On TD's last Friday in town we packed up and headed to the nearby Rainbow Springs for an early anniversiary & happy goodbye trip. Rainbow Springs is the 8th largest spring in the world and has crystal clear blue water. The river starts at the head spring and runs about 6 miles before it runs into the Withlacootchee River.
Prairie was super over stimulated at the beach and at my softball game, so we weren't sure how she would do in the canoe. I was very glad to have TD there to help dog wrangle.
She did great though! She wasn't sure at first, but we eventually unhooked her and let her roam free in the boat. She partially made it over board twice, but in general she was really good. She attempted to get in our laps every now and then, but mostly stayed in the middle and stuck her paws in the water, chasing after dragon flies and waterbugs etc.
After our float, we headed up to the headsprings and State Park to do some hiking. The habitat was very neat and we had a good wildlife day. We saw a few large skinks, and this Southern Fence Lizard.
This is a HUGE gopher tortoise burrow. The entrance is over a foot wide, and the entire mound is over 10 feet across.
The long leaf pine saplings are so cool - they look like grass trees or something out of Dr. Seuss.
We saw this Barred Owl on the drive home. He was on the ground in the bar ditch, so we thought he might be injured, but when we turned around he was fine, and we got a good look at him in the tree. Every time Tom hooted at him, he turned around to look at us. We also saw a red fox in our neighborhood near our house. We are both loving our new location and how easy it is to get out into nature here.
Looks like yall had a wonderful outing at perfect timing to celebrate y'all's 1 yr anniversary! Can't wait to explore North FL with you soon!
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Auntie Joy, Big Joy