Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Rainbow Springs, FL

Jurassic Park revisited, at least that is what Rob and I kept saying to each other.

We did not get to Rainbow Springs until the evening, and by the time we had booked into our campsite it was at least 6:30 PM.  We asked what was there to see and the Park Ranger said if you go out of the Park and re-enter it ten miles down the road you can visit the Springs.

So that is what we did, getting there about 7:00PM.  There was only one other car in the parking lot.  We walked up to the entrance and had forgot our campsite tag that was in the camper, but she let us in, great because it was a bit of a walk back to the van.

The light was fading down to evening, it's dark by 8:30PM to 9:00PM in Florida; actually the sun does not rise until 6:30 AM.  In any case off we set saying Wow! we had no idea this park was so beautiful, this was diffinitely left out of our guide book, or we would have made an effort to get here a bit earlier.

We've been walking around for about 15 minutes, when the sky starts to change and a storm is obviously coming in very quickly.  The ranger finds us and says are you the orange van in the parking lot?  Yes, that's us and we are the only ones visiting.  I need to warn you to seek cover. The wind is whipping up and we are rushing around trying to see everything, we would have had until 8:30 PM closing time of the park, under normal conditions.

Then the rain starts and the wind is blowing and here we say, are we reliving Jurassic Park, we were expecting a T Rex or a Velociraptor to come out and get us.  We ran for shelter to the entrance area, which also has a restaurant, but closed up and there we stood watching the rain torrent down.  It was a great experience, one we will not forget.

The ranger found us trash bags to put over our heads to run to the car with.  After that I always carried my tiny plastic poncho cape in my handbag and of course never used it.









Can you see the movement in the trees and plants, the wind is whipping it from side to side.



Rain pouring off the gutters.


What a beautiful place, I would definitely visit here again.  But I think our experience there was a one off.

Rainbow Springs is in the area where many thorough bred race horses are bred, the Ocala area and is known as The Horse Capital of the World, and here I thought Kentucky was, but not so.

Christy

2 comments:

  1. It looks so beautiful and amazing you caught it in those weather conditions.

    ReplyDelete

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