3.20.2008

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...
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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:

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Kanapaha Botanical Gardens:

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Lake Alice:

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

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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:

Starfish on the beach of St. Augustine.

or walk in the downtown historic district and see this:

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My brother lives here now:

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

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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.

12 comments:

Tara R. said...

Pensacola... I know it well... only about 45 minutes up the road from me... I'm in Destin. I can assure you, right now, the beaches are still as white, but no where near that deserted. =)

Alison said...

beautiful pictures...makes me want to visit!!!

Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional said...

Tara: What a beautiful place to live! And I bet the beaches are a madhouse right now.
Alison: Mi casa es su casa! Come on down!

pb&j in a bowl said...

Those are great pictures. My best friend is moving to Pensacola soon, and I can't wait to visit

Momisodes said...

Ahh, those photos are so beautiful! I spent 24 years on Florida, and I miss those breathtaking skies dearly :(

Maude Lynn said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous pictures! I am totally jealous!

Gen said...

I've been so longing for sunshine, and those gorgeous pictures just about fixed me right up.

krissy said...

I know you weren't trying to make me jealous, but you did!

Arrrgggghhhh! I want to live in Florida!!!!!!

LunaNik said...

As much as I love NJ, I admit, I dying to move. Hubs has family in Miami and I would relocate in a heart beat. Why not? I'm a beach bum, hubs is a beach bum, the kids will be beach bums...may as well be by the beach!

Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional said...

I think you should ALL move to Florida. We should make it a bloggy trend!

Sassy said...

I miss Florida. We just moved to TX from Tampa. I am going back to visit in St. Pete in 3 weeks, yippee, warm sand and palm trees.

Unknown said...

Jealous to the max!