Blog | Gibby's Girl

The Best for Last

While I had a wonderful time in Florida, I think my favorite day was the last. On Sunday we woke up pretty early (relatively speaking) and headed back to DeLeon Springs State Park for some pancakes and swimming. The park ranger had warned us the day before that the restaurant could get pretty crowded. He recommended we be there by eight. Those of you who know us, know good and well that wasn’t ever going to happen, so we braced ourselves for a two hour wait. While we waited, we went swimming in the spring.

We are some kind of sexy — yes?! 😀

While this looks like a giant swimming pool, it’s not. The floor is sandy and there are all sorts of shells, algae and slime floating about. The spring stays a nice 72 degrees year-round regardless of the ambient air temperature. The water is heated from an underground spring that comes up in the middle of this pool. We were the only ones swimming, although there were quite a few scuba divers diving around the cave. It was awesome and we had such a good time.

Mind you, once you got out of the water, you were freezing. I had to wrap back up in my jeans, scarf and hat.

After all that swimming, we had definitely worked up an appetite. We planned the swim perfectly, and before too long, we heard our names over the loud speaker.

The coolest thing about this restaurant? You got to make your own pancakes right at the table!

How cool is that? Each table is fitted with a griddle in the center. They also bring you frozen blueberries if you want berries in your pancakes. We had such a good time! Chuck ordered French Toast and had no idea what to do (that’s a State grad for you). You can see that his first endeavor was a bit messy.

He looks so serious doesn’t he?

By the end, he was making perfect French Toast. Maybe he’ll show me his skills some weekend? 😀

If you are ever in the vicinity of DeLeon Springs State Park, you must stop in for the experience. I noticed that folks were also frying eggs on their griddles and some vegan sausage. Once we had our fill, we had to head back to Orlando so I could catch my plane. It was such a great vacation — I really didn’t want to leave. Florida has so many amazing state parks. Next year I told Chuck we needed to head to Homosassa to check out the manatees. Oh! I almost forgot one other thing!

While we were in Orlando, we checked out Johnson’s Soul Food Diner. It had been featured on the Travel Channel a few years ago and I have been wanting to visit it ever since. It is in downtown Orlando and the food is amazing! I had fried chicken and Chuck had catfish. We both agreed that the collards were the best we have ever eaten. We definitely were getting back to our southern roots. I could feel our blood pressure rise and our arteries clog just by sitting there. Oh yeah! And they had real sweet tea! It was a great experience.

Stay tuned for Adventures in Wonderland!

De Leon Springs State Park

So, after sleeping really late on Saturday, we packed up and headed to De Leon Springs State Park. It is just outside of DeLand, and if you have never been to DeLand, it is an adorable college town (Stetson University is there). De Leon Springs State Park was developed in the 1800’s as a winter resort, promising the fountain of youth.

We look younger already — maybe it’s just the out-of-focus picture. 😀

Ah, Florida Kitsch! Does it get any better?

The trees were absolutely gorgeous all along the property. I loved the way they winded and twisted about.

I wonder what Chucklebutt is pondering?

Check out that Spanish moss! I pay good money for that at Michael’s! Chuck got some really nice shots of it.

Wouldn’t this be the perfect background for some creepy American gothic horror movie?

One of the neatest things about this park is there is an old sugar mill on its property.

The sugar mill has been turned into a restaurant. Alas, we had arrived too late to eat. Never fear, however, we made a trip back the following day. (I’ll show those pics later!)

I believe this was the original wheel that was used to grind up the sugar cane.

Do you like Chuck’s artsy shot?

Once we left De Leon, we had to mosey on back to Orlando for dinner reservations at Sleuths. Sleuths is a mystery dinner theatre and Chuck has been visiting them for years. It’s cheesy, but the actors are a lot of fun, the food tastes great and the wine flows freely!