On Saturday February 7th, my cousins (Kathy, Mike and Alyssa) and myself finally made it to the Florida line! While at the Welcome Center I inquired about the location of the manatees that I saw on the Weather Channel were congregating in warmer waters. She informed me that there was a rather large group that day at the Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida at the wildlife refuge. It was about 230 miles away and it was after 2pm, the park closes at 6pm! YIKES! TIME was our enemy! I put the address into the GPS ("Richard") and away we went speeding across I-10 and down some 2 lane road running parallel to I-95. I put the pedal to the metal and sort of exceeded the speed limit and cruised thru some traffic lights that some would feel questionable, all in the name of adventure! Due to my crude calculations I figured we would make it to the destination 15 to 25 minutes prior to closing, depending on how many slowpokes I got behind and couldn't pass. We made it at 5:45, the park ranger discouraged us because we ONLY had 15 minutes. I informed her that I was WELL AWARE that I only had 15 minutes and I would make the most of it! I instructed my cousins that as soon as the car was in park to jump out of the Durango 
and run toward the water! I believe I was beyond the hood of the car by the time my door shut (according to them). They experienced my excitedness firsthand and were frankly amazed that I didn't durf it on the exposed tree roots (well, me too)! No, there was no time to count to 10 and walk in an orderly fashion! Anyway, we saw about 6 different manatees but only 1 of them was close enough to get close ups of in the sunset
!
and run toward the water! I believe I was beyond the hood of the car by the time my door shut (according to them). They experienced my excitedness firsthand and were frankly amazed that I didn't durf it on the exposed tree roots (well, me too)! No, there was no time to count to 10 and walk in an orderly fashion! Anyway, we saw about 6 different manatees but only 1 of them was close enough to get close ups of in the sunset
! All too soon, a ranger came and shooed us out. I begged for 5 more minutes, but he wouldn't hear of it. Oh well, 15 minutes seeing manatees in the wild was better than not being able to see them at all! There also appeared to be a lot of nice hiking trails there too and guided kayak and boat cruises! I will definitely explore Blue Spring State Park more on future Florida vacations! 
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