If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
~ Vincent Van Gogh

After our cruise, Luke and I had a couple of days in Orlando, FL before heading home to New York. What could we possibly find to do in Orlando?!

Well — Luke is a bit of a speed fiend and loves rollercoasters. He’s been itching to ride VelociCoaster at Universal Studios for a couple of years. It ranks in the top five most intense rollercoasters in the world. So… yeah. I indulged him and we rode that psycho rollercoaster. Twice.

It was so intense it was ridiculous. I think I died. I think this is actually my ghost writing this post. Not sure.

But the kid was happy! (And maybe I might have liked it too. A little bit.)

We also made a stop at Orange World, conveniently located just up the road from our hotel. No trip to Orlando would be complete without stepping inside a giant orange and buying… well… oranges. And orange candy. And orange marmalade. And taxidermy alligator heads.

Okay — I actually drew the line at purchasing an alligator head. But Luke and I definitely picked them up, played with them, and tried to gross each other out.

In addition to riding one of the most intense rollercoasters in the world, shopping inside a giant orange, and playing with alligator heads, we also kayaked on Rock Springs Run in Rock Springs State Reserve and the adjacent Kelly Park in Apopka, FL — about 30 miles north of Orlando.

Rock Springs is this incredible natural spring that flows to the Wekiva River. Roughly 37 million gallons of water flow from the spring every day.

What attracted Luke and me to the spring was the crystal-clear green and blue hue of the water and the almost mythical look of the surrounding landscape. It’s an incredibly beautiful and unique place.

The water is a steady 72 degrees year-round and fairly shallow. The bed of the spring is mostly soft sand — which makes it perfect for a bit of wading and even swimming in the deeper areas along the route.

To properly explore Rock Springs Run, we booked a kayak excursion with a great company called Get Up and Go Kayaking. We’ve kayaked several times in the past, so we knew what to expect and were pretty psyched for it.

We booked an early morning tour starting at King’s Landing. The trip lasted about two and a half hours, led by our amazing guide Megan. It was so peaceful and quiet on the run — a perfect way to start the day.

Luke and I shared a kayak for this trip, and it immediately became clear how uncoordinated I am when paddling with another person… and also that I don’t always know my left from my right.

We might have hit a few trees and maybe briefly got tangled in some bramble at the edge of a bank.

Luke was absolutely exasperated at one point. There was a lot of “Mom! What are you doing?! Wrong way – your other left!”

Sorry Luke!

I assured our guide, “I swear, we have kayaked before!”

I had a sense of humor about it and laughed it off. Luke? Not so much. Well… maybe a little bit.

Our group was small and Megan was easy to follow. She led us up the spring run while sharing some history and information about the landscape and animals as we paddled. She had us stop at a couple of favorite spots along the run where we were able to get out of the kayaks, wade around, and really soak in the natural beauty of this incredible spring.

Her genuine love for the place was obvious, and her enthusiasm really enhanced the tour!

Seriously — Rock Springs Run was so beautiful that when we stopped at the first spot and stepped into the water, I said something along the lines of:

“Oh my God, this is so beautiful I can’t stand it!”

I stood there staring in amazement at the incredible beauty all around me. It was like a fairy tale — almost too beautiful to be real!

We were wading in warm water, soft sand under our feet, surrounded by saw palmettos, live oaks, spider lilies, elderflower, and several types of pines. We even saw an orange tree growing along the bank.
It was so quiet — just the sound of bird song and the slow flow of water as the current moved slowly downstream.

The spring is habitat for many types of birds and animals such as Florida black bears, otters, tortoises, scrub jays, great egrets, and of course many kinds of fish.

We didn’t see any bears or otters — but we did see a great egret who, as I understand it, is called Kevin.

The best part of the paddle was heading back down the run and letting the current carry you along. All you really have to do is a bit of selective steering — which I mostly left to Luke.

Exploring Rock Springs Run was the perfect way to end our vacation.

It’s hard to come home to a cold climate and the many heavy realities of home after spending more than a week in shorts and bare feet and the pleasant distraction of stunning tropical landscapes. It almost feels like we weren’t away at all.

I guess it’s a good thing I have a blog — so I can relive the memories and share some of the hundreds of photos I took, right?

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