We made it to our first state park (Ochlockonee River SP), south of Tallahasse in Sopchoppy, FL. Don't you just love those names? It took me half the week after asking several locals how to pronounce OAK LOCK NEE with the emphasis on the second syllable. What a beautiful park! With no lights in the park, the night skys are spectacular. Great camp sites, pretty walking/biking/birding trails along the river and into the pine forest. I saw several deer, different kinds of birds and luckily no alligators. We ventured to Wakula Springs SP and took a wonderful boat ride on the river where we saw an abundance of gators, herons, egrets etc. The springs are the deepest in the world and have many underwaters caves to explore. The water is 70 degress years round....we still stayed in the boat.
Another adventure was a ride along the Gulf and out to St George's barrier island. Very nice homes throughout the island and another pretty state park. From there we headed further west to Apalachicola. A quaint town with some beautiful large old Florida homes.
We also ventured into Tallahassee one morning to volunteer at the Outreach House. This was prearranged through the "Give a Day, Get A Disney Day" promotion. We spent a couple of hours with very nice, dedicated people preparing to feed 150-200 people lunch. Several organizations, churches and sororities from FSU prepare the food and transport it to the facility. Outreach also buys food as well as plastic utensils, plates, napkins etc. to feed people EVERY day. What a wonderful organization. We worked with one woman who had been out of work for 7 months herself and was going to an interview that afternoon. She said she had her priest bless her twice in the morning for extra good luck. Another worker was from El Salvador. His parents were being persecuted because they openly disagreed with the government. He had been kidnapped by the government, but luckily returned to his partents. They all escaped and came to the USA for a better life. He was a delight to talk to.
No comments:
Post a Comment