{"id":731,"date":"2023-04-30T17:00:47","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T17:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/?p=731"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:13:15","slug":"landcruise-episode-11-ocala-to-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/2023\/04\/30\/landcruise-episode-11-ocala-to-st-pete\/","title":{"rendered":"LandCruise episode 11: Ocala to St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florida is the premier location to experience springs worldwide<\/strong>. The natural wonders are created when rainwater collects underground and flows to the surface through the aquifer and found all over the state – appearing as crystal clear aqua, bright clear green or clear springs. They are found all over the state and are often swimming holes or areas owned by the state for everyone to enjoy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring central FL, I was blessed to discover my favorite Naturopath, Lanika Buchanan, now lived in Port Orange. A tune up appointment with her was wonderful and my first accupuncture session. Thanks Lanika Buchanan (and Alison Shaw for introducing us) for the health and wellness you bring into the world! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kathleen Polston shared her birthday with us by visiting Silver Springs, FL. It is close to Ocala and a landmark destination in FL since the 1820’s. Absolutely beautiful and we were fortunate to see a few manatees there. For more information visit: https:\/\/silversprings.com\/park-history\/ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Preston flew in to have a boys day birthday with his Dad. They squeezed in a trip to Cocoa beach before heading into Orlando. Of course, ice cream at the beach with rolled ice cream at Frosti’nauts was the treat of the day! Yum!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A day at Universal Studios made for a fun visit. Ask Nat about the VelociCoaster- the scariest coaster he has ever ridden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Traveling near Orlando, it was time to experience the redneck part of Florida –GatorLand. We discovered later, you could enjoy fried “gaterbites” while visiting. Its not all inhumane, as the park has many bird rookeries, and unique alligators including some of the only albino alligators in the world. It is also reported to save many “nuisance” alligators, and has been instrumental in breeding endangered Cuban Crocodiles to be re-released into the wild. We felt it was worth the visit, although we saw quite a few alligators “in the wild” at ponds, on the side of the road, in yards, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gatorland has 3 Giant Tortoises: Judy, a 300-pound Galapagos tortoise now 27 years old.  Dean, an Aldabra Giant Tortoise is over 100 years old and weighs 600-pounds. And Kendrick, a 55-year-old, 200-pound Sulcata African Spurred Tortoise. They are three of the largest tortoise species in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reunited with a past traveling friend we met in Costa Rica, Rick Allen. Currently living in St. Petersburg he has lived in FL for a long time. Hanging out for a week, laughing at his quick wit and stream of humorous tales, and gorging on his abilities in the kitchen – chef extraordinaire (yes, that is his Key Lime Pie creation!). Driving up the coast, stopping in Sarasota for a look at the “Kissing Statue” and lunch with friends, Natalia and her husband, visiting from Bainbridge. What a treat to catch up with Rick, and enjoying a slice of his life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Easter Morning at Rick’s Condo was such a beautiful way to create a memory and celebrate this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We visited an unparalleled collection of works by renowned artist Salvador Dal\u00ed<\/em>, from iconic melting clocks to imaginative visual illusions and avant-garde symbols at the St. Petersburg Dali museum. The museum is home to more “masterworks” (paintings exceeding 5 ft tall) of Dal\u00ed than any other museum in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Florida is the premier location to experience springs worldwide. The natural wonders are created when rainwater collects underground and flows to the surface through the aquifer and found all over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camper-van-trips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1914,"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions\/1914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.homeware.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}