Nov 7, 2014 DeBary, DeLand, Swamp House Grill and Blue Spring State Park

Friday we set out about noon for more sightseeing.  Drove to DeBary, a small town nearby.  Ate lunch at Swamp House Grill!  A real treat.

A nice man from our next table took our picture looking out into the marina and the St. John's River.  After a great seafood lunch (John and I) Jerry and Ruth had great barbeque sandwiches, we walked around the marina and park.  There is also a campground right next to the restaurant.  Also checked it out for possible future years.

Look at the bottom of this photo - taking a siesta right next to the marina waters!

After lunch they drove us to Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, FL.  National Gold Medal Winner - Florida State Parks -"America's First Two-Time Winner."  And it is very special, indeed.  It has a lagoon, the St. John's River, 2643 acres and is a winter home to more than 200 manatees and lots of other birds, turtles and wildlife.

There is a 1/3 mile boardwalk along the lagoon with every turn bringing more beauty to your eyes.

Lots of gar fish swimming around. 

Cormorants guard the entrance to the lagoon from interlopers on the St. John's River.

And on the next turn, look what we saw!  Manatees!!!  Usually don't come in from the cooler river to the 72 degrees of the lagoon until later in November, we were very fortunate to see several!  This is probably a mother and calf.

My manatee friend along the path!

And another group of three!

Fabulous - we spent about 2 hrs just watching them!

Ruth thinks these are called Penny trees - many throughout the area - beautiful color! 

As we are driving through a small town, this lady was on the left corner....

and on the right!

Final stop of the day was at Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe in DeLand, FL.  We stocked up on goodies - some great barbeque sauce, dog biscuits, key lime cookies and a free coozie!  What an awesome day!  Thank you John and Ruth!

The squirrels outside our rig aren't as big as at Little Acres, but still cute to watch.