Spring Break Week at Crystal River

[stefa70 205]

I am so jealous. Wish I could be with all of you. Stef don't kill Donnie before I get a chance to meet him :banana:

doodle, I wouldn't hurt Donnie! I'm going to wear a JJ shirt, sit on his lap and MAKE him love me! :banana:

Not gonna bother me. I'm actually a fan of lap dances. Leave Trevor at home. Jen put the camera away. I have enough evidence already out there to get me killed.

:worship: Now THAT'S a party!!! :heart:

[AuburnJen 777]

Jen, have you always been allergic to chocolate?  Or is this something new?

always :'(

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I am so jealous. Wish I could be with all of you. Stef don't kill Donnie before I get a chance to meet him :rofl2:

doodle, I wouldn't hurt Donnie! I'm going to wear a JJ shirt, sit on his lap and MAKE him love me! :rofl2:

Not gonna bother me. I'm actually a fan of lap dances. Leave Trevor at home. Jen put the camera away. I have enough evidence already out there to get me killed.

:'( Now THAT'S a party!!! >:D

And I am going to miss the party

[MandMandMandMandM 31]

I just found this thread.  lol  didn't know you were at crystal river.  I need more internet time!

[AuburnJen 777]

I promise to update this tonight.  I have been a baaaaaad girl.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I promise to update this tonight.  I have been a baaaaaad girl.

You are supposed to be you're on Spring Break :)

[Total Joker ... TJ 203]

Yea RIGHT!

[AuburnJen 777]

ok, it just wasn't that night.... :rofl2:

[AuburnJen 777]

ok, I shall finish this now... :D

Day 5

We decided that we needed to get out and about so we went to the Homasassa State Park to see the Manatees.  They also had lots of very cool wildlife to see.  The one thing I was not told (yeah THANKS LORNA) was the mandatory giving of a pint of blood to the mosquitoes.  No, I didn't bring off with me and yes, we got bit up until a nice guy from Massachusetts took pity on us and let us douse ourselves in DEET at the hippo exhibit. :rofl2:

First, you get to the visitor's center and take a boat over to the actual wildlife park where the spring with the manatees and all the cool wildlife is.  Along the way, you see all kinds of cool things, like a basking alligator, places for wood ducks to come flying in at 22mph across your face (this didn't happen, but we were warned) and lots of turtles and spawning brim. It was very cool to see the old Florida.  I am a sap when it comes to that stuff.  We also saw an osprey nest as well.

wood duck house

turtles

gator

more turtles

[AuburnJen 777]

more gator

the boat was driven by a hydrogen cell, very slow and very quiet, very cool

blue heron

Chris took this, find the woodpecker... :D

big turtle in water(again, Chris taking picture of bump in water :rofl2:)

[AuburnJen 777]

we then got off the boat and there was a cute sign to take a picture, DS would have none of it, so DH got the cheesy picture

we then headed straight to the manatees, where we got some cool pics of ourselves and the gentle giants

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I just love toothless smiles :D :rofl2:

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

The water there is just gorgeous! I am looking forward to a trip down that way!

[AuburnJen 777]

We then went over to see the hippo (which had to be made a Florida resident so he could stay at the nature park :rofl2:) and the big gators.  This is where the fireman took pity on us being taken away by the mosquitoes. :rofl2:

[AuburnJen 777]

We had to get my DS's blood sugar back up, so we went back to the snack bar and fought that battle and then headed out to the raptors.  This, by far, is DS's favorite because he wants to apprentice with a falconer to learn the craft.  Now, if I can find one, that will be the key.  All he talks about is birds of prey.  Here are some pictures of the injured birds they have.

owls

osprey

cooper's hawks (Florida natives)

red tailed hawks (we have a pair in our neighborhood, eats our black racers :rofl2:)

bald eagles (also native to Florida as well)

[AuburnJen 777]

I wish I had gotten a better picture of the red shouldered hawks (they are all the way on the right), but they are a little smaller, still native to Florida.  We also are fortunate to have a nesting pair in our neighborhood.  The two pairs of hawks have a different diet, so they do not compete with each other.  It is really cool and you can hear both pair of them each morning around 6am.  Also in the picture is a pair of caracara's.

I almost forgot the kestrels.  Very small birds of prey. 

We then went and saw the birds that were not carnivorous, which we took pictures of, but other than the flamingos, were of very little interest to DS. :rofl2:

swans and signets

flamingos

whooping crane

pelicans and babies!

[AuburnJen 777]

on to the panthers and bobcats...they were right next to each other and obviously have had some words betwix them because every time one of them came near, the other would spring into action...quite amusing to watch, but not something i would want to take that huge fence down to see carnage...that panther was almost as tall as I was...holy cow

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

I love the little owl. My brother had one when he worked with the Animal Rehab in our area. His name was Red Hot and he was precious. I think he had been hit by a car and couldn't hold his head up. Unfortunately, he didn't make it. I think our whole family cried.

[AuburnJen 777]

DS really wants to work with the raptors, so I am on a quest.

The squirrels at Homassasa were fearless.  One jumped right out in front of my face and wanted my snack bag I had for DS.  He was not shy.  They got as close as I have ever seen from rodents.

We then took a stroll on the nature walk and took some more pics and headed for the otters.

I thought there was going to be otters, but there was just one otter.  My parents have a pair of otters in their pond.  They never mentioned that otters ate turtles on their diet description.  DS really wanted to go and correct them... :rofl2:

[AuburnJen 777]

We decided to take some more pics before we headed out...

as I had this in the crockpot

DS had asked me to make beef brisket for him on the camping trip

I also had to go and mail this...

all the Fiends stuff, which when I went to the post office, they were closed and they did not fit in any of the mailing boxes they had :rofl2:  When I went the next day and waited in line, she fussed at me about having the previous day's date on them.  I told her if she had an opening big enough for my boxes, they would have been mailed yesterday. :rofl2:

[AuburnJen 777]

I also decided that I was going to try to start the waverunners and take them out so Donnie would not have a heart attack for me dragging them all the way up there and not running them.  Life got in the way and I never checked them out before we left.  So DS decided he would pretend to be out on them, but when it came time for him to go with me, he declined.  He wanted to go out on a REAL BOAT. :rofl2:

This was DS taking a picture of me with my spring suit half on getting ready to go and put one of the skis in.

We also had to make a walmart run to fix a piece of the hitch on the trailer because it bent and would not fit back on my hitch ball.  15 dollars later and another trip to Homasassa, we had an assembly that we only needed one little piece out of. :rofl2:

Well, that lasted about 5 minutes until I drained the battery.  The plugs (spark plugs) were fouled on my waverunner III and I needed to change them.  The other ski, the waveraider, had a bad battery tender, and I had to disconnect it, pitch it, and manually trickle charge it.  Knowing this was going to take a little while, I said screw this!  I am going to the Fort!  I also knew Gina was going to be there and Lorna and Bitchie were delivering a golf cart to them as well, so why the hell not?  I would pick up a couple of spark plugs on my way out of town the next day and be off!

[AuburnJen 777]

Day 6

DS got up and wanted to instantly go swimming, so we went ahead and took off swimming.

After we got out of the pool and took a shower, we loaded up Todd's golf cart on the trailer and off to NAPA we went on the way to the Fort.  Now, this type of thing does not happen in my neck of the woods, but I do remember it happening a while ago when I was younger and when I lived in Alabama.  I go into the parts store by myself with the part number of the plugs.  I tell the semi toothless man (who looks to be in his mid twenties, with very little teeth and the teeth he had were brown) that I need plugs for my two cycle ski.  We have this conversation about compatibility and he asks who is going to install the plugs.  I told him I was.  He looks at me and says, not your husband right?  I said NO!  After two engines, he touches nothing!  He says, I could tell by him not being in here and sitting in the car on his iPad that he had no business in here. :rofl2:  I got the biggest chuckle out of that one! :rofl2:  We discussed how to gap the plugs and then I asked if I could buy a socket because I did not have one that size in that length.  He actually lent me that socket out of his tool box because he did not have one to sell me.  He says, just bring it back when you are finished.  I asked him, how do you know I will bring it back?  He says, well, if you don't, I will get a new one, won't I, but I know you will.  Yes, I did return it via Richie on Saturday when he went into town again.

So, with plugs and socket in hand, we go to Orlando and the Fort via the Western Way.  Man, I do wish our route from the south was that easy. 

It certainly used to be. ;D

So we get to the entrance to the Fort and the lady comes out and asks for all this information.  I give her my license (which looks nothing like me anymore) and a key card from 07 and she says WELCOME BACK!  We are in like Flynn.

We take tons and tons of site pictures because it is Thursday and it is a lull before the weekend.  I get chased by yellow flies in the 1800, 1900, 1200 and 1300 loops.  Here is my freakin elbow from that damned insect.  They also got DS too.  DH had to go to the comfort station and missed all the excitement.

There is some construction going on with the 900 loop bus stop.

There wasn't much construction going on when we were there, just the same ole same ole...bunch of maintenance workers standing around. :dance:

I went over to the Meadows, where a CM asked me about my shirt and I gave her an earful.  DS and I then had an ice cream.

We then went to go and meet up with Gina Hester and family (Pickens Native too) and since her son and mine are around the same age, they hit it off well.

We also got some Fiend pics in before Lorna had to go back home because she had to work the next day.

We did not get back to the camper in Crystal River until after 11, but it was worth it to see new Fiends. :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:

[AuburnJen 777]

Day 7

DS wanted to go fishing, so we did.

We also got a few things we did not bargain for, which was begging from a blue crab, and a visit from a juvenile water moccasin

I also had some time to finish off two of my three projects I was working on over the week.  After 4 trips to Home Depot in town and almost a half of tank of gas, Snarky the Flamingo and the decorative sign post were done, painted and done.  I didn't get to finish rewiring my stun gun, but that turned out to be more than I could handle with just the tools I had on board the RV.  I need my garage tools for that because the wires all broke off inside and I am going to have to cut and put back together the handle.  Since we keep the 9mm in the RV, I wanted to resurrect my protection I had when I was in college for when I travel alone.  It seems I am tending to leave after the boys, so it means a lot to me to have it by my side in the jeep.  Here are my finished projects though...

This was the pink, now purple lighted flamingo that you can get at Lowes.

And this is the finished post.  We are going to have Fort Fiends signs like this made, so I will post instructions on how I finally did this and how it is portable.  The sign is sitting on a piece of 1/2 inch rebar.  The sign is removable as well so it can be stored.  It looks like it is crooked, but it is my stupid picture taking skills.  Sorry bout that.

Here I am trying to get the stupid light to come on by putting my hand over the solar sensor. :rofl2:

Lorna, Matt, Nick (Bitchie's grandson) and Bitchie arrived late because of traffic, but we had burgers and homemade fries for a late dinner.  DH decided to set them on fire.

I am not a fan of burnt burgers.  I ate it, but it was not the most wonderful of burgers.  I ate more sweet potato fries. :rofl2:

OK, the weekend is coming up, but not tonight.  I will catch it up tomorrow, along with the store items. :rofl2:

[stefa70 205]

Jen, love the picture of you and CJ on the bench! :rofl2: When we found them at the ice cream shack, CJ came and showed me his yellow fly bite and any random mosquito bites he had! :rofl2:

[stacktester 78]

Just an FYI, that's a banded water snake.