Hiking in a Nature Reserve...

The following day, Debbie and Dan took the day off of work to spend it with us. We stopped by the beach to search for shark’s teeth, but didn’t have great luck. Then we ventured a bit further south to go to Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estusrine Research Reserve. We were greeted by this gopher tortoise....  

….and a hiking path under water. 

Luckily there were other paths that weren’t waterlogged. 

We didn’t spot any alligators. However, I was thrilled to see armadillos, as I’d never seen alive ones outside of the zoo. 

Despite looking prehistoric, they were surprisingly quick. 

Afterwards, we made our way further south to enjoy a final fish camp dinner. We had such a nice visit! Dan is a lovely guy who clearly makes Debbie very happy. 
 

A Day at the Beach...

The following day Debbie and Dan took us on a golf cart tour of Jacksonville Beach, including going to some charming tourist shops....

….and the pier.

We stopped for a delicious key lime martini at the historic hotel Casa Marina, that opened in 1925. I enjoyed seeing old photos of the area along the hallways. 

It was a very fun way to spend a day with two people who really love where they live.
 

Recovering from the Party...

After helping to put the house back in order. we went with Debbie and Dan to a Habitat for Humanity House under construction. Debbie seems to be really thriving working there and it was nice to meet her colleagues. Then we went to Jimmy and Chloe’s house, which was very nice...

…with an amazing yard. Amazing to realize that he’s only four months older than Ashlynn and he’s already married and owns a home. 

Afterwards we went to a nice street market downtown under a bridge, where we grabbed some lunch,,, 

…and that evening Buddy joined the four of us for a traditional fish camp dinner. 
 

Heading to Jacksonville Beach...

Jimmy was happy that the Florida Welcome Center still gives out free orange juice.

Crossing the St. Johns River. 

When we last visited Jacksonville, Debbie was living along the river. Now she has a great house in Jacksonville Beach with her husband, Dan, and their many pets. 

Although Jimmy had seen them more recently, I hadn’t seen Debbie or Buddy since Easter 2014. 

While Dan and Buddy drove together in a car, Debbie took us to the restaurant in her beach buggy: a decked out golf cart. 

 

Let the Real Adventure Begin...

The calm of our trip changed abruptly when we arrived at a spring where a local hermit lives. The rental guy failed to mention that this particular hermit was Naked Ed. He had a series of funny signs on the path to the springs, where he’s been hanging out since the mid-80s. He told us that if the kids wanted to get naked, then us adults would have to get naked, too. We appreciated the offer, but kept dressed. While the kids enjoyed swimming in the spring, Jimmy and I explored his hut and had a nice chat with him. Just for the record, despite standing next to him, he was discreetly positioned so I didn’t see him in all his glory. During the next portion of our journey, an electrical storm hit. With two kids in a metal canoe, we quickly tried to get to the side of the river. I stupidly stepped out of the kayak too quickly and managed to fall into the swamp. Later when we pulled over again to get out of the storm, a giant spider settled on my foot. Then when we thought things couldn’t get any stranger, we paddled past a dead deer in the water. While we had a great time, we were all ready to get off the river. Check out the video that Veronica made about our day.

A Kayaking Adventure in Central Florida...

After our visit to the Alligator Farm and dinner at the beach, it was time to head to Gainesville for a few nights with Vivynne and family. Our big adventure was a 4-hour kayaking trip down the Santa Fe River. Tony had to work, so he missed out on all of the excitement.

The first half of the trip was actually very calm. We had a picnic before we hit the water. We had one metal canoe, one double kayak and three single kayaks. There were no rapids or even a current; there also weren’t any signs of alligators, but we did see a lot of turtles. Part of the river was wild and part had houses along the banks. We laughed when we saw this sign: Trespassers will be hogtied and told they have a purty mouth.

Zipping over the Gators...

It was impossible to capture what they were zipping over, but they assured me that they were going over a lot of behind-the-scenes enclosures with small gators and crocs (they would have had to sign up for the longer tour to go over the main enclosure with the giant gators). Clearly I’m the only chicken in this family!

Crocodile Crossing...

When the girls heard that there was a high ropes course over the enclosures at the Alligator Farm, that couldn’t wait to sign up. Unfortunately, Johnny had to leave for a sailing regatta and Jimmy was too short, so the girls had to go without their cousins. Of course, their dad went along, but their mom stayed on the ground to take photos.

Alligator Farm...

Yet again, we expected the Alligator Farm to be cheesy and it wasn’t. Debbie and Jimmy arrived to join us in time to see big Jimmy and the girls zipping along. Then we went to see the rest of the park,  included a feeding demonstration in the main enclosure (the caretaker is about to toss a rat in a gator’s mouth with just a stick to protect her).

The Fountain of Youth..

 I often joke that the Fountain of Youth is all that rain we get in the Netherlands that helps wash away the years. But, we all know that the real Fountain of Youth was discovered by Ponce de Leon in Florida in 1513. Jimmy remembered visiting the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park as a child, so thought it would be fun to show the girls. We were expecting it to be cheesy, but it was actually pretty cool. We started with a drink from the legendary fountain, which smelled like sulfur and tasted horrible; hope it was worth it considering there’s no evidence that the fountain was even in St. Augustine.

Then we saw a planetarium show and a cool multimedia show before exploring the grounds. Afterwards, we walked around the historic district and saw America’s oldest wooden schoolhouse built in 1716.

Jimmy’s Family...

It wasn’t easy getting everyone ready and smiling at the same time, but we did it twice. And thanks to Jimmy’s advanced abilities with Photoshop, the photo on the beach wasn’t completely washed out as the sun was actually rather harsh by the time this was shot.

Family Portraits...

 Jimmy and his girls!

 Jimmy’s sister Debbie and her boys: John, Johnny and Jimmy

 The cousins! Veronica is the oldest at almost 14 and James is the youngest at 1 3/4.  Notice that all the boys’ names start with J’s.

Brother Joe with Shannon, Arden, Jack and James

Brother John with Lara, Justice, Joseph and Jacob

Ashlynn Takes a Surfing Lesson...

Ashlynn decided at the last minute to join her cousins for a surfing lesson. She built on some of the basics she’d learned back in Holland and managed to stand up on the board in the low waves. Glad that Debbie was there to capture the moment since I was hanging with Veronica back at the condo.

Ashlynn enjoyed being with Jimmy, Johnny and Justice for the lesson at a beach north of our condo. Once back at our beach, she was more hesitant to try out her new skills. Jimmy liked zipping along on his skim board, which brought back memories of my one attempt in 1996 that led to a broken ankle--needless to say, I just watched.

In Search of Turtles...

Sea turtle nests are scattered across the Florida coast. We grabbed flashlights and ventured out in search of any sign of life. We got very excited when we saw a group of people with flashlights near the water’s edge, but it turned out to be just some folks playing with crabs. There were several areas marked as nests, but we have no idea how they were identified as such since the sand there looks like all the rest of the beach.

We may not have found any turtles, but that didn’t stop the kids from having fun.