.
However, they had a wedding going on & the parking lot was overflowing full with people parked out on the street. We checked into the hotel & she told us it was $7 for self-park or $14.00 for valet. We didn't want to valet because we had a ton of stuff we were going to leave in the van. We asked if there was even any room in the parking lot - "Oh yes, just tell the guy at the gate you are self-parking & paying on your room charge."
.
So - in we head and around the building we go & there is absolutely not one single parking spot! And we were not the only ones trying to find a spot. As we were coming around the last bend in the parking lot - two guys came running towards us telling us to back up. Seems they had the valet cars parked up close to the front of the building & they were going to move 4 of them to let the 4 people that were now circling the parking lots looking for a place to park have them!! Not exactly the best way to run a parking lot of a nice hotel!
.
So Sunday morning we got up early & hit the road. On the previous post you saw Miss Amie at a rest stop in Northern Florida making a next out of pine needles and pine cones!! Funny girl she is!!
.
The post just before this one was what we found when we got to our condo - here's the rest of the story!! :)
.
We decided to stop in Ocala Florida to visit a place we had taken the boys when they were young, Silver Springs. Silver Springs was very intriguing when we came last time - you see all the Tarzan movies had been filmed there in the 50's and when the production company left, they left behind a few monkeys....the monkeys did very well for themselves & were all over the park!!! The only place in America that has Wild monkeys!!
.
Well - unfortunately - neighbors didn't care for the monkeys & the tourists that lost hats, cameras and such to the pesky critters weren't too happy either....so all the monkeys have been caged up and let loose in the National Forest adjacent to the Park. The monkeys do occassionally come back to be fed, but each night they are caught and returned to the Forest - so they are not around anywhere near as much as when we had been there last. The day we were there we did not see or hear one single monkey. :(
.
But anyway - here we are letting our own little wild monkey have some running time!! "Amon Mom! Let Go!!"
Some pretty birds on the trail
So we took the Jeep ride into the back part of the park (still no monkeys)
There is a HUGE Kodiak bear in the back of the park - wouldn't want to see him without a very large strong fense!
Time to let off some more energy!
"Amie 5" - she got in the number 5 boat!
"Amie Love Zebra"
This juevenille giraffe was adorable! I guess he pouts when he doesn't get his way!! :)
Amie wanted to go up in the sky tower - it gave us a nice view of the area!
Then we got a chance to go in the glass bottom boat! The springs are absolutely crystal clear and gorgeous!
When we docked, the captain told us there was a gator up by the dock. Sure enough - there he was sunning himself by the fense!! I was shocked how close we could get to it!
Time to leave the park and head on down to Orlando!
What a silly girl!
With the pretty settings - a nice picture would be great! But we're being a serious girl right now!
Crossing back to the parking lot - there was another gator right next to the bridge!!! Good thing it was very chilly - these fellas wanted nothing to do with people at all that day!! Not even the two snapping turtles we saw in the water near this guy!!
So - why the title that I chose for this post you ask?.
You see Amie had been asking for two days - "We go Florida?" When we crossed into Florida we told her that we had made it to Florida. She started fussing and saying, "We not in Florida". "Florida a castle" she explains. So - trying to use pictures and explainations we tried to explain that Florida is not a castle but a state.....yeah that didn't go so well at all!!
.
So the next time you see Little Miss - ask her about the "State of Florida" & see what she has to say.....
