Day 126: Navarre to Orlando, FL

We were up early this morning to get as much of the lengthy drive to Orlando done as we could during daylight hours. The sky was glowing peach as we said farewell to our AirBnB and continued on our adventure.

We hit fully stopped traffic almost immediately and were forced to do a huge detour in the opposite direction to where we wanted to go in order to get off the peninsula. We suppose that there must be a price to pay to be surrounded by sandy beaches and endless ocean. 45 minutes later we were off the peninsula, actually moving, and on our way.

We drove and drove and drove some more. We briefly considered the possibility of scallop fishing in Panacea but it was rainy with white capped waves when we passed through so we vetoed this and kept on driving. 

Finally, we stopped at Fanning Springs State Park for a stretch, swim and snack. The spring fed pool was crystal clear and refreshing. We snorkelled around in awe of the incredible algae columns growing on the sandy bottom. It looked like an underwater skyscraper city. Angel food cake with fruit salad and whipped cream was our afternoon snack. You are supposed to eat dessert before dinner when on vacation, right?!

This was an enormous bug! Easily the length of Liam’s middle finger. Grasshopper? Locust?

Turns out Ali is an excellent whipped cream sprayer. Why are cans of whipped cream so magical when you’re seven?

We drove past tons of jungle today. Long gone are the desert mesas and red rock formations. Today was trees, trees and more trees. I certainly wouldn’t want to have to bushwhack through this - it was dense!

We rolled into Orlando around dinner time during a major wind and thunderstorm. We are camped out at a rest area where we ate shrimp quesadillas and will fall asleep to the sound of traffic combined with the splatter of pouring rain.