Saturday, December 31, 2016

Santa At Silver Springs State Park



As you may recall, the old Silver Springs tourist attraction has been taken over by the State of Florida and combined with the adjacent Silver River State Park to become the Silver Springs State Park.  Much of the old park is gone, but the glass bottom boats remain, and last week, the place was humming with visitors.

The state has done a remarkable job in cleaning up the park, building a new walkway over the small island and constructing an amphitheater in the woods, which I'm guessing will be used to put on wildlife shows or something similar.

I was standing in a clearing near the amphitheater when I spotted Santa aboard one of the glass bottom boats traversing the Silver River. The boat came near and Santa saw me and waved.  I wanted to ask why I got a lump of coal for Christmas but the boat moved on too quickly!

The little kiddos on the boat got to see, not only the various fish swimming down deep, but also Santa himself, close up and personal.  How awesome is that?

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends!


[I'm still on a break but will be back before long.] 

15 comments:

Marleen said...

Santa seems to enjoy himself there. Happy 2017, Lowell, hope it will be a year filled with love and inspiration!

Linda said...

Nice Santa sighting, Lowell! Happy New Year to you! :)

William Kendall said...

Very cool to see!

Yes, I also got coal. :)

Andy said...

Hippy New Year Lowell! Nice to see that Silver Springs is being taken care of.

Catalyst said...

Looks like a great spot to enjoy nature's wonders. Happy New Year!

Gosia said...

Happy New Year for you and yours.... Santa is wearing winter clothes in your summery weather

RedPat said...

Happy New year to you & Lois Anne!!

Bill said...

Santa is avoiding you Lowell. Maybe he'll straighten it out next year for you :)
Happy New Year to you too!

Kay said...

Ahhhh! So that's where Santa goes when the work is done! Santa chills in Florida!
Happy New Year, Lowell & Lois Anne! Here's hoping 2017 will be better than we fear.

Karl said...

Happy New Year, Lowell !

GreensboroDailyPhoto said...

We drove through Ocala yesterday and I thought of you. As I saw the sign for Lowell, FL, I had to think. Wait is Lowell from Lowell? Is that his pseudonym or real name? Is Jacob from Lowell? Then I saw all the horse farms and some of the Old Florida vistas along the road and realized so many of the scenes have been featured on your blog. (Didn't see any golf carts).

Happy New Year 2017!

Janis
Greensboro Daily Photo

Sharon said...

That must have been so much fun for those kids on the ride. Heck, it's fun for me to see! Happy New Year.

SRQ said...

Great eye to spot the Big Guy. How fun! Hope the new year is off to a good start for you. Happy 2017!

Small City Scenes said...

The ol' Santa boat---HOHOHOHO!
MB

magiceye said...

Santa does'nt seem too happy!

Happy New Year!!

"Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." — Henri Cartier-Bresson