Fabulous News and Silver Glen Springs

As of last Thursday, I am officially accepted into the Florida Studies program at the University of South Florida. I'm still a ways away from actually going to class (fall of next year) but I am still a-twitter nonetheless. I also got the assistantship, so it doesn't look like I'll have to pay tuition, which is doubly cool. However, we still will have bills and bunnies, and money goes to both, so I'll have to find a part-time job down there. DeSoto national memorial is down in that area, and if I could be a student ranger again, that would just be the bee's knees. I mean, that's too perfect.
Anyway, to supplement the paying down of debts before I head down south, I have opened up an Esty store. Nothing's on it quite yet because everything I am going to sell is in the process of being made. It's mostly going to be Florida-centric things, but I am planning on having goofy, googly-eyed things as well. My username is "rangerhat". Go to http://www.etsy.com/people/rangerhat in a week or two to see if I've got anything that tickles your fancy. 

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A few weeks back, my husband, my dad, and I took an early morning trip to Silver Glen Springs Recreation Area. There are few things more exciting than the sun coming up on a muggy summer morning. There is a special smell in the air - sort of like wet dirt, wet vegetation - that simply means ADVENTURE! Once the sun rose, though, the clouds quickly obscured it and made for a gloomy brunchtime. Storms were forecasted for that day, but we remained undaunted (my dad, some of you may know, is the whole reason behind my unadulterated love of Floridiana). The day was almost cool, somewhere in the 80s, and there was a gusty wind coming from the river. As gung-ho as I've become in my later years, I regressed to my 14 year old self when I got in that icy blue spring water. I stood where I was, unsure as to whether or not I would survive the plunge. My dad, as per usual, was happily swimming about near the middle of the swimming area calling to me to just get in and stop being such a weenie. After what most likely felt like hours to my dad, I finally got all the way in and dunked my head under.

There's a special (read:awful) feeling I get when I jump into springwater when my core temperature is already down due to windy and sunless conditions. I can assume it's akin to the feeling gazelles get when being pursued by a cheetah - that is, HOLYCRAPIAMGOINGTODIE! ESCAPE! ESCAPE! It only lasts for a few second, then it's replaced by a general annoyance at being so dang cold. My skin is very sensitive to cold (I can sit comfortably in four thousand degree water, but I can tell when it starts to cool off) and during the winter I am just a giant grumpfest. Every time I get into springwater, my body goes through a tiny winter. But, I digress.

The springhead itself is a large, sloping sand dune. It's actually a gorgeous vista - the clear blue water, the white sand, the MILLIONS of fish - and it makes suffering in sunless, windy cold worthwhile. I am a terrible judge of distance, but I'd say it's just a tad deeper than Alexander Springs, because I seem to run out of air quicker when I am at the bottom. The massive amounts of ancient water billow forth with incredible force, and it's nearly impossible to swim at it. You have to come around to it from the backside if you want to get near it (many people, it seems, can't quite grasp this concept and end up flailing around underwater in a futile attempt to fight the flow from head-on). 

I love how the fish just don't pay you any mind when you're down there. You're on their turf, and they know that unlike you, they were built to swim well. While I count myself among the better swimmers, I am no fish, and the other fish know this. They glance at my idly while I cruise by on the current, my camera poised to take as many freaking pictures as possible. There are a few pictures I managed to get in the shallows that look like a dreamscape (check all the pictures on Flagogo's facebook).

There are a two trails on the grounds that are certainly worth traversing. First, there is the trail to the sand boils. These are little mini-springs that are in the shallows that constantly blorp up sandy water. They're cute, but you are under no circumstances allowed in any of them. (When I was little, I do admit that I climbed into one, but as an adult who now knows it's not allowed, I don't even think about it. Besides, I distinctly recall my feet getting cut on sharp limestone edges down at the bottom. Gives me the jeeblies to this day.) The other path takes you all the way to Lake George, the second largest "lake" in Florida (it's actually just a part of the river). A storm was rolling in from across the way, and it gave a lovely vista. 

Silver Glen Springs Recreation Area is a lovely place to swim, and a great "Junior Spring" for people who have never encountered one before. It's a bit old-hat for me now, but most likely because I've just done so much more in my ADVENTURES. Still, it's a great place to chill - literally - and soak up some general Florida goodness. I would certainly suggest it as an ideal location to take someone who is unfamiliar with the state to show them what Florida can really do.