We went to the Turtle Hospital today.  They currently have 43 turtles, 13 are permanent residents and cannot be released due to their injuries.  It’s such a sad thing to see, but they are such beautiful creatures and all of the proceeds from the admission price goes directly back to running the hospital and helping the turtles get back into the wild.  The day before we came they had released 2 of them into the Everglades and they had received 3 new hatchlings.  They had turtles injured by boats, by fishing hooks and by things they had eaten, like fishing line and plastic bags.  When the turtles eat those things they get sick and sometimes get life threatening infections.  Our guide told us that if you see a turtle floating, then the turtle is sick and needs help.  They have people who actually sleep at the facility 24 hours a day so they came come to the rescue when someone calls to report a sick or injured turtle.

The tour lasted 90 minutes and was very interesting.  I did not know that there are only 7 species of sea turtles in the world and 5 of them, they have in Florida.  Loggerhead, Green, Leatherback, Hawksbill and Kemp’s Ridley, which is the rarest sea turtle in the world and there are only about 1,000 of them left.

The saddest thing was to see the ones that had been injured by propellers and as their shells healed, bubbles formed under them,  causing them to float to the surface and not be able to dive for food any longer.  The Turtle hospital puts weights on their shells to help them dive.  If the turtles with this condition are not found, they will get weak and starve.  Luckily, someone had found the ones here and they would be helped.

We went to Blue Spring State park yesterday and it was really worth the trip.  It’s about an hour from Orlando in a small town called Orange City.  We had planned to camp here, but after our experience at Tokoma State park, decided to skip staying here.  The park is well-known for being a sanctuary for Manatee’s.  Not too long ago, they even allowed people to swim with them, but they close the spring when the Manatee’s start their migration here in late fall.  Unfortunately, the spring was closed to swimming when we visited.  The park is small and reminiscent of the movie “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, with the blue-green water and big over-hanging mossy trees.  In Fact, episodes of “The Lost Mermaids” series from Underwater with Jacque Cousteau were filmed here.

You can rent tube’s and canoe’s when they allow swimming and float down the St. Johns River from the spring head.  This was ever more surprising after seeing the large alligator’s resting on half-sunken logs.  After seeing them, I’m not sure I would like to swim here after-all.  There are several signs saying “swim at your own risk”.  And I wondered how many swimmers they’ve lost?  Or parts of swimmers!

There were quite a few Manatee’s floating by and even a baby or two.  Their tails propelled them down the river and made them look like very large, bulbous mermaids. The water was a really bright green and looked both ominous and inviting at the same time.  I wanted to just stick my toe in the water to see how warm it felt, since it is supposed to be a constant 73 degrees summer and winter, but they have the walkways that go down into the water roped off now.  Waaaaa.  So, I’ll have to just imagine how warm it was.  I hope to come back some day and maybe swim…if the alligators don’t look too hungry.

We decided to get out of the Tokoma State Park and move on over to the Fort Wilderness Campground early.  The park was scary and they really should not allow RV’s that are the size of mine in the park.  Driving to our campsite was one of those “thread the needle” experiences and the sand road kept getting narrower and narrower.  By the time the road was just wide enough for me to squeeze thru, I reached the campsite.  Since the road is so narrow, it was not an easy task to back into the site without taking out a shrub.  Fortunately, it didn’t do any damage to my camper!  But, it became clear to me, why the park ranger looked at me funny and said “Have you ever been here before?”  I thought it was just a random question that he asked everyone, but the look on his face made the meaning change to “Are you seriously going to try to get into one of these campsites?”  During my research for campsites I specifically called this park to ask if they had any height/length restrictions and was told “no”……Maybe they need to think about that and tell people “No, BUT….”

So, off we went to Fort Wilderness!   The drive was short….the kind I prefer, and this campground is pretty much what you’d expect from Walt.   The park has 1788 campsites and 408 cabins!  Wholly smoke!  We were greeting with “Howdy!” and asked if we needed any help backing into our site.  Due to the recent Tomoka State Park incident…I said “Yes!”.   One of the employee’s actually came and parked my camper for me!  How nice is that?  All sites are paved and have a small sandy area behind them with a picnic table and grill.  There are recycle stations in front of your campsite and the post with your campsite number has a plug for your golf cart.  (And I thought the Hilton Head RV resort was nice!).  We parked and set up and then headed up to get our golf cart….yes, it is necessary to get around, I did not just get one because I am lazy, this campground is massive.

We decided to just visit the Walt Disney World park this time because mom really wants to see the “Harry Potter” stuff at the Universal Studios.    We had a perfectly beautiful day for our visit. A boat takes you from the campground to the park entrance which was great not to have to worry about parking.  And the park has changed the rules so that everyone gets four “fast passes” for the rides for free!  Last year when mom and I came to one of the Disney parks, you had to purchase a fast pass and we didn’t because we didn’t know if it was worth it.  The day SUCKED, because we were in line most of the day and I think we only got to ride two things..  So, it was nice to get to jump the line at 4 of the rides this time and we actually got there early enough to ride other things that we didn’t have to wait too long for.  I don’t care how old you get, it’s still exciting.  I still love the Haunted Mansion, the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean.  And when you are too pooped to walk anymore, The Carousel Of Progress is a good place to rest.

I still believe that they need to have an “adults only” day though, not because of the kids really, but because of the number of gigantic strollers that the parents bring to the park.  Some of those strollers are the size of small cars. When my sisters and I were little, our family did not even own a stroller.  Mom said that if you were too tired to walk, then you needed to go home and go to bed!  It certainly does open your eyes to how spoiled kids are these days.   There were very few people with children, that we saw, that did not have a stroller and the size of these kids in those strollers was pretty astonishing.  I would swear that I saw a kid that looked like he was a teenager riding in one.  And then the ultimate in spoiled brats rolled by:  In a stroller, IN DISNEY WORLD, with an iPhone in her hand playing a game!  WHAT?  You are in Disney and you are SO bored that you have to play a game on an IPhone?  Good LORD!  I must say that we also saw some really well-behaved kids too, but they were usually with people who I assume were their grandparents. Those were the kids that were actually walking on their own and actually seemed engaged in what was going on around them.

Here are my recommendations:  Go early.  Make a reservation for lunch or dinner at one of the full service restaurants …because you will not be able to get one on the day you go and because you will be tired and it will be nice to sit down and relax for a bit before heading back out there!  Take the train at the front of the park to the back of the park and work your way forward.  You will beat the crowd back there and get in line faster.  Choose your “fast passes” wisely.  If they are too close together, you do not have time to wander.   Make them for later in the day.  By the end of the day, it was nice not to have to wait in line anymore and you will be  tired and  who wants to wait in line when they are tired

Yesterday we received some tragic news.  My aunt Gloria was killed in a car wreck several days ago.  She was with her boyfriend and several other people who all lost their lives when they hit a semi-truck while driving thru Arkansas.  The last time that I saw her,  was on the cruise that me, my sister and mom were also on last year.  So that  is how  I will remember her, enjoying her life and traveling to wonderful places.  My heart goes out to my cousins, Larry, Teresa, Mike, Mark and Johnny.   I think that we are all still in shock over her death and also reminded of how short our time is here on earth and just how precious it is.  Rest in Peace Gloria.