Big Econ River

 Scotty claims I am a whiny woman now. Let me tell you reader (reader being ME) why I was a whiny woman on this paddle. #1. At the put into the river there were signs stating not to swim or get in the river due to sewage contamination. And while I was waiting for Scotty to return, I did see two workers come down and retrieve a vile of water obviously to test it, I didn’t ask them anything about it because I did not want to know. #2. For the first 3 miles of this trip, there were many trees down and it was a bit of a challenge to manoeuvre around them. Fortunately, we only had two paddle one time I say that was fortunate because of reason number three.#3. We passed eight alligators today and it is no exaggeration to say that these were the biggest dang alligators we have ever passed. The first one was on a bank and I know it was longer than my 12 foot kayak as we paddle past he crawled into the water And our speed increased tremendously. Most of them were as fat as our kayaks so I don’t know what they’re eating, but they’re eating something. Also, we noticed that their skin was very sandy or dusty which made them look like logs before we realised they were actually an alligator. The paddle was 8 miles long and we did it in about three hours. It was one of those paddles where I was very very relieved for it to end.

Biking - East Central Regional Rail Trail.

 It was nice to sleep in as we had really worn our self out the day before at Disney World. We hung out around the trailer and as we were sitting at the picnic table we noticed a raccoon climbing the tree which provided some campsite entertainment. We then headed over to Mim’s to the East Central Regional Rail Trail. Apparently, this trail is about 50 miles or more. We parked at Mims Methodist Church where they provide a parking lot and even a porta potty for bikers. We went north and it went under the trees. We biked a total of 14 miles. It was a great bike ride. The views were not varied, but that was okay.

 8 miles away as a restaurant called Dixie crossroads. I remembered it from when I lived in Brevard County 40 years ago we had a fantastic seafood dinner. Scotty had a Gator poor boy sandwich and I had rock shrimp. One of the highlights of the meal were the corn hush puppies that they served first. Their menu is online who knows? Maybe someday I will try them next. We headed over to Kiwanis Island, an old stomping ground where are used to clog but this time I was there to Kayak When the new moon is out in January bio luminescent jellyfish can be seen so we went hoping to see them. We paddle in this lagoon but did not see any as it was dark. It was rather spooky paddling out there so we made it a short paddle. All in all a busy day

Tourist - Walt Disney World

 Today we went to Walt Disney World we arrived about 930 and left at closing time 11 o’clock. For a couple of old timers we hung in pretty well although we were very happy to see our beds when we got home. This is not our usual kind of vacation activity, but believe it or not we still had passes left over from when our kids were little – so they were probably 25 or 30 years old. According to the Internet, a one day pass into Disney World is anywhere from $109-$160. It would be quite expensive to take a family to Disney World. We noticed all ages and all ethnicities at the park. We rode 90% of the rides and had a great time.

Triathalon - Biking, Walking, Paddling

 We started the day by riding our bikes around Lake Apopka.  We wrote a total of 12.3 miles in about two hours. We could hear birds chirping all around us and the number of alligators we passed was unbelievable. When we got off the main trail and went out into the canals, I learned the expression “scared the piss out of me.”  We passed alligator after alligator along the road. It was easy to imagine them lounging at us but they just laid there.  Towards the end we saw a heron capture a snake and he held onto it until it died and then swallowed it. It was quite fascinating.

 We went into Winter Garden upon the recommendation of a lady at the ecological center. Winter Garden is a quaint town with cobblestone roads and walks. We went into a few shops and spent some time in the railroad museum there.

Finally we headed over to Mt Dora and walked around this quaint town. We drove out of town and has an early dinner at Whale’s Tales. It was an unassuming restaurant, but our meals were good. Scotty has a Mahi sandwich and I had broiled scallops and shrimp. We then did a quick paddle in the Mt Dora Canal. It had to be quick before the sun set.

Juniper Run

 7.22 miles, 3:02 paddling, temp about 50 when we started, 64 degrees at finish

When I’m away from Juniper Spring, I think of it as a perfectly designed Disney like water ride. Then I get there and remember just how difficult this paddle is and today seemed even more difficult. We think there were probably more trees down after the recent hurricane, but fortunately we never got stuck or flipped And yes it was as beautiful as ever even though I was not feeling great as I have a cold. 

Kayak - Silver River

 5.6 miles, 2:47 time 

Although we’ve done this river many times, we still love it. We didn’t see any monkeys today, but did see something new. There was a man warning people to not get close to the manatees. We could see a group of manatees swimming around near the surface with tails flipping. They were mating. When a female goes into ‘estrus’, she is pursued by several males and they do a lot of twisting and turning. They could inadvertently knock over a kayak.

Hiking - Blue Spring State Park

 We arrived at Salt Spring State Park yesterday but hung out in the trailer for the day as it was raining.

another cold day in the 40s. We drove an hour to go to blue Springs State Park where the manatees come in during cold spells. Today’s count was 807 manatees in the spring. It was very very cool to see so many hibernating/hanging out in the pictures. Look for the one that has An orange and yellow Bowie as that is how they track the manatees. When we got back to Sal Springs, we took aGrounds down to the springs here. We only saw one manatee in the spring.

Camping - Salt Spring Park

 Our first time here and it seems very nice. Sites are spread out, trees throughout. It’s a short bike ride down to the springs.