Home Town, Florida, USA

This is where I will tell you about the place where I am from, where I grew up, and where I was so excited to bring my German to visit! But we will start with Orlando (area) because this was our first stop.

Wekiva Springs

In November / December in Florida it is still warm enough to go swimming, so we went to a spring one day in the Orlando area called Wekiva Springs. The water is around 21 °C (70 °F ) year-round and it feels like you are in the jungle, or at least I feel that way. When I say I am from Florida, I think most people think of beaches and palm trees. I would like everyone to know that between the two coasts of beautiful beaches, there is alot more to see (besides Disney World). There is a jungle-like feeling of overgrown greenery, swamps with 6ft. alligators that sometimes end up in your swimming pool, lots of massive Oak Trees and fresh water springs that feed icy cold water into crystal clear rivers! It’s quite magical.

Ichetucknee Springs

Then, we also spent some time in my actual home town, Fort White, Florida. I spent my entire childhood here, from age 3 to age 18, when I went off to college. This town is one of those 1 stop light towns where people live and die their whole lives in simplicity and pleasant ignorance of the world beyond. I loved growing up there and wouldn’t change a thing.

This town is known for the Ichetucknee River, fed by the Ichetucknee Springs, a couple of wholes in the earth where cold water comes up out of the aquifer to cool our hot Floridian selves. We went kayaking down the river which would normally, on a hot summer day, be absolutely filled bank to bank with people on innertubes shaped like donuts floating downstream in the cold water to beat the Florida summer heat. The full float takes about 3 hours. We took a kayak because it was a bit too chilly to get in the water. (Edit: Alligators are not normally found here, because they do not like cold water, so swimming freely is completely safe)

Beach

One day was spent on the beach near St. Augustine, although it was too cold and windy to spend a lot of time in the water. My mother has a brand new house here, just minutes walk to the beach, that was unfortunately not yet finished in time for our trip to Florida, but it is now completed and can be rented for a very reasonable fee at Airbnb.

Disney World! (Day 1)

The Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow… or EPCOT, is one of the 4 main Disney parks in Orlando. It is actually quite out-dated if I’m being honest… but it was very futuristic in it’s hayday…
I like it for the little country “pavillions” that surround the lake. It’s like mini versions of certain countries (Mexico, Norway, Japan, Germany, USA, & more.) with very cliche kind of decor and food options… but I think it’s fun! And lucky us!! The Food & Wine Festival was happenin!