Hello there and thanks for dropping in today for a quick read about Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland, Florida. I’ve been camping around the southeastern states this year with blog posts to prove it, see Camping Stories for more about all that. Next up on the list is the first camping trip to include my parents (although I’d camped with them and my oldest sister in Georgia, recap here), two sisters, brother in law, and four nieces. Oh, plus, my hounds and one of my sister’s family’s pups, the one that isn’t spooked by literally everything (shout out to Quincy, though!). They figured she’d be better to bring along on a trip with a lot of unknowns.
We all arrived on the day we arrived and adventure was dead ahead. Actually, I definitely should not phrase it that way because a scuba diver died over the course of the four days we were at the park. Crazy stuff that I’ll write about more in the near future. But untimely pun aside, adventure was just around the corner and boy, did we have a great time together (even if the teenagers won’t admit it).
One of the highlights for me was all the wildlife. In fact, the amount and types of wildlife is the sole reason some of the family didn’t swim or kayak! But I can’t ever resist getting a closer look so I just had to swim and had to kayak. Before I get to the photos, I should say we also gathered for dinner each night. That was fun. OK, time for photos. Here are an assortment from Manatee Springs State Park. Oh, also, it was on the very last day that we were graced with a swim-by from a big manatee. For those of us who were swimming, it seemed to come out of nowhere, definitely catching us by surprise.
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 