Despite my success at the beach I had to receive a different water safety talk this time involving canoeing in the swamp. Rule 1-stay AWAY from the bank. Rule 2 do not EVER touch the water. Rule 3- do NOT get excited about anything because then the canoe will tip over. I was so nervous that I would break a rule and end up being eaten by a gator that I barely moved my body besides paddling. But the scenery was so gorgeous that I relaxed (but not too much) and had a great time. Jess has the guide's eye so she was on the lookout for gators. We saw 10 of them and we even saw one swimming across the river. Apparently the Tarzan film from the 1930's was filmed around Ocala and they released all the monkeys into the forest so we were on the lookout for monkeys but didn't see any. We did see many a turtle though.
My favorite part of the trip happened when we were paddling up to Silver Springs and this old man was kayaking the other way and said "Can I tell you ladies something? You're sitting in your canoe backwards. You'd have more legroom to paddle if you switched around". Jess said in the kindest bitchiest voice possible "We most certainly are not but thank you". I laughed so hard I almost tipped the canoe over.
Canoeing by the springs was so surreal because it was so crystal clear that I felt like I was paddling in an aquarium. I could see down 30 feet through the water. There's even a statue that was dropped into the bottom of the spring for a movie and was left there. Because all the rock is limestone it gives the water an amazing color as you can see below.
After working up an appetite paddling we went to the famous Sonny's BBQ for lunch. It was AMAZING! One of the best meals I ever had. Of course I started out with a fritter (corn this time). I think what made the BBQ sandwich so good was the fact that it was served on garlic bread. Plus, we had unlimited sweet tea. Delicious!
That night our mission was to find John Travolta's home. I guess he loves Ocala and has a mansion there with enough room to land his 747. Our directions weren't very good so I'm not sure if we saw the right house. However, when we were leaving we saw a Denali with insane rims and tinted windows so we assumed it was John heading home. After that we went to a bar called BFE. It supposedly stands for "beer, food, entertainment" but it has a pyramid in its logo and I thought that was one of the cleverest names for a bar I've ever heard. If you don't know that particular colloquialism stands for then I suggest you Google BFE ;)
Despite my success at the beach I had to receive a different water safety talk this time involving canoeing in the swamp. Rule 1-stay AWAY from the bank. Rule 2 do not EVER touch the water. Rule 3- do NOT get excited about anything because then the canoe will tip over. I was so nervous that I would break a rule and end up being eaten by a gator that I barely moved my body besides paddling. But the scenery was so gorgeous that I relaxed (but not too much) and had a great time. Jess has the guide's eye so she was on the lookout for gators. We saw 10 of them and we even saw one swimming across the river. Apparently the Tarzan film from the 1930's was filmed around Ocala and they released all the monkeys into the forest so we were on the lookout for monkeys but didn't see any. We did see many a turtle though.
My favorite part of the trip happened when we were paddling up to Silver Springs and this old man was kayaking the other way and said "Can I tell you ladies something? You're sitting in your canoe backwards. You'd have more legroom to paddle if you switched around". Jess said in the kindest bitchiest voice possible "We most certainly are not but thank you". I laughed so hard I almost tipped the canoe over.
Canoeing by the springs was so surreal because it was so crystal clear that I felt like I was paddling in an aquarium. I could see down 30 feet through the water. There's even a statue that was dropped into the bottom of the spring for a movie and was left there. Because all the rock is limestone it gives the water an amazing color as you can see below.
After working up an appetite paddling we went to the famous Sonny's BBQ for lunch. It was AMAZING! One of the best meals I ever had. Of course I started out with a fritter (corn this time). I think what made the BBQ sandwich so good was the fact that it was served on garlic bread. Plus, we had unlimited sweet tea. Delicious! 
That night our mission was to find John Travolta's home. I guess he loves Ocala and has a mansion there with enough room to land his 747. Our directions weren't very good so I'm not sure if we saw the right house. However, when we were leaving we saw a Denali with insane rims and tinted windows so we assumed it was John heading home. After that we went to a bar called BFE. It supposedly stands for "beer, food, entertainment" but it has a pyramid in its logo and I thought that was one of the cleverest names for a bar I've ever heard. If you don't know that particular colloquialism stands for then I suggest you Google BFE ;)
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ReplyDeletefritters make the world go round.
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