Come to Florida, It's fun!!

I have decided to recycle this post, from July of last year, for "My story in photos,Places I Love", I heart faces challenge this week, 2/1/2010.
I am in love with Florida! I'm a transplant from NY (born and raised).
This post was written during a very stressful time for my family. I think if I lived anywhere else it would have been much more difficult to get through this tough time. Florida offers so much to us. This post gives a picture tour of this beautiful state (mostly Central Florida.)

Here are two pictures I took yesterday. The rest were taken throughout the year. ENJOY Florida through my eyes!

Blue Springs State Park 1/31/2010

Manatees 1/31/2010


This is the original post Written 7/22/09 (scroll down to see more places I love)
I don't know where to begin or how to put it...

I've developed a nervous laugh that is bordering on hysteria. It's somewhere between a laugh and a cry and starts down deep in the pit of my stomach and transforms my face into that scary expression of worry, fear, sadness and disbelief all rolled into one. I try not to cry, to go with the laugh, but it's not easy sometimes. I try to stay positive because where is negative going to get you? But you also have to be realistic, in order to make wise decisions. I don't think I can get into much more of it right now but...(sorry if this doesn't make much sense). It's kinda hard to explain what we're going through but I'm sure many of you are going through a similar situation right now. We're all in this together.

Onto happier thoughts...


I say, Come to Florida!! It is an amazing place to visit. There is so much to see and do. Below are pictures of many of the wonderful things you can do and see in our great state!

On another note, yesterday while at one of our beautiful beaches, visiting friends, something not so great happened. My camera, that I love so much, got caught in a wave. It was one of those, "where did that tide come from?!" moments. As it washed away our campsite, immediately, I said, "My camera!!" My son's friend quickly rescued it for me. Sadly the camera didn't survive. I depended on this camera for so much; family memories, mural pictures, chalkboard pictures etc... It won't be easy to replace, as we don't have the money for it right now.
Here are the last pictures taken with my camera:










The very last picture taken...Good-Bye my friend...

In the meantime, I will post pictures from the past in order to keep my blog going.

Enjoy the pictures below. I hope you will visit Florida:)

Hit the road!

History(Deleon Springs-The old water mill)

Canoeing(Many many places to do this, rivers, lakes, canals, waterways,)

Nature Trails(an endless supply)

Beaches(many many great ones, east coast for sunrises and west coast for sunsets)

Seaside Dining(Just look at the color of that water-Clearwater)

Attractions (Gaylord Palms-ICE)
Who says it's always hot in Florida?- It's 9 degrees at ICE

ICE

Wildlife

More Beaches. This one is Ft Lauderdale( I could post dozens of these)

Boats-Yachts-Ft Lauderdale a view from our room at the Bahia Mar

Zoos-Plenty of these plus great aquariums

Splash Parks

Zoos

Space shuttle launches

Natural Springs

Fairs and Food!

History and Art(Tarpon Springs the sea sponge capital. wonder if this is where Spongebob was born?)
Amazing Sunsets(This is in St Pete)
Magic Kingdoms
Characters
Fireworks
Fishing
FUN!
Beautiful Gardens-Leu Gardens in Orlando-free entry before noon on Mondays

Citrus!

Groves(This is the view from Bok Sanctuary by the Singing Tower)
More History(The fort at St Augustines- They lit the canon every fifteen minutes on this day. I forget what the occasion was but the kids loved it!)
Awesome Amusement Parks!(This one is Islands of Adventure-Univeral Studios)
R&R

Nature in our own backyard
A piece of the American Dream


Working hard to hold onto it...

After putting this post together, I realized how blessed we are to live in such an incredible place. This list is just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the places shown above were done on a very tight budget. If you need help with your itinerary when you come to visit, contact me. I'll point you in the right direction:)

If I were visiting your great state what would you recommend to do or see?

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