Presidents Weekend

On Thursday after school, we packed the car and hit the road.  Our first stop was Valdosta as I am not keen to drive in the dark alone. The following morning, we headed down the rest of the way to Tampa where I picked up my dear friend and her daughter.  After a quick stop at a local beach, we headed to dinner at Capital Tacos. I would say it was kind of a flop.  The burritos were ok, but the tacos left something to be desired.  The meat was too wet leaving the flour tortillas wet.  I am also not a fan of flour tortillas. The second issue despite coming straight off the grill is that the tacos were barely warm. I think this was due to all the toppings on top. Everything is served in takeout containers whether you are staying or going. The next morning we headed to Crystal River and Homosassa Springs.  There we hired a private boat and headed out on the Homosassa Springs.  The day was a perfect 76 degrees and with our wet suits, we weren't really cold.  The girls went in at first, but once they realized how big the manatees were they decided to watch from afar.  I was able to touch one a few times. They weren't really playful and we didn't force the issues.  Then with hungry bellies, we went to Crumps for dinner.  What a fun restaurant along the river.  The food was pretty good.  Since we wanted to go to Deleon Springs the next morning, we drove to Orlando and stayed overnight.  Deleon Springs is a fun find.  It is supposed to be the fountain of youth found by Ponce Deleon. When we got there we immediately put our names on the waitlist for pancakes in the sugar mill which wasn't for the faint of heart as our wait turned out to be 2 1/2 hours long.  We barely made it in before they closed. While we waited the girls went out on the canoe and then swam in the fountain.  Once our name was called, the girls had fun making their own pancakes.  The bacon was so good as it was nice and crispy.  We left the springs around 3 and headed north to Jacksonville doing a drive-by detour of St. Augustine.  We didn't stay as the city was so crowded.  Once we got to our hotel, the girls spent the next 1 1/2 playing in the pool and hot tub. They definitely slept well each night.  On our last day, we grabbed some sandwiches picked up some beach toys at the dollar store, and headed to Ponte Vedra Beach.  It was a lovely day.  As in all things, the fun has to an end and so my friend and her daughter headed back to Colorado and we went back to Atlanta.  It was a great weekend!