I always sleep well after a night of hard dancing so last night was no different. I slept well and was up reasonably early this morning. A beautiful, warm, sunny day was waiting for me. So after a quick breakfast I was out the door and taking a walk over to Kelly Spring before the expected hoards of kids and adults arrived for another day of swimming and tubing fun. Nice and quiet for the most part with just me, the squirrels and assorted birds flitting about. I had one flock of about a dozen wild turkeys cross in front of me at one point. Osceola's I assume, because of where we are. They were quite sturdy looking and had some beautiful green and blue coloration to their feathers. Of course I didn't have my camera with me.
   I goofed off the rest of the morning and then had an early lunch before loading up the truck and heading out for adventures. Drove up to Blue Springs State Park on a search for manatee's, but found that the weather was too nice for them to be holed up in the spring waters. They had all moved out into the main channel of the St John's River and probably wouldn't be back until the next cold spell. It was still nice to walk up and down the boardwalk along the spring and peer into the depths looking for large catfish and mullets and other assorted fish. Even saw a couple of turtles swimming by.
   I've been sitting in a McDonalds now for an hour or so and got a few photo's downloaded and cropped up for posting. Will probably stay here for a little while longer and then go take a short nap in the truck. I want to be well rested for tonight's contra dance. It will start at 8:00 again this evening and I'm looking forward to getting hot and sweaty all over again.

Blue Springs State Park near Deland Florida - Jan. 17, 2015

Hard to believe but that really is the color of the water. The water itself is pretty much clear with the color coming from the reflections of the sky and trees on to the white bottom sand.

I love being down here among the Spanish moss. It makes everything feel ancient.

No manatee's in the spring today. With 72 degree temperatures and sunny skies it was to nice so they were all out in the main channel of the river eating.

It is hard to believe that all that water is coming out of the ground less than a 1/4 mile away. This is a Class A spring meaning it vomits out 10 million gallons or more of water every day.

brk*