Jim and Cathy are leaving for New England Tuesday. They will not be back till September. We decided to get together one last time. We agreed to meet at the Back Porch restaurant in Dunnellon. It is a neat restaurant in a very old building…food is good, prices are very reasonable, service is good, and the members of the wait staff have a collective great sense of humor. Jim is a tease. He comes from a family with six sisters and no brothers. So, he had to develop a shield early. He is a tease.
He has a good heart, however. And, she is a real sweetheart. Steve asked him to take some of his hand crafted birdhouses back with him. They sell regularly at the Peddler’s Junction in New Hartford, CT. They are big and bulky…taking up lots of room. They have twelve in their van. Thanks, Cathy and Jim.
Our waitress could give it back to him as quickly as he dished it out, however. He held a quarter up to her. “Do you have change? I wanted to leave you a tip!” At which point she fished into her apron to get him the change. (This was one of several pranks he tried to play on her). Of course, his real tip was well over the 15% one might consider. This last year our schedules have been difficult with which to keep up, but we did see them a few times. Good Trip to you! We will miss ya’ll.
FLORIDA STATE PARKS…the real Florida
“The mission of the Florida Park Service is to provide resource based recreation while preserving, restoring and interpreting our natural and cultural resources.”
RAINBOW SPRINGS STATE PARK
19158 SW81st Place Road
Dunnellon, FL 34432
(352) 465-8555
After our lunch, Steve and I decided that we had not been at Rainbow Springs in some time. I would like to say that it is one of my favorites, but I am apt to say that after stopping at many of them. I have said before that Florida has great state parks. Rainbow Springs is north of Dunnellon and can be reached from US 41. Admission is $2.00 for adults
1470 acres including the Rainbow River headwaters.
Much of northern Florida is on the Floridan aquifer. Most of our water comes from underground springs. There are many places where these springs pop up to give us headwaters for many rivers. Florida rivers are either spring fed (clear to the bottom) or swamp fed (brown from tannic acid). Many-a-town in Florida have names with “Springs” in them…High Springs, Zolfo Springs, Fanning Springs etc. These headwaters are beautiful with springs bubbling from the bottom, estuaries for small fish, snails, larger fish. Depending on where one is standing, how bright the sun is, how deep the water is in any given spot and a number of other details, the water emotes wonderful colors—blacks, grays and blues—azure, turquoise, deep royal—various shades of green--forest, Kelly, lime. No wonder they call this place “Rainbow Springs!”
The park offers swimming, picnicking, several pavilions for rent, walking trails—most although steep—are paved and handicap accessible, a three mile walking trail through the woods, waterfalls, amazing vistas, traces of history of the park, gift shop, butterfly garden (mostly seasonal), a great group of knowledgeable volunteers and park staff, a huge range of botanical specimens and some wildlife.
From the latter part of February to the end of March there is a plethora of assorted colored azaleas. Until you have seen Florida azalea bushes (and I mean bushes…not small plants) in full bloom, you have not seen azaleas. Ours at home are now peaking. The ones at the Springs are well into their summer leafy foliage with few blossoms left. There are a few bushes that are still blooming, but generally we have missed our opportunity for 2010.
Some wildlife can be seen depending on the day, time of day and time of year. We had a special treat today when a very big hawk landed on the ground not far from us. It was beautiful. It sat there for a couple of minutes and then flew up into the higher branches of the trees… still low enough for some spectators to kneel and take pictures (wonder how they came out).
The park also offers snorkel tours, canoe tours, canoe rentals, tube rides (since these are not at the headsprings the fee includes a tram ride), birding walking tours.
There is a full-facility campground.
Archaeological evidence indicates that people have been using this spring for nearly 10,000 years. Rainbow Springs is Florida's fourth largest spring. (These two sentences are a direct quote from their website).
The area went through many changes over the centuries. Native Americans used the clear spring water river for transportation and fishing. Pre-historic animals roamed its banks (mastodon and mammoth fossils have been found).
Some time later in history phosphate was mined causing the local town (now Dunnellon) to become Boontown.
Tourists were attracted by its clear water as early as the 1920’s when a glass bottom boat cruised down the scenic river. These glass bottom boats were unique in that they had a sub flooring in which one could walk down stairs and be surrounded by water, river flora and fauna (no longer there). It had man made waterfalls (still there). These were made from piles of phosphate tailings.
In the 1930s it became a privately-owned theme park. This carried through the mid 1970s when tourists changed their tastes to the new more exciting Disney style parks and the Interstate system by-passed the town. The park closed. As a privately owned attraction--wild animals on exhibit (many of the cages or portions thereof are still there), a rodeo, (no longer any trace except a sign indicated the place it was), leaf-shaped gondolas following a monorail (no sign at all of this attraction).
Finally, in October 1990, opening to the public in 1995, it became a part of the Florida Park Service. It was well on its way to development when “Friends” helped to save it in its natural state. Public areas were falling apart and overrun with growth. Volunteers saved and cleaned it up. Today volunteers and park staff are constantly working to upgrade and maintain the beautiful vistas, flora and fauna.
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