2017-5
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| a true tourist gift to remember Florida by |
Lithia to Ocala Florida
Silver Springs State Park
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| Silver Springs, Site 30 a back-in site |
Campground: Silver Springs State Park.
Senior rate, $14, 50 amp elec/water. Nice modern large camp sites.
With camping fee there is free access to Silver Springs park w/glass
bottom boats etc.
A Round-about we go
Before heading out this season, I was
talking to some folks familiar with my summer destination, the New
England states. One of the first things they mentioned were the
numerous round-abouts in that part of the country. We only have one
that I know of in my area of Florida and that's in Kissimmee. I even
went through it heading out of town figuring that would be the only
one I'd see until hitting the New England states.
Not so. As I entered Alafia River
State Park, I encountered a couple of round-abouts getting to the
campsite. An interesting concept especially when towing a fairly
large camper. All went well and I'm getting a chance to practice my
skills going around them before heading up north. I guess with this
being one of Florida's newer state parks, they decided to give the
round-abouts a try.
My big adventure in this area was a
trip to Plant City for lunch and a visit to Dinosaur World. It's a
kitschy park mainly for kids, though we adults can enjoy it as well.
Lots of large life size replicas of dinosaurs that lived between 65
and 125 million years ago. Of course no dinosaurs have ever been
found in Florida, as it was most likely under water during the
Dinosaur era. A small museum has some interesting displays of small
bits and pieces of dinosaurs and the read-outs that go along with the
displays are quite educational. But it's the outdoor life size
displays that help one feel the size and power these creatures once
had roaming the earth millions of years ago. A fun morning,
exploring the past.
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| Dinosaur World, Plant City Florida |
Plant City is the location of much
farming in the area. Lots of strawberry, blueberry, orange groves
and of course vegetable farms as well. I had to go to Fred's Market
Restaurant the Johnson family started the restaurant in 1954 at a gas
station. It now resides next to all of the produce warehouses here
in Plant City. Great home town cooking with of course only the
freshest of ingredients.
Distance Traveled: 111 miles
Silver Springs Florida (Ocala area)
I was again able to take many of the
back-roads to my destination of Silver Springs in Ocala. One section
passed through the green swamp and the Withlacoochee forest, one of
the straightest sections of highway in the state.
Silver Springs State park has combined
with the campground and now permits access to the Silver Springs park
which was once a private attraction. Silver Springs is also noted as
having been the 1st tourist attraction in Florida, started
around 1852. With the first glass bottom boats giving tours in the
1870's. Many of the Tarzan movies were filmed there and one can
occasionally see the wild monkeys that had gotten loose during
filming and still live in the area. Today, I attempted to go to the
museum and historic old timers village but was turned back. Seems
the Hillsborough School system actually owns/runs the museum and it
is only open to school children Monday thru Friday. Somehow, even
though the facilities are on State park grounds, the school system
controls the museum and historic buildings, yet the park personnel
take it over on weekends.
Although I enjoy camping at Silver
Springs st pk, I'm finding that there are aspects about it that I
don't particularly like. I've never been able to get to my reserved
campsite when arriving. Seems the “camp hosts” have control of
when a site is available for occupancy. If they don't get around to
cleaning a campsite, the camper must wait up front until they get
around to it. It's the only campground I've ever had a problem
getting to the campsite. The other being the a fore mentioned
closure of the museum and historic village complex to the public.
Now the good part about the park is
that it's a fairly new and modern campground with large campsites and
many are pull-thru sites. On Saturday I was finally able to tour the
on-sight museum and it was awesome. The displays were topnotch with
excellent display signage. There were a number of large animal bones
from the about the one million years ago to the last ice age around
one hundred thousand years ago.
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| Silver Springs Museum, next to the campgrounds |
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| tourists first arrived at Silver Springs via river boats |
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| Seminole Indians |
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| when Silver Springs permitted swimming |
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| one of many movies filmed here |
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Tarzan movies were filmed at Silver Springs
and many monkeys now reside in the area after getting free |
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| history of the Spanish arriving |
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| when turpentine was big business in the area |
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| Spanish first meeting the Timicuan Indians |
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| large mammals from around the last ice age |
Displays chronicling the Spanish
landing and impact on the native Indian tribes, through to the Civil
War and the age of tourism beginning with boat rides from St
Augustine and Palatka to Silver Springs and the eventual development
of the park and it's famous glass bottom boats.
Besides the wonderful tour of the
museum, I'm enjoying a few morning walks along the trails in the park
and furthering my education with the online Harvard University course
on Architecture. This is the second course I've taken and the first
through H.U. It's a top notch course, though I'm realizing my
vocabulary skills are being challenged by the professors awesome use
of the English language.
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| nice walking trails, many along old dirt roads |
I entered Silver Springs in hopes of
listening to a music jam session today, but I guess it was cancelled
with it being Easter. Silver Springs attraction is only a shadow of
it's hayday, having eliminated the zoo, miniature train rides through
the park and recently they've eradicated all of what they consider
invasive plants. Meaning they've pretty much destroyed the many
flowering plants that once filled the park. The other main
attraction used to be musical groups on the big stage during the
spring/early summer. That has apparently been abandoned as well.
Sad, it was a great attraction for the music lover. Now all they
have is a drumming session once a month.. woopie.
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| I think I'm stuck, Help! |
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the Sabal palm, or cabbage palm,
Florida's state tree |
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| magnolia blossom |
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| Silver Springs and the famous Glass Bottom boats |
RV CAMPER INFO:
I've updated my
Shelter Cove Blog to
include information on my two RV lots available for renting. Both
sites have large concrete pads and have updated electrical, water and
sewer hookups. If you have plans to be in the Central Florida area,
please check out my
Shelter Cove Blog for more information.
Additional photos:
Dealing with waste disposal
can be a real mess. Especially when liquid backs up in the drain
line. Removing the cover can often release a gush of waste water
before one has a chance to connect the sewer hose. The “twist on waste valve” by Valterra is the solution to those surprises. It
easily connects to the end of the sewer drain line, blocking any
unwanted waster water. Connect your sewer hose, open the “twist on
waste valve” and your line is now open and functioning without any
mess. And it saves lots of money instead of installing one in the
line permanently.
