Blue Spring State Park

While we were in Florida we spent one afternoon at Blue Spring State Park.  The park is the winter home to over 300 manatees.  Most days you can see the gentle giants almost floating through the crystal clear waters of the natural springs.  Mara's finally getting to an age where she is really observant of the things around her and I knew she'd love looking at the manatees in the water.

At the first lookout point we spotted three large manatees, with one getting pretty close to the lookout deck.  I pointed them out to Mara and she squealed and pointed at them.  From there we walked down the boardwalk to a deeper portion and were able to spot a couple more.

The majority of the manatees we saw were near the boat dock at the opposite end of the boardwalk where the river enters the natural springs.  Here I was able to point out a few more to Mara as well as show her some of the large river birds.

After checking out the manatees we roamed around the gift shop.  We ended up with a book on the park which explained why the manatees swim down to the springs every winter.  Overall it was a great afternoon.  It was nice to get out of the house and explore the surrounding area.