Friday, April 10, 2009

Floating, Roasting and Freezing!

It's spring break here so we took a short camping trip to Ichetucknee Springs! It's located about 30 miles northwest of Gainesville. We went with the Lund family and Ben & Joey Waters came as well. It was beautiful! The weather was originally supposed to be perfect but at the last minute the forecast changed! Although there was plenty of sunshine, the sun was deceiving! Both nights, the temperature was in the 40s and we froze our buns off! During the day on Monday and Wednesday , it was in the 70s and perfect, but on Tuesday, the wind was blowing 20-30 mph and we literally huddled around our fire ring most of the day! I took tons of pictures but have only posted the highlights. I have tried my first crack at a Smilebox Slideshow so, if I did it right, you can browse all the photos.

Our campsite was beautiful! There were lots of trees and we had sunshine and shade! At night, we were surrounded by fireflies! Other than the freezing night temperatures, it was a wonderful experience!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Ichetucknee springs
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Gaming was in full swing with Risk and Be Serious!

The campfire tradition of marshmallow roasting!
This one's a bit too done!
We don't just roast marshmallows, we roast Peeps!
When smoke gets in your eyes, improvise!
Fire is fun!
Here are the headsprings of the Ichetucknee - it is like a big swimming hole. Not everyone was willing to get in the first day! A bit chilly!
Amateur snorkelers!
Hanging out at the Headsprings!
This is what happens when you think there is a bug on you!
We FINALLY got to go tubing on Wednesday! The first picture is NOT of us because we didn't have a waterproof camera to take down the river - it is just an image I found on the internet. But I wanted to give just a glimpse of one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! And the pic shows exactly what we looked like! The scenery is amazing! The water is crystal clear so you can see turtles and fish swimming below. We even had a manatee swim right by us! The water is 72 degrees year round, so even tho' it was chilly - because the air temperature and the water temperature were so close, we weren't uncomfortable and the water even felt warm when you were in the sun! Tubing down the Ichetucknee should be on everyone's bucket list!

Miranda took this picture! Aren't these wildflowers beautiful! They were growing along the sides of the road so we stopped to pick some and brought them back to camp.

6 comments:

Kimberly said...

Looks like you all had fun! What a beautiful place.

Heather said...

I love to see how the people in the flat lands camp. It is beautiful. I would love to go there someday. I'm glad you all had fun.

Heidi said...

That looks like so much fun!
I love the roasted peeps and Jared's masked roasting!

Megan said...

I don't look at blogs very often, but when I do, I stalk the whole thing! It looks like you've had a fun past couple of months with birthdays, camping trips, and DAVID ARCHULETTA! That's so awesome I am so jealous! I'm moving out to St. Louis this summer so I'll be twice as close as usual! (still kinda far though ha ha) Anyway I love your blog, I think it's so cute and tell Jared he looks sexy with those goggles roasting peeps! I miss you guys and love you so much!

Janet said...

LOL I love the roasted Peeps. I'll have to try that! :)

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