O’leno State Park, High Springs, Florida
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:4-7
There’ve been four sets of neighbors in four days. Is there something wrong with us? Do we smell? Did the Canadians warn people about us? Are they Ohio State Buckeye haters? It just seems really strange that eight people on either side of us have only wanted to stay here one night . . . .
Today was a 2 ½ hour walk. We didn’t leave until after lunch again, but this time we drove to the River Rise trailhead.
What in the world is it??
The stuff B-monster movies are made of!
This is another trail we did last year. And once again, we discovered new and exciting things! The first, was a couple from Idaho who seemed to us to be a throw-back to the days of the hippies. He had a long white ponytail and ZZ Top beard, only white instead of gray. And every time she said something, it ended with “Right on!” 😊 Remember those honeysuckle pictures I’ve posted previously? Well, this woman told us they’re “Native Azaleas”. I really didn’t believe her, but knowing my propensity for being wrong, I had to look it up. Guess what? I was wrong again. This is one of the reasons I spend so much time researching, etc. I don’t want to be responsible for passing on misinformation!
Also along the river can be seen R. canescens. Sometimes called the Florida pinxter or the Piedmont azalea, this one, too, is very fragrant. Flowers are usually pink, but may also be white. Stamens twice as long as the tube stick out from the flowers. This is the azalea that we picked as children along the creek banks in rural Mississippi. Although Mother called them honeysuckle, I know now that they are not related to the honeysuckles but were so named because of their honeysuckle-like fragrance. ~ davesgarden.com
Hey. At least I’m not the only one who believes they’re honeysuckle. I think maybe Dave’s the one who’s wrong. He should listen to his mother.
Maybe someone measured again . . .
Walking a bit further, we noticed a solar panel off path. In the woods??? Gotta check that out! It turned out to belong to the University of Florida, along with some other monitoring equipment. They’re checking the water levels around here. Blaine worked on installing something like this at the Akron Sewage Plant once upon a time. He said they were for monitoring underground water movement.
I understand his sister does the same thing
(not the mechanical part) – – – and they’re not even biologically related! : )
We spotted several more, but stopped taking pictures of them after the third one. Especially, since the hippies caught Blaine breaking in. 😊
Maybe Florida U shouldn’t have been so polite in their admonition to leave it alone.
I was finally able to capture a butterfly picture! Exciting, but sad because I’m pretty sure it was injured or dying. It tried to fly away from me, but just kinda hopped around a bit before staying still with it’s wings spread. ☹
Our home is that way, but the Jeep’s in the opposite direction.
And it’s closer. : )
Warm gooey cookies are waiting on the dash for us!
You know that’s the best part of wandering around, don’t you? It’s my real motivation. : )
Following the walk, we went to check out the potential stopping point for a kayak adventure. We were surprised to see signs that the boat dock was closed, but when have we ever paid attention to silly little signs? There was plenty of large equipment and a big mess, but no one was working and Blaine (who spent many years in construction) said it looked like no one had worked here for a while.
Seems like a good spot to us!
(Sandy will know what I’m talking about.) : )
Another sign of disobedience.
At least we didn’t (and won’t) leave any trash laying about!
Last but not least, we stopped in the historic district of the town of High Springs. Not particularly historic based on what we’ve seen in the past, but it’s a nice little town with plenty of activity. We parked right at a Farmers Market! We didn’t even know about it and here it was, almost over! Most of the venues were packing up, but the strawberry booth was still open, with plenty of beautiful looking berries! She said they tasted good, so we bought a quart. She was right! They did taste good! A little less good than the ones we got in New Brunswick two years ago (yes, we still remember them!) but waaaay better than what you get in the grocery stores.
This time he’s researching the river and
how we’re gonna manage a 12-mile paddle – one way – tomorrow.
Tonight’s dinner was waiting for us in the crock pot, but it wasn’t as good as we’d hoped. But dessert was wonderful! The chicken dried out. ☹ I didn’t flour and pre-fry the chicken first, so maybe that’s why. Anyway, if you want to give it a try, it’s just boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chunks of carrots and onion and pour teriyaki sauce over top, on low for 4-5 hours. Serve with rice.