ginnie springs

(michelle doesn't like this story very much) 

once upon a time, a group of young adults from michigan drove to high springs, florida, the home of ginnie springs..a natural lazy river that boasts 70 degree water all year round. there are caves underwater where seasoned divers flock to explore the natural hot springs. this group of kids thought it would be fun to get into their swimming gear and walk to the opposite end of the river so that they could float all the way down with their newly inflated rafts. during their short journey they walked amongst 500 year-old trees and came across insects who looked more like robots with machine guns for arms than anything else. they finally got to their destination and entered the comfortable springs. each person laid on their raft and they were off. 

it was gorgeous...leafy trees surrounded the river, some with ropes dangling from them which tarzan impersonators probably placed there. the sounds of insects filled their ears and dragonflies accompanied them, but it was okay...after a few minutes they became part of the scenery and were welcomed by the relaxed group. only one person from the group was mildly freaking out the entire way. she didn't like the sound of the insects or the turtles sunning themselves on logs that resembled snakes. she didn't like dragonflies who wanted to land on her arms and sunbathe with the rest of the group. she didn't like being out in the open for all of nature to observe her so easily...to possibly have an imaginary underwater creature graze her legs. 

it was when the group reached their destination that things got out of hand. 

as they swam towards the end of the river into one of the boils, someone from the group spotted a snake in the water. its head was above water and it was swimming rather quickly towards the group. there was mayhem. each person from the group of ordinary kids became professional olympic swimmers. some were trying to distract the fall of man but that only made him angry. water was splashing in every direction and voices screaming and swearing filled the air. the one member of the group who wasn't having fun in the first place was full on sobbing. 

of course they all made it to safety and at that point everyone was laughing, except for one person from the group. she was still crying and wanted to go home. everyone else wanted to do it again! 

so, that's the story of ginnie springs. 

i am craving another adventure.

*photographs taken by jonathan landis, a member of the group.*