Santa Fe River Trip

What a wonderful trip we had!!! We have so many pictures to share because it is impossible for us to put the beauty of the river into words...

Every morning we were greeted by this magical sunrise.

We spotted this big man hanging out on one of our rafts. Not too glamorous, you might say, but we were excited to see any and all wildlife! His size was very impressive and were were very surpirsed to learn that he wasn't full grown! We found a couple durring our trip that weren't so scared of us and wanted to be friends. they would climb all the way up your arm and didn't want to get off!

Stopping for a break on a walk through the woods.

Checking out a sink hole.


Kaiden was really good at spotting alligators! Can you see him?

Oops! Crystal dropped her glasses in the river filled with alligators - very typical of her. Vee saved the day and climbed down and rescued them. What a valiant gentleman!

While on his rescue mission Vee discovered this beautiful egg.

This is called the river sink. It's where the Santa Fe River disappears underground for 3 miles and then reappears at the river rise.

The local mechanic, grocery, video rental, boat rental, gas station, bait, antique, and medical supply center. Watch out Walmart!

We found this pretty lady on one of our adventures.

1, 2, 3, JUMP!!! Kaiden learned how to jump off of a rope swing and it seemed to be the highlight of his trip!

Kaiden's clay creations.

There are so many other things we want to share!

Like, while we were tubing down the Santa Fe river spotted a pod of manatees and we floated right through the middle of them while they were coming up for air! If the current in the river wasn't so strong Randy would have hopped into the water and swam right along with them and made a new title for himself - The Manatee Whisperer!

And, during all the excitement of trying out the rope swing Vee decided to give it a shot. Wanting to outdo Randy, he became a little overzealous and wound up breaking one of his fingers!!!!! None of us knew where the nearest hospital was and no one seemed to be in a rush - Randy taking a leisurely shower, Jenn blow drying her hair, and Vee standing around waiting for someone to take some action- very politely of course!

Canoeing, snorkeling, spotting deer in the woods, fossil hunting, spiders in bed, painting, lazy day naps, arts and crafts, cookouts, board games, finding hidden treasure, soccor games... good times with great friends!!!