Fourth Of July weekend - day 1

We headed to Crystal River Florida for our holiday weekend!  We left for our 5 hour drive on Wednesday afternoon and arrived at around dinner time.

WOOHOO FLORIDA!!!!



So about my outfit! HAHAHA I wore the outfit I wore to work that day on the car ride down.  When we got there black jeans weren't fun for setting up camp, so I just changed into the first pair of shorts I grabbed!



First thing he did was go get in the pool!!!

We woke up and planned to celebrate fourth of July in style!

Woke up at 630 in the morning so we could pack the cooler and swim bag and be at Rainbow Springs State Park when it first opened at 8am.

Tim making breakfast!

We are all ready to head out!

Entrance to the Park

 

 It's a very pretty drive into the park.

 The entrance of the park is a little farther up this path.  There is a window that you pay at.  It's $2 per person per day.

They are VERY strict about their no floaties in the headsprings area.  You may only use pool noodles.

Right as you enter the park there is a very pretty view of the springs.  You have to walk down a pretty steep hill to get to the headsprings area.

They don't allow coolers down in the headsprings area.  When we first got there the park ranger said that we needed to bring coolers to the grassy area or these pavilions.  We found out later that the pavilion pictured here was reserved but there was no signs.  The people were pretty snippy with me but all they had to say was that it was reserved.  I really had to keep my cool the way the girls were speaking to me.  It was the dad that was the cool headed one of the group and the one I preferred speaking with.

We got there right when it opened so there wasn't a lot of people in the water.  The water stays 72 degrees year round.  You have to stay in that roped off area for swimming.

Recently we let her die her hair.  It's "oil slick" - it should last a few months if she cares for it properly.

Cale was impressed with these HUGE leaves.

While coolers weren't allowed in the headsprings area we kept ours in our wagon covered and wheeled it out when we wanted to snack. 

You can see some of the people that were set up in the grassy area.  By the time we left there were a lot more people!

The main headsprings area - there is seating but mostly people keep their bags on the seats.  We just set up our camping chairs.

The boys loved the water and snorkeling around and "treasure hunting".

We left around 2-3 when it was getting pretty crowded.

We went back to the campground and got into the pool!!

The lady that was watching Mason posted this on her pet sitting business page.  It cracked me up!  While we like bringing Mason on our adventures - it rained a lot and there wasn't really an area for him to hang out at the campground. 

We decided to head to a seafood place for dinner.  Charlies came highly recommended.

We ate outside right on the water.

I had scallops.

Cale had a burger and fries.  He's making that face because I mistook the cocktail sauce they gave me for ketchup and he ate some on a fry and it was spicy!

Kennedie also had scallops!

We headed back to the camper after dinner.  Right as we were leaving it really started to rain so we hung out inside the camper for the rest of the night!