Living Our Dream

Highlands Hammock State Park

Wauchula, FL - Events of Thursday, January 10, 2019

By the time we returned from our trip to Pittsburgh, we realized the cold Paul came down with two days before Christmas had turned into bronchitis. Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes. It's usually caused by a virus, so antibiotics won't help. Bronchitis will normally go away by itself, but it can take two to four weeks. Paul's lasted a total of about three weeks, and he had lingering tiredness for a week or so after that.

Paul was finally feeling a good bit better last week, so last Thursday we decided to go on a tour of Highlands Hammock State Park that was organized by one of the couples from the Co-op. The tour included a tram tour, tours of the CCC museum located at the park, hikes, and a picnic lunch. The state park is located about half an hour from the Co-op near Sebring.

A hammock is a stand of hardwood trees, usually surrounded by wetlands. The hammock may be only a few inches above the surrounding land; but this higher ground creates dryer conditions making the growth of the hardwood trees possible. The hardwood trees at Highlands Hammock State Park are mostly varieties of oaks and hickory.

There are several other ecological zones besides the hardwood hammock located within the park. We'll have a little more on that later. 

Our group had over 40 people. Since the tram only holds 30, we had to schedule a tram tour at 9 a.m. and a second one at 11 a.m. We were on the first tour. It was one of the cooler nights of the fall/winter season, and it was in the low 40s when we boarded the tram. Although the sun felt warm, most of the tour goes through the woods. Also, with the tram traveling at speeds up to 10 or 15 MPH at times, we needed to bundle up to stay warm.

Kevin, who was our driver and guide on the tram tour, is a volunteer at Highlands Hammock. He gave us a brief description and history of the park before the start of the tour. He was very knowledgeable and interesting.

Kevin, our volunteer tour guide

Highlands Hammock State Park opened in 1931 as one of the first 4 state parks in Florida. The CCC, which was formed in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression to give meaningful work to able-bodied men, played a big role in the initial development of the park. More on the CCC later.

The first point of interest on the tram tour was a 1000-year old Live Oak. It isn't the biggest tree in the park, but it is the oldest.

1000-year old live oak tree

Live oak trees tend to rot out from the inside, which is what happened to this one. In the late 1990s, much of the tree collapsed in spite of (or maybe because of) efforts back in the 1930s to clean out the rot, add steel reinforcing rods, and fill the hollow trunk with concrete. One of the large branches can be seen still lying on the ground to the left of the tree. In spite of losing major branches, the tree still is alive with new growth sprouting from the top of section of the trunk to the right.

Next, the tram tour passed through the hardwood hammock. Sabal palms also frequently grow alongside the hardwoods.

Hardwood hammock

Within a short distance, the elevation started to drop, and we entered yet another ecological zone - a cypress swamp. Cypress trees are one of the few deciduous conifer trees, and they lose their needles in winter.

Cypress swamp

As the tour went on, the elevation began to rise again, and we entered a dry ecological area known as a pine flatwood where the vegetation is made up primarily of pine trees and under-story palmettos. Back when the first Spanish explorers first arrived in the 1500s, 70 to 90% of Florida was pine flatwoods.

Pine flatwoods

The existence of pine flatwoods depends on periodic fires. The pines and palmettos are resistant to fire and will survive. In fact, some pines rely on fire to open the cones to release seeds. Hardwood saplings and other under-story plants on the other hand, will be burned up before they can become established. Fires can occur naturally, primarily through lightening strikes, but naturally-occurring fires can be very unpredictable and dangerous. Therefore, prescribed burns are conducted every few years to preserve the nature of the pine flatwoods in a controlled, safe manner.

The final area on the tram tour was a drive along a canal that was dug back in the day to help drain excess rain runoff from the park. This is an excellent location to see wildlife, and we saw dozens of birds including the ones shown in the following photos.

Great Blue Heron

Anhinga

Ibis

Great Egret

On sunny days, there are usually numerous alligators sunning themselves on the banks of the canal. It was early on a cool morning, so the tour guide thought there might not be any out yet, but we saw a small one that was 15 to 18 inches long and the one shown below that was about 3 or 4 feet long.

3 or 4-foot alligator

The tram dropped us off at the CCC museum. As we said, the CCC played a big role in the development of this park and many others across the country. The museum at Highlands Hammock State Park is housed in what was the rec hall for the CCC back in the day.

CCC museum

The CCC provided young men with food, housing (many times in tents), clothing, and a wage of $30 a month. The men got to keep $5, and the rest was sent home to their families. Over 3 million young, able-bodied, unmarried men participated in the CCC with a maximum enrollment at any given time of about 300,000. The CCC provided manual labor for the conservation and development of natural resources on lands owned by federal, state, and local governments. The CCC built shelters, lodges, service roads, trails, and service buildings in over 800 parks across the country. They also planted over 8 billion trees. The CCC was discontinued in 1942 shortly after the U.S. entered WWII.

Map showing the locations of CCC camps

Margery was interested in the CCC museum because her dad was in the CCC. We found on the map the camp where he worked in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania back in the day.

Margery checking out a display of some of the tools used by the CCC at Highlands Hammock State Park

Because we had previously scheduled haircuts for both of us for shortly after noon in Sebring, we only stayed for the tram tour and a brief tour of the museum. We missed out on a docent-led tour of the museum and a couple of hikes that were planned for later; but with Paul just recovering from bronchitis, going on a hike probably wasn't a good idea anyway.

After our haircuts, we stopped at Dee's Place in Sebring for a late lunch of half-pound burgers. We then headed back to the Co-op to relax with an evening of TV.

We had friends from out of town scheduled to stop the next day for a visit. We'll tell you about that in our next post.

Honeymoon Island State Park

Bushnell, FL - Events of Thursday, April 2, 2015

When we got up last Thursday, we both found ourselves in the mood to do something other than hang around the rig all day. After a little online research, we decided to take a drive about an hour and a half to the south to check out Honeymoon Island State Park. Honeymoon Island is a small barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico located adjacent to Dunedin, FL, which is just north of Clearwater.

The island, which was previously called Hog Island, was renamed Honeymoon Island in the early 1940s when huts were built for newlyweds and vacationers. The huts fell into disuse when WWII started, and they were eventually torn down. The island was later turned into a state park.

Honeymoon Island State Park has beaches, hiking/biking trails, a nature center and a picnic area with a playground. Admission is $8 per car.

Honeymoon Island is only about 2½ or 3 miles long and about ¼ mile wide. We started off by driving to the far end of the loop road and stopping at the beach located there.

The northwestern corner of the island is subject to much erosion and is currently undergoing beach restoration. Normally, you can walk up the beach to the north from the parking lot at the end of the loop road, but that area was closed because of the restoration. However, the beach adjacent to the parking lot was open.

This part of the beach was pretty stoney. We don't know if that was due to the dredging for the restoration that was going on or if it is always that way. Nevertheless, there were only a few people there.

Somewhat stoney beach at the northern end of the park road

While we were hanging around just enjoying watching the small waves gently rippling on shore, Paul caught a photo of a cormorant sitting on one of the pilings near the restoration work area.

Cormorant

We then drove back toward the south and stopped at the main beach. Even though it wasn't the weekend, there were lots of cars in the parking lot. We headed across the boardwalk over the dune.

Boardwalk over the dune

View of the main beach from the boardwalk

The main beach was a lot more crowded than the one to the north. The beach here is also a little wider, and it is fine sand with few stones.

Larger crowds at the main beach

Next, we drove the loop road back to the north and stopped at the nature trail, which is called Osprey Trail. Osprey Trail is a 2.5-mile loop that starts from the picnic area located near the northern end of the road. The trail goes up to the far northeastern tip of the island.

The trail gets its name from the fact it is lined with numerous osprey nests.

Osprey standing guard by a nest

Another osprey and nest

There was supposed to be a bald eagle nest at the far end of the trail; but because we only made the decision to go to Honeymoon Island that morning, we  got a late start. Since it was already mid-afternoon by the time we started the trail and since we were also hungry, we decided to only walk the lower half of the trail.

Margery had found good online reviews for a seafood restaurant called Frenchy's Outpost located on the mainland at the opposite end of the causeway from the state park. We stopped there for lupper on the way back.

Frenchy's Outpost

Frenchy's is known for their grouper sandwiches. They have several variations including original with beer-batter, Cajun, Buffalo and Caribbean with jerk spices. A regular sandwich is $11.50 and a super is $13.50.

In order to avoid some carbs, we decided to each have a half-pound grouper nugget appetizer ($12.95) instead of sandwiches. We shared an order of onion straws ($4.95) and a side of cole slaw ($1.95). Frenchy's also has burgers and other sandwiches for about $8 to $10. Dinner entrees range in price from about $14 to $18 and include two sides.

Margery with her grouper nuggets and onion straws

The grouper nuggets were excellent. However, the onion straws were a little greasy, which was especially noticeable later in the meal when they had cooled off somewhat. The cole slaw was okay, but the cabbage was cut a little more coarsely than we like. The restaurant was pretty crowded when we were there. Consequently, it was very noisy. The wood deck below and the low awning above seemed to trap and amplify the noise. The food was also a little on expensive side. Our bill including soft drinks, tax and tip was pushing $50.

With our bellies full and our wallets empty, we headed back to Blueberry Hill. Traffic in the area around Tampa/Clearwater/Dunedin can get pretty heavy later in the afternoon, plus there is construction along almost the entire length of I-75 we would be driving. The potential for traffic delays was another reason we decided not to stay any longer at the state park. Traffic was heavy on the way back, but not awful. When we got back to the rig, we relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Rainbow Springs

Bushnell, FL - Events of Monday, March 10, 2014

Like Silver Springs we visited a few weeks ago, Rainbow Springs is another one of the "Old Florida" attractions that was not able to weather the rise of Disney and other theme parks of the early 1970s. Rainbow Springs was a roadside attraction that began in the 1930s, flurished in the 1960s, and closed in 1974. Fortunately, as with Silver Springs, the state of Florida eventually stepped in, bought the land around the springs, and made Rainbow Springs a state park. Rainbow Springs State Park is located in Dunellon, FL about an hour north of Blueberry Hill. We headed there for a visit on Monday.

The main entrance to the park is at the headsprings and is located off US 41 just north of Dunellon. The entrance road and the walkway to the ticket window are lined with azaleas. Pets are permitted in the park, so Freeway got to go.

Margery and Freeway along the azalea-lined walkway

Admission to Rainbow Springs is $2 per person at the headsprings entrance. There are two entrances on the other side of the park off SW 177th Ave. - one is for tubing and the other is for the campground. Tubing costs $10.60 per person; and campsites, which have full hookups, cost $30 a night.

Rainbow Springs, previously called Wekiwa Creek by Native Americans and Blue Spring by early settlers, is an artesian spring that produces about 490 million gallons of water a day. There is evidence of human habitation dating back about 10,000 years.

Right inside the entrance are nice views of the headsprings and the river from the terrace. There is a swimming dock at the headsprings.

View of the swimming dock at the headsprings

View downstream from the terrace

The area near the springs first attracted attention in modern times the late 1880s when phosphate was discovered. Phosphate is an important component of fertilizers.

In the 1930s, the area around the spring was developed into a tourist attraction and the name was changed to Rainbow Springs. They thought the new name was more distinctive.

To compete with the glass bottom boats at nearby Silver Springs, Rainbow Springs began to offer "submarine" tours. The boats at Rainbow Springs were not actually submarines, but "sub-boats" with deep hulls that allowed visitors to sit below the waterline and look out through glass windows. There aren't any sub-boats left at the springs, but they did have a model of one in the window behind the small gift shop. The blue portion with the portholes would have been underwater.

Model of one of the Rainbow Springs sub-boats

The real heyday of Rainbow Springs was in the 1960s. Bird and animal exhibits, riverboat rides, a rodeo show and monorail ride with cars shaped like leaves gave visitors plenty to do.

As with many other "Old Florida" attractions, Rainbow Springs began to decline in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The completion of interstate highways in Florida in the late 1960s began to divert tourists away from smaller attractions and toward major theme parks like Disney World, which was first opened in 1971.

Rainbow Springs closed in 1974, and the facilities fell into disrepair. In 1990, Florida purchased the land around the springs, and the state park officially opened to the public in 1995.

From the entrance, you can follow the walkway to the right to the swimming dock and to the canoe/kayak rental area or you go to the left to see some of the remnants of the old tourist attraction. All the main walks at Rainbow Springs are paved. We headed to the left first.

Back in the late 1930s, they built several artificial waterfalls on the rock plies left over from the phosphate mining days. Water is recirculated from the river by pumps.

Seminole Falls

Rainbow Falls

Aviary Falls

Paul and Freeway resting while enjoying one of the waterfalls

A side path loops past where the zoo for the old tourist attraction was located. There visitors can see the remnants of the old animal cages.

Remnants of old animal cages

The rodeo attraction was at the far end of the property. The pavement in the photo below ran through the middle of the stable that was used to house horses for the rodeo. The depressions on either side are where individual stalls were located.

Location of the old stables for the rodeo attraction

The rodeo arena has been converted into a butterfly garden. There was one lone volunteer weeding the beds and paths in preparation for spring.

Volunteer weeding in the butterfly garden

Since Florida is warm most of the winter, most people don't realize there is a dormant period here just like there is up north. Dormancy is triggered by the shorter days in winter. In the north, dormancy protects plants from cold; but in Florida, dormancy protects plants from the winter dry season.

We chatted a while with the volunteer, who was originally from Connecticut. He said within about a month, the butterfly garden would begin to come alive with new growth, and within two months, there would be flowers everywhere. Although there were a few flowers elsewhere in the garden, we had to be content with just a few blooms here and there in the butterfly garden.

Only a few blooms in the butterfly garden for now

From the butterfly garden, there is an unpaved nature trail through the pine and palmetto woods. Because it was getting late, we decided not to take the nature trail because we still wanted to see the swimming area on the other side of the headsprings. On the way back to the headsprings, we did follow an azalea-lined, side path that went past the pools at the tops of the waterfalls.

Azalea-lined path to the pools at the top of the waterfalls

At the headsprings, we watched the swimmers a few minutes, then walked a little farther to the canoe rental. Dogs aren't allowed in the water at Rainbow Springs; but there was no one around the steps that led down to the water between the swimming area and the canoe rental, so we let Freeway get close to see what he would do. He leaned down from the bottom step to sniff and taste the water, but there was no way he wanted to get wet. Maybe someday we'll be able to coax him into the water when we're at a place where dogs are allowed to swim.

Freeway checking out the water at Rainbow Springs

In addition to canoe and kayak rentals, you can also launch your own boat. We saw a couple in an old wooden kayak paddling up the other side of the river. Talk about Old Florida!

Old wooden kayak on the Rainbow River

As we said, there weren't many flowers blooming yet in the butterfly garden, but there were more flowers blooming elsewhere. The flowers in the photo below are as follows:

• top row - azaleas
• middle row - magnolia, salvia
• bottom row - iris, camellia

Some of the flowers blooming at Rainbow Springs

From Rainbow Springs, we took the back roads to Bushnell. After we dropped Freeway off at the motor home so he wouldn't have to sit in the hot car, we went back out to Beef O'Brady's down the road from the RV park for lupper. Although we were just there with Marilyn and Alan, it was Burger Monday at Beef O'Bradys, and we were hungry for a good burger. On Mondays, the "Build Your Own Burger" (regularly $7.99 with fries) is only $4.99. The burgers were yummy!

Paul with his "Build Your Own Burger"

We relaxed around the motor home the rest of the afternoon. We did a few chores, ran a few errands and relaxed over the next few days. We got a little lazy again, but there is bound to be more sightseeing in the near future, so stay tuned.

Silver Springs State Park (River Side)

Bushnell, FL - Events of Monday, February 3, 2013

From the Spring Side of Silver Springs State Park, we hopped in the car and drove a little over a mile south on State Route 35 to the River Side entrance. The $8 entrance fee we paid at the Spring Side was also good at River Side.

River Side has picnic areas, numerous hiking trails, a museum, a cracker village and a campground. We drove through the campground, and it's pretty nice. Sites are spacious with palmettos and underbrush between them for privacy. There are about 60 sites with water and electric hookups. Most of the sites only have 30-amp electric, but there are a handfull with 50 amps. There were lots of empty sites.

Unfortunately, the museum and cracker village are only open to the public on weekends. They are operated by the Marion County School District in cooperation with the state park, and they are used for school groups during the week. There were two school buses in the parking lot when we were there.

Since the museum and village were closed, we decided to take one of the hiking trails. There are a couple of trails that end up at the Silver River, a trail called Swamp Trail, another called Sinkhole Trail plus a couple of other trails. We opted to do part of Sinkhole Trail.

The trails are fairly well marked, but we were apparently doing Sinkhole Trail loop backwards because all the trail markers were facing the opposite way. We picked up the trail at the main parking lot near the cracker village, and we could see some of the buildings in the village as we passed by.

One of the buildings in the cracker village

Cracker is a term that was applied to English and American settlers in Florida in the 1700s. There is debate as to where the term "cracker" came from; but in Elizabethan England, "crack" (or Gaelic craic) was a term that referred to superfluous or entertaining conversation. This is where we get the saying "to crack a joke." Early settlers in Florida raised cattle and were known as cracker cowmen. Therefore, the name "cracker" could also refer to the cracking of their whips as they rounded up their herds. Although cracker can have negative connotations in some circles, the term is still proudly used today by native Floridians to indicate their family has resided in Florida for many generations.

The sandy trail passed through pine and palmetto woods. Fortunately, the school groups were busy in the museum and at the cracker village, so the trail was nice and quiet with only bird sounds and the crunching of sand and pine needles underfoot.

Margery on Sinkhole Trail

Along the way, we saw a several feral pigs cross the trail about 50 yards ahead of us. Unfortunately, Paul couldn't get the camera out fast enough to get a picture before they disappeared in the underbrush. As we arrived at the spot where we saw them disappear, we could hear grunting and rustling in the bushes; but we only caught glimpses of their butts as they scurried deeper into the brush.

The section of the loop we were taking was only a little over a mile in length so it didn't take us long to get to the sinkhole at about the halfway point. The sinkhole is about 20 to 30 feet deep and about 200 feet across. Because of the relatively dense vegetation surrounding the sinkhole, it is a little difficult to see. We walked part way down into the depression.

Side trail as it drops down into the 20-foot deep sinkhole

Sinkhole Trail intersects with Old Field Loop Trail a short distance past the sinkhole. We decided to take Old Field Loop back to where we parked instead of doubling back on Sinkhole Trail. Old Field Loop is a narrower, less used trail. We didn't see any additional wildlife, but we did see several different types of plants.

Lichen

Toadstool

Yucca filamentosa

Yucca filamentosa (common names are Spanish dagger, Adam's needle, needle palm or bear grass) gets its name from the curly filaments along the edges of the leaves.

Closeup of the curly filaments of yucca filamentosa

The return by way of Old Field Loop was a little longer than retracing our steps along Sinkhole Trail, but we enjoyed the different scenery and the birds singing. We made our way back to the car and headed back to Bushnell.

We got back to Bushnell just in time for a late lunch at Beef O'Brady's. Beef O'Brady's is a family sports bar chain that has locations all over the south. They have burgers, a nice selection of sandwiches, wings, a large number of delicious-looking appetizers and various dinner entrées.

Beef O'Brady's

We have been hungry for a good burger, and Mondays at Beef O'Brady's is burger day where you can get a Build Your Own Burger for $4.99 (regularly $7.99). The Angus burger includes your choice of lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and onions and also comes with fries. Other sides are available for a $2 upcharge. Additional toppings for the Build Your Own Burger like cheese, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, bleu cheese dressing, chili, bacon or guacamole are available for $.75 to $2 extra. Margery had a burger with lettuce and tomato with onion rings for her side, and Paul had a burger with American cheese and poblono sauce with fries.

Margery with her burger and onion rings

The burgers were juicy and delicious. The onion rings and fries were also great - nice and crunchy.

After our late lunch, we headed back to the motor home. Now that we're into February, we're hoping the warm weather will hold so we can get out more. Stay tuned.

Silver Springs

Bushnell, FL - Events of Wednesday, January 29 to Monday, February 3, 2013

The nice day on Tuesday that Paul used to complete the refinishing project on several of our motor home cabinet doors was followed by a 20º temperature drop and three days of off-and-on rain. That kind of weather certainly isn't very conducive to sightseeing, and even Freeway seemed content to just sit around the motor home and try to stay warm. Because the floor is so cold, we decided to relax our restriction of not allowing Freeway on the furniture. If not on someone's lap, the driver's seat has become his favorite spot in cool weather.

Freeway has taken a liking to the driver's seat

The temperature finally warmed up on Saturday, but the sky remained cloudy with a few more showers. We watched an old movie on TV on Sunday afternoon after church, then we watched the first part of the Super Bowl in the evening. The game was so painful to watch, we stopped watching about halfway through the second quarter and moved on to other programs we had stored on our DVR.

We were so tired of having the weather spoil our sightseeing plans, on Monday we finally decided to go check out Silver Springs in spite of morning fog/clouds and a few stray rain showers passing through the area. Silver Springs is about 50 minutes north of Bushnell just to the east of Ocala.

Silver Springs is another one of those old time tourist attractions Paul visited back in 1956 when he was a kid on vacation with his parents in Florida.

Silver Springs is one of Florida's oldest tourist attractions. Even before the Civil War, visitors came to see the springs. After the War, visitors arriving in Florida by rail traveled across the state's rivers by steamboat; and Silver Springs became an important transportation hub and tourist destination.

The springs gained even more in popularity after the invention of a glass-bottom rowboat in the late 1870s. The boat gave visitors a unique view of the springs, and Silver Springs gained national attention.

The land around the spring head changed hands several times. Each new owner made improvements to the boats by adding things like cushioned seats, canopies and gasoline engines.

In the 1970s, Silver Springs was developed into Silver Springs Nature Theme Park. In addition to the glass bottom boats, there were several amusement rides, a concert stage, animal exhibits, a jungle cruise and a water park.

In the 1980s, the state purchased the land around the springs. They leased the land in the immediate area of the spring head back to the operators of the theme park and opened the Silver River State Park across the river downstream a ways from the tourist attraction.

The theme park began to struggle to make ends meet in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The theme park changed hands several times as each new owner tried to make a go of it. In 2013, however, after declining profits, the latest owners of the theme park paid $4 million to the state to terminate the remainder of their lease. The spring head became part of the state park, and the name was changed from Silver River State Park to Silver Springs State Park.

There are two entrances to the state park, one of which is at the old entrance to the theme park (a.k.a. the Spring Side entrance). That entrance is located off State Route 40. The second entrance (a.k.a. the River Side entrance) is located a mile or so south off State Route 35.

As we said, there were a few rain showers in the area when we left the motor home (we drove through one on  the way), but the sky started to clear just about the time we arrived at Silver Springs. Since the rain stopped, we went to the old theme park entrance first in case the rain came back because this is the area where the original tourist attraction was located that Paul visited when he was young, and it was the area we wanted to be sure to be able to see.

The entrance fee is $8 per car (up to 8 people - $5 for single occupant) and is good for both sides of the state park.

Old theme park entrance to Silver Springs State Park (Spring Side)

Boardwalk and fountain leading to the former theme park ticket windows

Inside the old theme park, most of the gift shops and eateries adjacent to the spring are now empty, but there are concessionaires that still operate an ice cream parlor, an informal restaurant, canoe and kayak rentals and of course, glass bottom boat rides.

Semi-circle of mostly empty concession stands and gift shops from the old theme park

Over 500 million gallons of water a day once flowed from numerous underwater orifices at the spring head, but a decreasing water table due to increased population has reduced the flow to less than 350 million gallons a day. Fish population has also declined and so has the clarity of the water due to fertilizer and septic run-off.

View of a glass bottom boat from across the spring

Thirty-minute glass bottom boat rides are available for $10 a person. Since the schedule is rather limited in winter, and since we wanted to try to have enough time left to visit the part of the state park on the other side of the river, we decided to pass on the boat ride. However, we did see a boat heading up the river back to the dock as we walked around the grounds.

Glass bottom boat on the Silver River

Another glass bottom boat undergoing repair

As we walked around the grounds of the old theme park, we passed what used to be part of the animal exhibit. Most of the animals were sold to Micanopy Zoological Preserve around 2004. The last pair of giraffes remaining at Silver Spring Nature Theme Park died in December, 2011 and January, 2012. Although the old animal exhibit area is closed to the public, we could see the giraffe house with its high roof and tall doors through the fence.

Giraffe house

We also got to enjoy the remnants of some of the theme park's landscaping as we walked.

Azalea blooming in the cypress swamp

Camellia

Closeup of camellia bloom

Gnarled trunk of a wisteria vine

The concert stage that was part of the theme park is called Twin Oaks Mansion, and it is still in operation. There was a Willie Nelson concert two days before we were there.

Twin Oaks concert stage

We really enjoyed our visit to the old Silver Springs Nature Theme Park on the Spring Side of what is now Silver Springs State Park. From the Spring Side, we headed south to the River Side. We'll tell you about that part of the Silver River State Park in our next post.