Some folks camping at Tomoka State Park mentioned that you can see gobs of manatee this time of year at Blue Springs, along Hwy 4 on the way to Orlando. Apparently, the spring stays 72 degrees year-round, so during the winter, the manatee in the St. Johns River swim to the spring's warm water. So we get there, and a sign at the entrance says "No Manatee Today." Mark and I kinda looked at each other quizically, like 'how could there be no manatee(s)?' and 'how do they know there are no manatee?' So as we paid our $5, I whispered to Mark to ask if it was really possible. "Zero" said the brusque park attendant, who handed us an overphotocopied brochure that was unreadable. The park didn't look promising at that point. But we stayed to eat lunch, and I'm glad we did.

There was a playground for Katie, and while she played, Mark walked to the pretty wooden walkway to look around, and after awhile, he yelled for me. So I yelled back, "Did you see a manatee?" and he yelled back yes, and so me and Katie and everyone else in the park ran toward him, and sure enough there were two manatee, three turtles, two huge birds and a small alligator, all in one spot (for easy photographing, I guess). Mark didn't get the manatee in the picture, but here are the other critters:


I circled him in pink so you can see him better.

Here is the neat wooden walkway that winds through the swamp

to give you views and places to swim, like this,

and leads you to the source of the spring:

That big gash is the spring; it pours out 100 million gallons a day, so if you swim there, you feel a little current. Mark and Katie just happened to be wearing bathing suits that day (totally by coincident), and so they got to swim. Luckies!

We arrived at Lake Louisa State Park around sunset on Tuesday, and walked out onto the dock near our campsite, but the camera battery was used up, so I had to take these pictures the next day (it was so much pinker and prettier the first night):

We had been on the fence about going to Disney World on this trip. We thought it might be really expensive and that Katie might be too young to appreciate it. But the only state park we could get a reso for (Lake Louisa) was practically adjacent to the grounds, so we decided to go, and we told Katie (no turning back). Then we looked at the Disney website and found out it would cost us almost $200 to get in, and I started to get cynical. That %$^& Eisner with his multi-million dollar salary. Who do they think they are, socking families for that kind of dough? I bet they won't even let us bring in our own food. I bet they'll charge us for parking. What if Katie isn't tall enough for the rides... so when we showed up and the entrance topiaries were all gone, and then we got charged $8 to park, I was afraid it was an omen that we'd be disappointed, but I was really, really wrong. It was the best experience I ever could have hoped for.

Mark is being fingerprinted before we enter (luckily he was wearing his fake fingerprints). They do this to you...but they let you bring in our own food, which makes up for it.

Our first ride. Katie loved it. I got a wee bit too dizzy (don't lean your head back when it's going really fast). Then we went on the carousel, then The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, then a bunch of other rides... Katie rode every ride she was tall enough to ride, which was most of them.

Her ice cream had chocolate "mickey ears" on it (at first).

They took a professional picture, but they let me take this. I was really impressed that once we paid to get into the park, they didn't nickel-and-dime us for lots of extra charges. Stuff wasn't cheap (I bought a beautiful $1.70 apple at one point), but you didn't have to buy it. Some parks usher you in front of a signpost to take a forced picture, and I don't really like smiling just because they say to. Disney didn't do that--we had to search out the characters in their own little tents.

Katie really wanted to see Tigger, as well as Mickey (she said she wanted him to come home with us and be her big brother). She also got a picture with Pooh.

Katie even went on a real roller coaster, in Toon Town. Toon Town is a new section of Disney, mostly with little kids' stuff. She was tall enough by 2 inches! I filmed the whole thing, so she can experience it again some time. She got a little scared, but then so did I, trying to hold the camera in both hands up to my face during the ride (I don't recommend it).

Even the weather was perfect. Cloudy but warm, and about 80 degrees. I even got to go on the Haunted House ride one more time, while Katie and Mark rode the Peter Pan ride. This time it didn't scare me, but I was so impressed by the interior design, which I don't think I ever noticed before. The whole park seemed to be designed in such a way that wherever you stand you see something beautiful, and there isn't a bad view in the park. The food was good, the rides were fun and not jarring (at least the ones we could go on), and we never waited more than 15 minutes (yeah for going on a Thursday in January). We got to see a real steam powered paddlewheel boat and ride on a real steam locomotive. I had soooo much fun and I wish I could live it over and over again. Katie asked today if she could go back again today.

I was up for leaving before dinner, to save a little money, but as the lights came on, I was so glad we hadn't left early. The park was prettiest at night.

We sat next to these nice girls for nearly an hour, eating hot dogs and waiting for the evening parade. They had been to all the other Disney parks for the last 6 days with their families, and had one more day to go. Also they had to fly from Pennsylvania, get rental cars, and lodging. Can you imagine the cost? Anyway, they were great girls, and then the parade was great. It did rain on our parade, but not enough to keep me from taking a few shots:

We left at 7:30 and the park closed at 8:00, so we got to see the fireworks as we walked back to the car.