We had a really nice, short kayak trip the other day out on Crystal River. I was curious to see a place called "Three Sisters Spring", which is located off the main river and on a residential stretch of intracoastal. It took us about an hour to get to the launch site (Hunter Springs Park). Hunter Springs Park seems like it is a bathing place for every scumbag, parolee and white trash loser in Citrus County, but it's free and it is the closest launch site to Three Sisters you will find (aside from using someone's private property).
We paddled out into the bay, then under a bridge. We knew we were close when we saw a LOAD of boats hanging out in the canal. The entrance to Three Sisters is very small, and crowded with a load of mangroves. The area is not open to motorized boat traffic, since there are metal pylons obstructing anything larger than a kayak from going through. Once you get in, though you are treated to water as clear as a swimming pool, and 72 degree spring-fed refreshing swimming enjoyment.

Make sure you take a life jacket or some swimming noodles, since there aren't many places to hang out that allow you to touch the bottom. The average depth seems to be 6-8 feet, and most of the usable shoreline there is either private property or bound to be taken up by other visitors. It was crowded today, mainly because it was scalloping season, and all the scallopers came in for a look. Otherwise, it's a beautiful spring and it was a short and easy paddle.

CRYSTAL RIVER KAYAK

BACK TO THE GRIND, KAYAK...TAKE TWO!

Well, after my last kayak fiasco, I decided to bite the bullet and give it another shot. I went to Dick's Sporting Goods where I grabbed a Pelican Potomac sit in kayak. The weather has been lousy out here lately, with all the tropical moisture in the Gulf, so I finally managed a day this past weekend in between downpours to try it out.

We took the 'yaks out to Dunedin Causeway, and paddled out to Caladesi Island. I was a bit tippy in it at first, but after getting down the paddling motion and finding my center of gravity, I managed okay. The kayak tracked somewhat poorly at first, but I think this was mainly due to the current and my paddling inexperience.
We are planning a run to Rainbow River or Crystal River this weekend, so I shall get some more "seat time". I plan on bringing the GoPro, so I should also have some cool video as well.
Cheers!

DAY 14...AMARILLO TX TO LAFAYETTE, LA....DAY 15 BACK TO THE ARMPIT.

We slept a bit late, caught a free breakfast at the Travelodge, then loaded up quickly and hit the interstate for the BORING ride through Texas and Louisiana. Almost as if there is some massive dividing line between the south and the west, we wandered into mutant country. The drivers slowly got more stupid, and the people looked even more mutated. I pulled into a gas station outside Shreveport, and saw some low life with a ponytail, shaved sides of his head with tattoos in his scalp, and a bunch of other Louisiana inbreds. I sadly acknowledged our return to the south, and we made it to the Days Inn in Lafayette just as the sun went down.
The hotel was very nice, clean, and the rooms were large. I stayed there last year, and knew I wanted to stay again due to the cleanliness and inexpensiveness of the hotel.
The next day, we were back on US 19 in Florida, driving back into reality. The humidity was back, and Florida's flat, green and boring landscape made us realize that we needed to take another vacation.....soon!

DAY 13....THE ROAD HOME

Parting is such sweet sorrow. We bailed out of Moab very early, knowing we had quite a full day of driving ahead of us. I plotted out a route that took us through Monument Valley and cut through nothing but Navajo Indian land to get us into Amarillo. The scenery was actually pretty nice until we passed Monument Valley...then the roads and the vistas gave way to what you would expect traveling through the hind end of Arizona and New Mexico.

As we entered Monument Valley, I stopped in the middle of the road to snap this shot...just at a random pull-off area. Charmaine told me about a sign on the side of the road I would have never noticed.

We were in the same spot that the film ended Gump's cross country run...no wonder it looked familiar to me! I must have seen that movie about 20 times.

The rest of the ride to Amarillo was uneventful, aside from some nice skies and some shenanigans, it was all good.

We hit Amarillo at a reasonable hour, grabbed some Subway for dinner, Charmaine forced me to take the corny pic above (my beer goggles), and we settled in for the night. Back into the south tomorrow and the next day, back home.

DAY 12...MOAB/HORSES AND RELAXATION

We broke down our camp late, around 11am.  Drove by "penis rock" (above)....lol. From any other angle, it looks like any other rock, but from this angle, well, it clearly looks like a phallus. This was in Arches, NP.

Headed into town and did some laundry and kicked back for a while. I had made a hotel reservation at the Days Inn, and we slipped over there early to relax in/by their pool as we waited for check-in time.
It was nice to take a warm shower and charge up all the batteries to all the electronics. The room was hot, smelled funny, but it would do just fine. We headed out to Red Cliffs Lodge for our horseback adventure.

We saddled up, Charmaine with her horse "White Clay" and mine, "Rojo". We went on an awesome ride amongst the red cliffs seen in western movies. It had been many years since I sat on a horse, so it was a bit intimidating at first. The horse was very sure-footed though. We had a few creek crossings with slippery rocks, and the horse even slipped at one point, but stayed upright and kept me steady. The scenery was beautiful, and it made me feel like a real cowboy...haha!!

Double Arch, Arches National Park

You can kind of see Sportsfan in the video..just look for the guy with the white shorts...

DAY 11...CONTINUED

As the sun started to dip down, we headed off to the "Windows" section of Arches NP. This area consists of some amazing arches- Double Arch (pictured above), The North and South Windows, and Turret Arch. All within close walking distance. We started off by heading toward Double Arch. The thing was absolutely massive....

As we were walking up to the arch, we were passed by a chap with white shorts and glasses. He seemed friendly enough, and I watched as he climbed up to the spot where Charmaine and I took the shots above. There was, however, a higher ledge to the left of the photo, and there was another guy on the ledge already. Well, sportsfan (as I shall now refer to him) decided he wanted to join this other guy on the ledge, which he was able to accomplish. He took several cheesy pix of himself, posing as if he were He-Man with his arms folded.
We came down and started to walk back over to Turret Arch for the sunset. Sportsfan had managed to drop down from where he was, and he headed for a precarious rock outcropping...one that I looked at and immediately said "no way". Well, sportfan made it up there, and stood on the rock, posing as his dad (who now managed to catch up to him on the trail) snapped away. The ledge to this outcropping was about 9-10 feet off the ground, which fell away from the "landing spot" (If you were to jump down) at almost a 35 degree angle...quite steep.
Sportsfan started to edge his way down...on his ass. Rocks fell around him, and his dad said, "you okay?" Sportsfan replied he was good, and I turned away briefly. I heard him take the jump, and turned as he landed on the rock slope...unfortunately, Sportsfan now had two options: fall flat on his ass and break his coccyx, or hit the ground literally running, and hope he could "run out" his speed and emerge unscathed. He chose option two, and started running like a madman, with a look of terror and panic on his face. Only one problem with him plan....a large boulder stood in his way. At a full sprint, sportsfan plowed into the boulder, twisting his ankle, smashing his knee into the rock, and absorbing the impact with both his arms and torso...with a resounding THUD. After checking on him (and he was in obvious pain) and watching a spot of blood spread rapidly across his knee, he advised he was "good", and aside from hurting a lot, he was able to walk.
*Sigh*. Nice job, Sportsfan. Next time, you have to learn a little about climbing slickrock: It's easier to climb up than it is to get down. Don't do stupid shit.

The sun was setting when we made it to the window arch, and we climbed up the short footpath and took a few shots as the moon came up and the sun went down.

After hanging out for a few, we started back down the path, and Charmaine heard a sound that she first thought was coming from my camera case. As we stopped dead in our tracks and listened, we could tell it was the rattle of a rattlesnake. With goosebumps on my arm, I scanned the area and spotted this fella hiding by a rock...only inches from where Charmaine had just been walking!

He's hard to see, but if you look toward the center and a bit left of the picture's center, you'll see the snake right near the brush. Close call!!!
With enough excitement under our belts for the night, we headed back to camp and settled down for our last night in Arches.

DAY 11...MOAB/CANYONLANDS

We headed out to Canyonlands NP to take in the sights in the early afternoon, before it got crazy hot. Headed out to Green River Overlook, Island in the Sky, and the Grand Viewpoint. We took the short rim trail at Grand Viewpoint. Canyonlands is amazingly vast and massive. Standing at the viewpoint, I had a desire to explore it one day, hopefully on my next trip, with a 4 wheel drive.

Above is the dizzying view from top of the Schafer Trail, which winds all the way down to the White rim, then heads out to the Potash Road and out to Moab proper.

There were a few hikes, but we didn't take too many, since we were wanting to drive around a bit and check out other areas of Moab. We also wanted to do an evening hike in Arches for some pictures as well.
We drove back into town, and I took Charmaine over to the Amasa Back/Cliffhanger trailhead, so I could show her where I rode when I was out in the area last year. Moab is a tough mountain biking location. It is very technical, has a lot of rocks and is more geared to the 4 wheeler/ ATV crowd, which would be a blast to drive around on. At the Amasa Back trailhead, we watched a couple Jeeps rock crawling.

After explaining to my gal how difficult this trail was, we opted to ride back into town and take an evening hike in Arches instead. I had to take a nap before we did this though...lol

DAY 10...RED CANYON TO MOAB, UTAH

After taking our time packing up camp, we hit the road en route to Moab via Scenic Byway UT12. If you opt to take the interstate to get to Moab, you'll shave off some time, but you will miss out on some of the amazing scenery along this road. The highway takes you through Escalante, Boulder UT, and some other smaller town before dumping you out onto I70. It passes through Capital Reef National Park, and across some amazingly diverse landscaping.

The highway cuts through the east end of Bryce Canyon, and quickly gives way to a nicely forested roadway, taking you up to an elevation in excess of 8900 feet.

You get some nice stops along the way to see some amazing canyons and roads carved into the rock.

Some of the roadways are a bit scary, hanging alongside of cliffs and with sheer dropoffs without guardrails. You definitely need to pay attention and not drive like a maniac. The highway cuts through scenic Capital Reef NP, which is a good way to get introduced to what you may be seeing when you arrive in Moab.

We arrived in Moab about 5 hours later, and set up our camp in Arches National Park, Devil's Garden Campground. I had reserved a site months prior, and I would have to say it was the best site in the entire CG. We had plenty of shade (some of the other sites were miserably exposed and had no trees). The campground was quiet and clean, had flush toilets and water, but didn't have any shower facilities. I had brought along my cheap-o solar shower for such an eventuality, and it worked out awesome.
The site backed right up to a huge slickrock boulder, and we had no rear neighbors. We also were isolated from the adjacent campsites, so it was a pretty amazing setup. If you reserve it, make sure you grab site 50.
The drive through Arches NP is amazing. Huge monolithic rock slabs, and some arches you can see easily from the road.

The Delicate Arch can only be reached via a hike over slickrock and up to a plateau. We hiked up to it late in the day to catch the sunset's effects of color on the rock. Despite it being overcrowded, we were able to sit back, relax, enjoy the serenity of the view, and even snap some shots without any people milling about.

You have no idea how large it actually is until you get right up to it...distances and heights are very deceiving in Moab.

The hike back down was just as nice, and was a bit more relaxing. We decided to head into town, grab some supplies, and then turn in for the night. The plan was Canyonlands during the day tomorrow, and MAYBE do some biking in the area.