Category: Wakulla Springs

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Dinner last night was 1/2 fried chicken, Mac and cheese, and collards. I can’t imagine sitting down and eating 1/2 of a chicken but it’s on the menu, so apparently someone does. The chicken was good but not as good a home made and the collards seemed fresh but not as good as home made.

In any case, I was ready to do some hiking this morning. I was ready to start around 8:45 am on the Sally Ward Trail. It’s a six mile one way trail with a loop starting at 3.5. If you hike the whole trail, it’s 10 miles.

The ranger said to be careful of ticks. They recommended long pants, long sleeved shirt, tuck your shirt into your pants, and tuck your pants into your socks and spray down with insect repellent. I did. The only thing that bothered me was the horseflies. At least I didn’t find any ticks after the hike.

The weather was perfect (58F) the trail wide and well maintained. It is also the best marked trail I’ve ever hiked with blue paint splashes on trees at eye level all at the right points and it also had mile markers every half mile along the trail. The only problem is it is an extremely boring the trail. You see everything you’ll ever see in the first 30 minutes of the trail.

Around mile marker 0.5 you come to a bridge over the Sally Ward Spring Run. This seems to feed into the Wakulla River.

Looks inviting doesn’t it? Especially on a hot summer day. There’s only one, not-so-little problem.

Since it is May, you would think there would be a lot of wildflowers in bloom. However, due to the canopy, it’s so shady they haven’t really started to bloom yet. I did find a few, however.

I don’t know if I overdid the 6.2 walk/hike at Cedar Key or if I’m just getting old but I stopped at the 2.0 mile marker. I was no longer interested in the trail and it was getting warm. That meant the return was going to run me to a total of 4.1 miles.

I made it back in time for lunch at the Lodge Restaurant. I had the small navy bean soup and the small Bee Line salad (it was huge).

Tomorrow I head to Clayton, Georgia. Apple Maps says it is on 6+ hours and my jeep GPS says it is 8+ hours. I don’t understand why there is a two hour difference but I’ve noticed that my trips typically take longer than what Apple Maps says and less time than what my GPS says. I do know the GPS updates itself as I travel. In any case, I have reservations at the Beechwood Inn and at the Julep Kitchen at 6:30 pm for dinner. I don’t want to miss that. The Beechwood Inn used to do three meals a day but since the pandemic, they only do breakfast. They recommended several restaurants in the area and the Julep caught my attention.

By the way, I slept great last night. The bed was comfortable and the walls of the room are so thick, I heard absolutely nothing. I was out like a light at 10 pm.

There were no ghosts last night roaming the halls but there was one thing.

Stay tuned!

Wednesday, 11 May, 2022

At least one couple on one side of me didn’t heed the suggested no sex rule. I can tell you the man was fully satisfied but not so the woman. I can also give you a pretty good run down on their conversation. The room on the other side of me had a snorer. It was funny in that he would be softly snoring and then give a big snort and wake himself up. Things finally quieted down around midnight.

Well, the restaurant was just OK. The menu sounded better than it tasted. I went for the stuffed fish. The description was “Fresh fish of the day, split to hold an artichoke, shrimp and cheese stuffing, baked in white wine and butter sauce.” We had our choices of fish and I went with red fish on the recommendation of our waitress. The fish was OK but the stuffing was simply piled on top of the fish. I got a side order of wild rice and green beans. The green beans were really sad.

However, the Neptune Bar in the hotel was fun. I order a Stella Artois and the tap ran out after 3/4 of a glass so the bartender gave it to me for free.

The signature of the bar is a painting of Neptune. Someone was reported to have gotten drunk and shot up the painting. Our host told us that when the painting was removed to refurbish it, there were three bullet holes in the wall behind the painting.

The bar has a real homey feel to it and also has a back section that has a stage that Jimmy Buffet supposedly would hold impromptu concerts when he stayed at the hotel.

Breakfast was the same choice as the day before and I opted for the French toast. It’s strange to me how good their breakfasts are in comparison to their evening meals.

In any case, I was on the road by 8:45 and had to immediately turn around and bring back their room key. I forgot to give it to them and they forgot to ask for it. It’s kind of loosely run but a charming place.

It was indeed a 3 hour drive to Wakulla Springs – over blacktop thank god! I arrived about 11:45 am and since my room was not ready, I opted for lunch.

I love this old lodge. I remember it from graduate school days at Florida State. The lodge was built by Edward Ball and opened in 1937. I think it was pretty much a private facility until the state of Florida obtained the 6,000 acres. The lodge reminds me of Spanish Mediterranean architecture.

The lobby is pretty astounding. Not much has changed since 1937.

The beamed ceiling has interesting stenciling and painting, the artists lost to history.

I’ve eaten in the dining facility several times as a graduate student. The food has always been good and it was the same today for lunch.

When I first started coming to the springs 34 years ago, there was only one small platform a little further out from the one on the left. If you pushed up onto it from side, the opposite side would lift out of the water. If I remember correctly, the diving platform was off limits on those early visits.

At the deepest part of the springs, it’s origin, it’s about 200 feet deep.

I had scheduled a boat tour along the Wakulla River at 2 pm. It was a pretty full tour and we traveled from the spring’s origin (in back of the lodge) down until we were blocked from further travel by the manatees.

I’m still amazed at how many people get so excited when they see an alligator. We, of course, saw plenty, but every time they would run to either side of the boat the alligator was on and snap pictures.

The river is quite beautiful and it was a cool, cloudless day – perfect for the boat trip.

What was interesting was to see the manatees. The lower limit of the temperature they can tolerate is 68F. The Wakulla is 69F yet they seem to thrive here and are actually more active than elsewhere in the state.

This manatee was curious and followed us in the boat.

The boat tour was approximately 30 minutes and the guide did an excellent job explaining the biology of the system and of the animals.

By the time I got back, my room was ready. My room is on the second floor and faces the spring.

By the way, the Dove soap seemed to work last night.

Dinner is at 6 pm tonight. I can’t wait to see what it is like! Tomorrow, I intend to try to hike a 10 mile trail. Hopefully, I’ll survive!