Crystal River Mar 14-15

It wasn’t a long drive up to Crystal River, we followed a Florida State Road rather than heading east to the interstate.  As a result, we were treated to lots of strip malls and occasional beautiful sections of Gulf Coast land. Didn’t blow a tire or have any problems with the trailer (yes!)

The main reason we are spending a day in Crystal River is to give Russ the opportunity to swim with the manatees.  There are a number of warm springs that are a part of the Crystal River area and the  manatees congregate in them during the colder winter months. We are camping in a very nice campground that has a creek offshoot of the Crystal River running through it.  The land is lush and tropic looking, but not a Miami tropic look, more a Georgia swamp look.

We checked in early and took a drive to the end of the road that our campground is on. This took us through the Crystal River Wildlife Refuge.  At the end of the road, a boat ramp and beach provides recreation for the locals, and with the good weather, there were lots of folks enjoying the water.

Russ’ experience with the manatees was sparse.  Apparently, the snowbirds have left.  They saw just a couple manatees in the river and none in the springs.  The skipper said that a couple of weeks earlier, there were hundreds in the springs.  As soon as the Gulf water starts to warm up, they leave because food can get scarce in the springs. Russ thought it was still worthwhile because the springs were so clear and warm.

The snorkel trip was over by noon, so after lunch, we headed out to Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs State Park. Today, the park is a rehabilitation center for injured and orphaned animals. Back in the day (1920s through 1980s), it was a privately owned wild animal park. When the state took it over, they were able to place all the animals at zoos or other parks, except for the hippo.  Lu the Hippo stayed and is celebrating his 55^th birthday.

We traveled to the park from the visitor’s center via a flat-bottomed boat which wound its way along natural water paths which had been widened by the previous owners.  I think this was the best part of the visit. The ride was so peaceful and the scenery was beautiful.  Kind of like the Jungle Ride at Disney without the corniness or ferocious wild animals.

At the park, we saw lots and lots of birds, some permanent residents and lots of day visitors that come for the free food.  There were representatives of native animals, including black bears, alligators, deer (finally saw a Key Deer) and a Florida cougar. At the center of the Park are the Homosassa Springs. These springs pump out millions of gallons of clear water every day and are the genesis of the Homosassa River. We saw tons of fishes enjoying the springs. But, as with other local areas, the manatees were gone. There was one injured manatee in a tank getting treatment so that it could be released to the wilds.

Well, we have one more stop in Florida and then we will be heading home. Still lots more to see!

The water in the springs was amazingly clear.

 

The water in the river itself was not so clear.

The dolphins come quite a ways up the river.



Manatees grow this algae kind of covering when they are in the rivers.  It isn't harmful and fish seem to like to nibble it off the manatees.

A manatees tail is huge.  The story is that sailors mistook these manatees for mermaids back in the day.  They sure needed glasses!

 

 



By contrast, the water in the springs was crystal clear.



 

There are several rivers that empty out into the Gulf in the Crystal River area.  The surrounding lands are full of birds and wildlife and most of it has been designated wildlife refuges with lots of recreational opportunities.  The whole natural environment is spoiled somewhat though by the nuclear plant in the background.

There are several places where boardwalks have been built, allowing you to see the wilderness more closely and easily.

 



The boat ride from the Homosassa Springs Visitor Center to the wildlife park was peaceful and beautiful.



Thousands of fish were hanging out in the Springs. Different types were grouped at different water depths and most were trying to stay out of the sunlight by hiding out under boardwalks.

Russ personally witnessed this type of event when we were at the Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World.  Cracking up, he said that he would swear that the tail was going in a complete circle.  The result covered quite the distance. He was behind windows, so no harm to him.



We haven't seen many flamingos in Florida, and none of them in the wild.



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This little owls appeared to be shy.



Florida has such beautiful birds!



This young cat was not happy with the visitors.  I felt bad that he was behind bars.

These gar are little changed from their pre-historic ancestors.



I wonder if any of these guys are related to our Mr. T? They were much larger - about a dinner plate across.



 

Clearwater Beach - Mar 12-13

Well, after leaving the fantasy world of Disney, real life hit quickly. Less than an hour out of Orlando, we had a tire blowout on the freeway.  We limped off at the nearby exit and into the Love’s truck stop.  Then we sat in the back lot with the big rigs for over 4 hours in 90 degree weather waiting for AAA to send a tow truck to change the tire. Turns out that the AAA dispatcher screwed up and never closed the loop with the towing service. We found another nearby service and they had the tire changed within 15 minutes of arriving. Made arrangements to have the tire replaced on the day we were planning to leave Clearwater. That makes two.  Hmmm….

We went to Clearwater to see Winter and Hope at the Clearwater Aquarium. They are the stars of Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2. The aquarium has experienced great popularity as a result of the movies – the parking is totally inadequate – we were vectored over to a local church parking lot along with lots of other vehicles.  And the facility was pretty crowded and difficult to get around.

The aquarium is actually a repurposed sewage treatment plant.  They’ve done a good job converting it and making it interesting for public visits, but it is small. Lots of educational displays and exhibits highlighted animal rescue and the risks sea life face in Florida. I particularly liked the exhibits of Winter’s prostheses and how they evolved over time.

This was a short stay, just one day. We stopped at the Goodyear shop on our way out and had a new tire put on the trailer. There is some residual damage to the trailer – nothing structural, thank goodness.  Now we start our journey out of Florida.  Next stop Crystal River and the manatees.



There's no repairing this tire. Just grateful Russ was able to get the rig off the freeway safely.




These are the tanks that Winter and Dolphin live in. Side tanks hold turtles and other sealife.



The rescued sea life are treated and released, if possible.  This particular sea turtle cannot submerge, something wrong with its air bladder.  So it is a permanent resident.



Winter was pretty quiet while we were there, just chilling out.
 



Winter doesn't wear her prosthesis all the time, she can swim ok without it.  They use it for physical therapy to help her spine and skeletal structure stay straight and healthy.




Hope was pretty peppy during our visit. She was having a good time swimming fast and causing large waves in the pool.




This turtle has vision problems, he can't swim without touching the tank walls.





If you watched the movie, you will recognize this as the houseboat that Harry Connick Jr and his daughter lived in.





Around Walt Disney World

During our two week stay, we had a few days where we didn’t schedule a visit to a theme park. We took the downtime opportunities to visit some of the resort hotels, have dinner at a few great restaurants and do a little shopping.

Downtown Disney is huge, and it is going through an expansion that will double its size! We spent an afternoon wandering through the shops, including a great Lego store and the world’s largest Disney store. We ended that day with a dinner at the Raglan’s Irish Pub where we were treated to live Irish dancing.

At the Boardwalk Resort, we had a nice evening walking along the waterside before dinner at a super fish restaurant.

For our last day at WDW, we spent the day at the campground. Russ rented a bike and we took a nice wooded ride over to the Wilderness Lodge. That evening we went to the Chip and Dale Campfire where we roasted hot dogs and had s’mores while Chip and Dale mingled with the crowd and a country singer led the crowd in campfire songs.

We had a terrific time at WDW and I am sad to see it end. You really do have an opportunity to totally immerse yourself in the Disney dream. Not that there weren't challenges - particularly the crowds. But only Disney offers such a complete high quality experience. Now it’s back to real life.



Downtown Disney had a Harley Davidson shop. Russ just had to try out one of the rides.



Really large and cool Lego displays surrounded the store.

The Loch Ness Monster in Legos.  I think it was about 40 feet long.

Can you pick out the non-Lego kid?

This is advertised as the world's largest Disney souvenir store. 

This was shut down by the time we saw it. You and 100 of your friends can take a ride in the gondola.  It is totally tethered, so you just go up and then down.

We had amazing seats for the live Irish dancing.  The food at the pub was pretty good also.

This is a view of the lake that connects the campground to the Magic Kingdom and a couple other resort hotels.



A nice little program of music was played as a group of barges was towed across the lake.  This was done just before the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom.  We stood on the beach of the campground to watch.



The Boardwalk Resort is designed to look like an upscale hotel and boardwalk from the 30s.

This is one of the really swanky hotels (not that any of the others are low class).  I think this is the Dolphin hotel. It was connected by water to the Boardwalk.

We had dinner at the Flying Fish Café and enjoyed some nice fresh fish.

 



Getting his riding legs warmed up for our little tour.



We didn't see any wildlife except squirrels and birds, though it is reported that you can see deer in the early morning or at dusk.

Disney touches were everywhere, including this bike path.



The Wilderness Lodge reminded me of the Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim. Very impressive.





The lobby was full of Native American displays, like this headdress.



And then there was the Disney character totem pole.



One of the evenings that we weren't at a theme park, we had dinner at the Lodge in the Whispering Canyon Café.  We had our own private fireplace.  The place was pretty quirky. If you asked your server for ketchup, he would start hollering at the top of his lungs, "We need ketchup". He would keep this up until a bunch of children would show up carrying bottles and bottles of ketchup.  There were yours until someone else needed ketchup. Then you were supposed to carry all that ketchup to the table requesting it. Fortunately, you could borrow kids from adjacent tables to help you.



So excited to go to Chip 'n Dale's Campfire!

 

Everyone had the opportunity to interact with the chipmunks.  It was great fun!