Adventures in Homasassa

Yep, it was time for another Kuhn adventure, this time at the tucked-away nature lover's paradise that is Homasassa Springs. So we packed up the love-bug coated silver Matrix, picked up Mom and Dad in Spring Hill along the way and headed north on US 19.

We pulled up to the visitor center which closely resembled an Elks lodge (worrying me quite a bit), but once inside we were already enticed to step closer by an oddity of nature. The two-headed turtle?

That's it. I'm sold. Let's check it out.

What did we see? What didn't we? Okay, the boat ride wasn't in order since...well, we haven't had any rain to keep the waterways high enough to run without hitting bottom. So we took the little tram through the woods to the West entrance and once there, embarked on our first adventure - the Hippopotamus and Alligator feeding encounter.

We then ventured through Nature's Walkway, an elevated boardwalk winding through the trees.

And we got a chance to get up close and personal with several caged or not-so-caged but rehabilitating birds, otters, panthers, foxes - you name it!

And one enthusiastic cinematographer was capturing it all on film... Larry Kuhn Spielberg!

Look at this mighty patriotic chap. He had a buddy in the cage with him but he was either real camera shy or didn't particularly like getting too close to his roomie.

Okay, we missed the Manatee feeding event, but we did get a fleeting encounter. See the gray floating blob?
There you go, nature in motion.

Wait...time for a quick memento! Snap!

We did step down into the underwater observatory, affectionately called "Nature's Fishbowl."

These pictures are pretty representative of the action down there. The fish really were this stagnant. Or sleepy. Or dead. Not sure which. There just wasn't much happening.

Except this guy below. There's always one who has to swim his own way, isn't there?

We had a ball...walking around, meeting new buddies and enjoying the unusually breezy and gentle almost-summertime weather.

Okay, everybody - time to hit the tram. Say CHEESE!