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| Rock Spring Kelly Park |
Apopka is a growing and expanding town. It is still surrounded by all the various
greenhouses that advertise orchids or other exotic foliage or plants. Where
there are no greenhouses is Wekiwa Springs State Park and her adjoining county
park – Kelly Springs
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| Rock spring run under water |
to the staff at Kelly Park, the mosquitoes were especially bad this winter because there has been no killing frost. The campground is in the middle of the woods and the bugs were thriving! There was no sitting outside without bug spray on the warm sunny days. Thankfully down at the spring area it was wide open with a great cooling breeze, hence no biting bugs. The turkeys were still wandering thru the park – just not thru our campsite – and the gopher tortoise had dug her burrow under a palmetto palm about 20 feet behind our condo. Some days it was just easier to climb in the truck and use the excuse of “exploring” to escape the hungry bugs and go revisit our favorite areas - Sanford, Winter Garden with her still beautifully decorated downtown boulevard and Christmas tree and Mt Dora with her quaint shops and sprawling old flea market. We even bravely ventured down to Orlando! And of course we made our annual trek to The Catfish Place in downtown Apopka for scallops!
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| Winter Garden |
Last year my nephew Rich from Indiana, wife Susan and son
Brady drove from Lakeland to Ocala to visit with us while we were at Ross
Prairie. Last time we took them to
Rainbow Springs. This year we were
happy to show them another one of Florida’s hidden treasure – the crystal clear
waters of Rock Springs. H took the
first float down the run with R&B while Susan and I manned the stash of
shoes, shirts and glasses! She just had
more surgery in October and was still wearing a bulky air cast on her right
foot and calf so she was confined to a wheelchair. While the boys were out playing “salmon”, I wheeled her along the
wide cement sidewalks that lined the swimming areas and over the arched steel
bridges that allowed a great view of the entire area including any bobbing
bodies floating down the winding clear stream.
My camera was still laying on the table in the condo so I was depending
on S to snap some good shots with her cell phone! Next it was my turn to jump in the cold refreshing water with
R&B and “bob” on down the run along with all the others trying to cool off
on a hot Sunday afternoon. We chatted
the entire way down and then chatted some more while we stood in the waist deep
waters of the open area. H even came
over to the edge to see if we were all right!
It was decided that we should “bob” further down the stream and then
walk back up – against the currant.
That job was easier said than done – but we did it and it was an excellent
workout for my flabby old thighs! Of
course R & B made it look like a walk in the park instead of a push uphill
in a swift currant! Back in the
air-conditioned condo, we visited until way after dark. They climbed into their SUV and left our campsite,
heading for the exit. Then
returned - - they had seen a bear in
the campground! All these years that
we’ve camped here and THEY see the bear?!
Go figure.
