All in Kayaking
Ralph moved us to the Pond House, still in Lovell, Maine. The previous cabin (the one with the squirrels) had been nice. This place was a major upgrade, though! All wood paneling and ceilings, fireplaces, comfortable leather furniture, pond views out of enormous windows, nicer than our home, certainly nicer than the van.
We settled in, then began checking our surroundings. The cabin was a 60-second walk from Kezar Lake, one of Maine's premier fisheries. Numerous other ponds were nearby. We had access to kayaks, and canoes, and a johnboat. The surrounding area had farm stands, and hikes, and restaurants, and best of all, we had an entire month here.
Any visitor to Florida's Ocala National Forest needs to include the Alexander Springs Run on their list of things to see. This first-magnitude spring discharges over 60 million gallons of spring water daily, with a boil strong enough to be easily observed from the shoreline.
At the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon a labyrinth of islands, channels, and shallow ponds hosts loads of wading birds, dolphins, redfish, and seatrout. Canaveral National Seashore administers a dozen National Park Service campsites here.
This story started a long time ago, about 30 or so million years*. Deposition of calcium-rich sediments over millions of years in, what was at that time, a shallow sea created limestone beds that are thousands of feet thick. Floridians live on top of that limestone!
Susan was suffering from pandemic stress. "I have to get out of this house!" she said. After giving it some thought, I said, "Let's go to Blue Spring. We haven't been there in a long time." The state park website suggests getting there early. The rangers close the park when capacity is reached.
The Tacoma rolled into Stephen C. Foster State Park, not stopping until we reached the marina. Mike and River went looking for alligators while I checked in to our campsite. Then Mike was talking to a park employee. "I don't know that I'd bring a dog out there," he said. "Alligators have gone into boats to get at dogs here."
We'd left the Badlands, heading east on Interstate 90. Coffee! I want coffee! Starbucks are few and far between in this part of South Dakota. Siri directed us to a gas station. Gas station coffee is uniformly disgusting, but this gas station had a satellite coffee shop within.
