Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday
Today, I am thankful that I live in Florida. I promise, I'm not posting this to make my Northern friends jealous. But when I was in St Augustine this weekend, with my toes in the sand...

this is what I was thinking about.
When I was a child, I had no idea why people vacationed in Florida. I lived in a relatively small, inland college town. And my parents are total homebodies. We very rarely went anywhere.
At all.
We visited relatives, but even when we visited the ones who lived on the coast, we didn't go to the beach or attractions.
I lived in this town my entire childhood without knowing about some of the beautiful things here like....
The Devil's Millhopper:



Kanapaha Botanical Gardens:



Lake Alice:





And so much more, just in my town!

Just outside of my town, a few miles down the road, we have amazing natural springs.
At Ginnie Springs, if you're brave, you can cave-dive. Or if you're a chicken like me, you can snorkel. This is what you'll see:




Or if you want a smaller, quieter place to hang out, you can choose beautiful Poe Springs.



Then there's St Augustine, about an hour and a half's drive from us, where you can walk right on the beach and see things like this:



or walk in the downtown historic district and see this:




My brother lives here now:



on the beautiful white sand beaches of Pensacola, Florida.
Hubby and I visited here last year:



A quaint little town called Mount Dora, Florida.

I still have much to discover about my beautiful state, and I love that my children have already swam in these beaches, explored Devil's Millhopper, and so much more. I like to get out and experience life! And I hope I'm teaching my children the same thing. There is so much beauty around us, and for that I am so thankful.