Spring at Rock Springs

Hello there.

Spring has sprung here in Florida and that means it's time for tubing down the springs once again. On Thursday the LIFE gang and the girls and I went to Rock Springs, our local spring that's in the "tubing" variety of springs. We rented a tube from the little dive bar on the corner before you get to the springs (Note to self: avoid that next time, $5 bucks for a one shot deal and money could be save just by blowing up the tube in the garage) and paid the $3 to get into the park.

The water right now is clear as clear can be and (bonus) the flowers and grasses are still in Spring shape so the run is wide and easy to maneuver. Nothing has become overgrown yet so to speak.

Right now it seems to be just the most perfect time to go. There's tree shade for sun avoidance so staying cool is easy, and yet sitting in the sun is necessary to warm up before going into the 72 degree water. Ah, balance....not to mention the hordes of people have yet to arrive.

Here's a bit of what we saw and experienced while we were there on Thursday.

• an otter playing in the cow lilies right off of the bank of the run near where our blankets and chairs were
• Speaking of cow lilies (or spatterdock), we saw them, and spider lilies, and pickerel weed, to mention a few.
• snail eggs everywhere, on the plants and on the wall by the sharks teeth digging area
• lots of turtles sunning themselves everywhere
• lots of tattoos - ha! There're always sitings of lots of tattoos at Rock Springs.
• When I first got in the run there was a barred owl doing his "who cooks for you" in the woods around us.
• a huge skink, the largest I ever saw, probably about 8 inches long and about 1.5 inches wide in the torso...No kidding.

I'm so often aware of the powerful beauty here in Florida. All this just from going to the park for a cool water play day. It was sublime.

Gratitude.