Rainbow Springs State Park

We've been pretty darned busy since arriving in Crystal Springs. Yesterday morning, Karen generously allowed us to use her washer to get some laundry done. We also ran a few errands in the morning and got Smitty out for a good walk around their property. He walked and walked with his tail held high. There is a woofie here, but we don't pay any attention to her. When all of that was said and done, we headed out for an afternoon of sight-seeing with Karin and Dick. Our stop for this day was Rainbow Springs State Park.

Rainbow Springs State Park was formerly a place where the phosphate industry thrived, prior to the civil war.

The sign above was located next to this pit, which is kind of hard to discern in this photograph. You'll have to take my word for it...me, being a terrible judge of volume...but I'm guessing it was about 30-50 feet deep here.

Once inside the park, we saw this guy with some sort of large nut...possibly a walnut.

Here's some information about the water here. It was beautifully crystal clear and inviting.

Folks were kayaking and there was a swimming area. The water maintains a temperature of 72 degrees year-round.

We walked along the trails. This once belonged to a private resident, and these were the grounds for the home. There was also a zoo here.

Here's a view of the Rainbow River.

Our shadow selves were delighted to be joined by Karin and Dick's shadow selves. Ordinarily, they take these walks by themselves with only us to keep them company.

Along the way were several waterfalls, and my understanding is that the waterfalls are man made remnants of the phosphate industry.

In the image below, you can see the elusive Florida reindeer. These are only seen in December and early January. I'm told they emit light after sunset.

The vertical stick you see in the image below is known as the "devil's walking stick." You can see it is covered in nasty-looking thorns.

There were a few ducks in the marshy areas.

While standing on one of the bridges, we could look off in the distance and see this turtle sunning himself.

Also, there were blooming things in the marshy areas.

And azaleas along the trails.

This next bud is a camellia.

Here's another waterfall.

Karin offered to take our picture here. How could we refuse?

Yet another waterfall. The grounds were lovely here and the water rushing over the falls made it a very meditative place.

Here was one of the animal enclosures. We surmised this once held some sort of cat given the fencing overhead.

And that was our day. Today we'll be heading off to Homosassa Springs where we're promised beautiful crystal clear water and a good view of the manatees among other things. Karin and Dick have been the most hospitable hosts, and we're thoroughly enjoying our time here. Also, they have a large piece of property, and so Smitty has been out for a couple of walks. We're looking forward to today's adventures, and I'm hopeful to have some great shots of the manatees for tomorrow's post. Fingers crossed.