Adventures with Jess and Tammi

My friends Jess and Tammi came from Wisconsin to visit with us over the weekend. We got out to see some really nice parts of Florida and had a few adventures along the way. Jess and Tammi were almost attacked by an alligator, then we ate some alligator, and then Joel made us canoe for at least 23 miles on Saturday. This wouldn't have been that bad, but we were told it would be 10 miles, so the last 3 hours of the day were reeeeealy long ones. I restrained myself from hitting him with my paddle though :)

We went out to visit Marjorie Rawling's place in Cross Creek Friday afternoon, which is just south of Gainesville. None of us were all that familiar with her work, but I'm sure one of the four of us will be picking up her books soon. Her most famous works are "The Yearling" and "Cross Creek". She seemed to live quite an interesting life. Originally from New York, she went to school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison before moving to the backwoods of Florida.

The oranges will be ripe in another month. Cooler temperatures cause them to sweeten up before they are harvested in December. Folks at the Rawlings house, now a state park, said that we could come back in a month and help them harvest the few trees that are still part of the property.

I told Joel that he has to make me some pine boxes like the ones pictured below.

A sweet old lady took us through the Rawlings house and told us about some deadly sweet pecan pie that was made in this kitchen.

Someday I want a corner like this in my house.

Rawlings did much of her work at the table below.

Jess tries not to smile in the attempt at an old timey picture.

Jess, Tammi, and Joel at the Yearling Restaurant.

From left to right, fried green tomatoes, fried alligator, fried frog legs, and fried mushrooms. Do you notice a pattern here? We are in the South, after all.

Sante Fe River in north central Florida, site of our canoeing 'adventure'. The weather was amazing.

3 of hundreds of turtles along the river.

Cypress "knees".

Dozens of springs like the one below occur along the edge of the river. We ran into the one cared for by "naked Ed" who was literally naked...sitting by his spring and having a fire on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Needless to say we didn't get very close to that one.

You can see the vent through the crystal clear water, where thousands of gallons of water come up from the aquifer. Many are right along the edge of the river. Others are a few hundred yards away and serve as spring tributaries. The main river can be seen on the left, where the water was clean but incredibly dark due to tannins from the trees.

Another spring.

Chance was enjoying the ride at this point but, like all of us, was not happy to be in the canoe for over 8 hours.

Manatees come up this river during the winter. We didn't see any, it was probably too early.

Thanks ladies for a great weekend! Miss you already!