Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park and wildlife boat tour, Florida

Aayla and I had a wonderful day trip to Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park. The entrance fee to this park was $6 per car load and we thought it was a great park.

We started out by walking the new Hammock Spur Trail at .9 miles, it was about an hour to walk with Aayla. The main trail is a 6 mile one way walk and then we would have to turn around and walk back. That was too much for Aayla to do. You can also ride your mountain bikes here on the trail and that sounds like a great way to do the trail sometime.

This trail was a forest walk and started out at a couple of sink holes. One was filled with water and has become a natural aquifer.

This little cardinal was having a wonderful little bird bath on the edges of the pool.

We meandered through the the forest trail.

Love this lichen

Aayla examining the fungi

fungi... I can't pass by without a picture

Mommy this tree feels like a pineapple

Aayla carries Minnie along the hour trail

More gorgeous fungi

A little lizzard...Sierra will be sad to miss them as we saw four

Perhaps a turtle home?

Aayla teaching Minnie about the Bald Cypress trees

Bald Cypress trees

Ferns and moss...another fav of mine

Aayla gave Minnie a shoulder ride for most of the walk

A vulture feather...so one of the park rangers told us

Riding on her stick horse

When we were done our walk on the Hammock Spur trail we headed over to buy a ticket for the boat ride. We had to wait about 1/2 an hour so we played at the playground while we waited for our boat trip. It was a fair size playground and there were lots of nearby picnic tables with grills to cook on.

Then it was time to walk down to the boats. On the way there we stopped to read a few of the signs about the park.

And then headed down to the waters edge. In the summer the beach here and these swim platforms are full of visitors swimming and there is even a high dive platform.

We saw our boat arrive and headed to the dock.

Our selfie on the boat taken by Aayla

This boat tour cost an extra $8 per adult and $5 per child over and above the $6 entrance fee. Its roughly 45 mins but we were a little longer. The boat tour runs 365 days a year depending on the weather. I thought that was an amazing price for all the wildlife we saw. I would highly recommend you do it as well. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

A soft shell turtle in the front.
Not often seen here the ranger said

Hello Mr Alligator

Really had to crop this one but it was fun to watch this Osprey eat his lunch

Turtles on a log

Ibis in the tree. This reminded me of the front gate sign.

White Ibis

Turtles basking in the sun

Mr Smiley

Female Anthinga drying her wings

Can you see the manatee?

Another female Anthinga

A Double Crested Cormorant I believe

White Ibis

Great Egret

Little Blue Heron

Watersnake basking in the sun. Note the blue eyes?
He's getting ready to shed his skin!

Hello Mr Alligator

These vultures return here to these very trees every winter

Male Anhinga

more manatee

Great Blue Heron

Moorhen

View of the lodge from the boat tour

An excellent day all around and I am so glad Aayla and I decided to visit here.

Tallahassee Baby!

We got all settled in at Tallahasse RV Park (I'll do a review when we leave) around 6:00 and then headed over to Dawn and Arin's for supper. It was too dark for a picture so here we are in the morning.

Then it was a trip to Walmart for a few things and Sierra was so happy to find a My Life Doll on sale and this one even came with three dogs. It was about 1/2 price. She is such a budget conscious shopper when spending her own money.

 She could barely wait to get back to the camper and get it set out of the box!

The girls were quite disappointed that this park will not allow them to drive their battery operated Jeep around the park. No worries we packed it up and took it over to our friends place so they can ride it there. Apparently there is a park rule that you have to be 16 to ride anything battery operated alone including this Jeep and battery powered scooters etc. They do have fun riding their bikes around.

Aayla was a brave girl one day and tried out the pool. It was freezing but she did get under about twice before opting out.

We have enjoyed many great meals here. Aayla loved the Indian lunch we had one day but for the most part we've been doing a lot of scrumptious cooking over at Arin and Dawn's like avocado chicken, pig roasts and stake dinners...being spoiled.

Sierra has been asking to try a macaron so we found a little French bakery called Au Peche Mignon. Their macarons were $2.55 each so they both got two different ones to try. Sierra tried lavendar and strawberry shortcake and Aayla tried pistachio and birthday cake. Sierra ended up not really liking the ones she tried but if she had to pick a favourite she said the lavendar one; which was Ians favourite too. I liked the pistachio the best and Aayla liked the birthday cake.

 We've been busy playing Fuzeball, hot tubbing, bowling, playing games and visiting local parks which I'll do separate posts on...as well as just hanging out with our friends.

Walmart Lenoir City TN and Camper Bowling

I have said it before but I will say it again...I am ever so THANKFUL that many Walmarts still allow overnight RV parking.

This Walmart in Lenoir City Tennessee was located at 911 Highway 321. They were very pleasant when I called to ask permission and again when I went in to confirm the parking area when we arrived. We even had internet from the parking lot where we were parked which was an added bonus.

We are very thankful to have the ability to stop and sleep at Walmarts on travel days. Parks are so expensive and basically all we do is shop and sleep while here so paying for a park on travel days is a hard bullet to bite.

It was a long day of travel and Ian hopped to get the satellite set up but apparently the companies have started to block reception of our Canadian accounts while travelling. Boo hoo.

We went in to Walmart and did a little bit of shopping and then had a few games of bowling before bed.

Tomorrow we hit the road for another 7 hour travel day but we will arrive in Tallahassee and the long days will all be worth it.