Rainbow Found - Kind Of

Rainbow Springs State Park

Too cold to do much this morning, so we spent a few hours just parked in a plaza parking lot catching up on email and doing some work using the "hotspot" feature on our Samsung Galaxy III phone for Internet. This feature has turned out to be extremely useful when we need Internet but our wireless options are limited. Often we go to a McDonalds or a Panera to sit and use the Internet for a while, but today we went to two different McDonalds that had no plugs (outlets) in the lobby. Usually this wouldn't be a major problem for us, but both of our batteries were low so we really needed to plug in. Instead we just stayed out in the van and used our phone as a hotspot, with our computers drawing power from our battery.

While Andre did some real work, I spent a little while getting our stuff re-organized (that's for you, Deb) as we'd dragged a bunch of stuff into my Mother's over the days we were there and had just tossed it back in the van when we left without putting it back where it belonged. Finally, by afternoon we were ready to make a decision about what general direction we heading next. Decided to get some more use out of our State Parks Pass and headed North (and East) to Rainbow Springs State Park.

Had a fantastic afternoon at the Park, enjoying a hike and then a swim in the natural springs. The sign said the water stays a consistent 72 degrees, and we did find it to be plenty warm. It wasn't too crowded because it was a fairly cold day (mid to upper 50's at the time we were swimming I think), but there were a few families and some teenagers there as it is school vacation week here in Florida. Check out the color of the water!

Enjoying the beautiful Springs

Our ready-made drying rack

Spent some time exploring the park, which was a privately owned tourist attraction in the 50's and 60's until it was purchased by the state. Took a great hike on one of the longer trails and were thrilled to see an Armadillo along the way. We'd never seen one before (at least not one that wasn't dead in the road..) so it was pretty cool.  After the hike and the swim, we enjoyed some leftover pizza in the parking lot for dinner, while our clothes and towels dried off then headed out. It's good to be moving again.