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...