decided not to go back. I was disappointed that I hadn't brought my camera - but we had just intended to do a quick "check" on the park and I wasn't expecting it to be someplace we'd spend so much time at. Anyway, when we got back to our park, we went down and got the kayaks - WHAT a long haul to pull them back up to the parking lot - not sure we'd do this again, at least not without some type of cart or something for pulling them. Then we went out to Sonny's Bar-B-Que for our big Valentine's dinner - actually, we both really like this local franchise - they have EXCELLENT pulled pork and barbecued chicken. Then it was good-bye to park #11 and on to park #12.

So Sunday morning we packed up and made the 70 mile drive down here to Wekiwa. It was actually quite pleasant and very sunny, so an easy day for driving. I had some concerns about whether this was going to be a nice park, especially since we are staying here for 10 (rather than our normal 7) days. But now we think it's going to be great! The park is based around another of the beautiful springs that are so common here in central Florida (our next park is Blue Springs, and then we'll be done with springs for this trip!). There is an excellent canoe/kayak launching area and it is NOT a half-mile trip from the parking lot (which is a relief!). In fact, that's what we did today - we went out onto the springs run for about 2 to 2-1/2 hours - VERY pretty! We saw two alligators and also two otters, which are really fun to see out in the wild. Because it was President's Day (so no school) there were a LOT of kids and families out on the water. We don't mind this, of course, but we agreed that it'll be fun to go back out in a couple days when the river is a little quieter! It was actually VERY nice today - YAY - in the mid-70's and really sunny and clear until late afternoon (then it clouded over and rained just a little). In the morning (before our kayak ride) I went out for a hike on one of the trails and Dave went on an hour-and-a-half bike ride. The trails here are EXCELLENT - in fact, one of them is a Volksmarch trail so I plan to do that one and get my stamp! For anyone not familiar with this, Volksmarch is a non-profit organization that originated in Europe years and years ago and is intended to promote walking events for health and family enjoyment - there are hundreds of AVA (American Volkssport Association) walks across the county and throughout the whole world. You can either join a chapter or just walk in any of the events on your own - and you can either just walk them for free, or you can pay a small registration fee and then get a stamp to put into your record log. Once you reach a certain number of events and/or a certain number of miles, you can "trade up" to a more advanced record log, get awards and patches, etc. It's just for fun, but it kind of gives you another reason to go for walks in places you wouldn't normally go. Some of the events are date-specific, but many are year-round, i.e. the trail or route is just there and you can do it whenever you want (this is how the trail here is set up). Most of the trails are 10 kilometers, which is 6.2 miles, but many of them also have a 5K option available. Some of the walks are in places like state parks, but a lot of them are a walking route through a town or city - in fact, there was a Volksmarch event during Art Prize in Grand Rapids! I know there is a chapter in Holland and I'm seriously thinking about joining it when I get home! (Anyone interested???) So, we're looking forward to the rest of our time here and are THRILLED to see that it's supposed to get up into the 70's in a couple days and supposedly STAY there - but we'll see!