September 10, 2016
After these past few weeks I am convinced that this state parking adventure was a must for me. It has delivered much needed peace for my soul and sanctuary in my life! I decided to go pay a visit to my friend Brian Scott who is staying in Jacksonville due to work. Brian works until 5 pm on Saturday’s so I mapped out a route to hit a few parks ‘along the way’. I packed up the cooler and Casey and I hit the road!
The first park was a little over an hour away in Fruitland Park. Lake Griffin’s main attraction is this mammoth live oak tree that is guessed to be between 300 – 500 years old. I can’t believe how big that tree was! There was no way I was going to get that whole thing in one picture. I read the plaques and walked around, admiring its vast beauty. They even have a nice bench so we could sit for a bit in pure awe.
After a while I decided to move on and see the rest of the park. We took a short hike on the nature trail but quickly discovered the rest of the beauty was to be discovered from the water. One thing you should know about me is that I am strictly a passenger on any type of water craft. Therefore, after the hike and a view of the Amphitheater, our visit to Lake Griffin had come to an end.