…Continued from Part One
We arose early on Saturday morning excited to begin our day. At some point during the chilly night Hazel must have awoken me to get covered up, because she and Grady were snuggled together under a fluffy down comforter. Another lack of planning on my part….I hadn’t stopped to consider that north central Florida is generally at least ten degrees cooler than Orlando, and it was definitely a brisk night! I love camping in cooler weather, but I’m not sure Hazel agreed. We eventually emerged from our tent and started our fire up so we could begin the process of exploring my lack of culinary skills. (FYI, if you can’t do it in a kitchen, you probably can’t do it over a fire either. Oh, and if you try to make omelets in a zip loc bag in boiling water..don’t hang the bag over the pot. Plastic melts, OK? Right now, I’m remembering a comment someone once made about scientists and engineers lacking common sense…Hmmmm…..)
After our lengthy (and large) breakfast, we hung around camp for awhile soaking in the sights. The wildlife at Manatee Springs is unbelievable; we had bold deer coming right up to our site to check us out, a very determined woodpecker tapping away on a post nearby, and screech owls facing off in the night. It was so much fun to be immersed in the wild and have them take no notice of any of us!
While we were all enjoying the sites, SlobberDog used his time for an after breakfast nap. With the exception of a particularly feisty armadillo, he showed zero interest in the wildlife surrounding us.
Eventually, we made our way to the springs to cool off and play in the water. Both Grady and Hazel have been exposed to water bodies before, but neither of them do more than wade in and drink. True to form SlobberDog padded his way in up to his belly, then proceeded to scarf up big, loud swallows of the clear spring water. He waited until he had attracted the attention of the nearest park-goers before following that up with a huge belch. Classy, dude!
This time, Hazel braved the deeper waters and practiced her swimming technique. Once she got the hang of it, she quite enjoyed paddling around!
Since WordPress is being tempermental and won’t let me embed the video, click here to see Hazel in action.
Grady was not amused and could not be convinced to let his feet leave the solid ground.
Um, how about NO?!?! I am a Mastiff. I drool, I fart, I snore. I do NOT swim.
Despite SlobberDog’s protests, we spent the remainder of the weekend swimming in the spring run and hiking the trails sprinkled throughout the park. Grady’s vote was to stay at camp to nap. Unfortunately for him, this is not a democracy. He was appeased a bit as we progressed through the park and attracted a large following of admirers. We packed up on Sunday afternoon and headed home exhausted, elated, and lulled by the sound of Grady’s snoring rumbling in the backseat. In the end, we had a great time on our first camping trip together and we’re already looking forward to our next destination.
Make sure you stop back to hear all about Milo and Bella’s experiences with the Kritter Kondo at Manatee Springs!
that water photo cracked me up!
Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com
Kari´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday
Kari, yes Grady did not think highly of being asked to perform physical activity! He’s a trip…. FYI, I see that same face when I try to take him on leash walks. Usually my arm is stretched 4x its normal length, his collar is half pulled over his head, and he’s giving me that same “heck No!” expression!
Glad you didn’t encounter any gators. Could that be the reason for a “No Swimming” sign at a spring? Hope you have time to enter the Organix dog food giveaway: http://www.allthingsdogblog.com/2011/05/organix-dog-food-giveaway-12-bags-of.html
Carrie Boyko´s last blog ..Organix Dog Food Giveaway-12 Bags of Healthy Goodness
Hi Carrie! Thanks for visiting. There might be some gators around there, but my guess is that with all the activity they probably don’t come to this area much. The no swimming sign is (I believe) more so because this is the canoe launch area and there are boaters coming in and out. There is a dedicated swimming area at the headsprings, where no boats (or unfortunately, dogs) are allowed. Park rules dictate that dogs may swim in this canoe launch area, but it’s really not deep enough for people to swim here.
Looks like an absolute fun time! You are so right about if you can not cook it at home in the kitchen, the campfire is probably not the place to show your skills. : )
You’re so right, Ramblin! Although, I must say that I was very pleased with my attempts at Campfire Chicken! I got good reviews from Z and the StinkDogs, so it must have been good right?!
I just stumbled on your blog and I was amazed by the adventures that you had with your 2 cats and 2 dogs. Seems like a lot of fun and great memories. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Traveller! We do love our adventures, especially when they don’t involved the destruction of something that belongs to me!! Glad you enjoyed your visit, hope you stop back!
Oh my goodness, you guys had so much fun, I love that the blanket tucking in happened in the middle of the night unknown to you
We use WP.org and used to have video problems too, have you tried a plugin called Viper’s Video Quicktags – it’s what I use to include my youtube videos and have never had any problems since
Have a wonderful day,
Your pal Snoopy
Snoopy@snoopysdogblog´s last blog ..Lucy in the collar of Diamonds!!
Thanks for the tip, Snoopy! There was lots of angry words flying around that night – sometimes the video would work, but would be shifted to the wrong place, then it would just disappear altogether! Grrrr….I’m going to try that plugin. Thanks again!