Brown signs

I'm a sucker for brown highway signs. You know, the ones that say "____ Historic Site" or "___ State Park." 

Last weekend I was exploring his new area with son Steve, whose job just relocated him to St. Petersburg. We were on an important mission -- buying pillows at K-Mart -- when we spied a brown sign with the word "Plantation" on it. Of course we went. There was a small festival, obviously to raise desperately-needed money -- they could only show off half the mansion because they didn't have enough docents for the other half. Even the docents were students, probably bribed by parents, and some of them weren't prepped well enough -- I'm pretty sure the major crop at the plantation wasn't wheat. But the house was cool, we had fun judging the kids' art, and we saw things new to us at the plant sale.

Coming home from Steve's, I took the road less traveled, avoiding Orlando and cutting diagonally through the Ocala National Forest (which, like other forests here, seemed to be largely pine and palmetto, though occasionally a little elevation provided enough soil for oak and maple trees (I think)..

One brown sign sent me on a short side trip through the historic district in the town of Ocala. Another took me to Salt Springs, a pleasant spot for a picnic or swim if I'd had the right gear with me. But the best sign of all said Silver Springs State Park, and I'd never seen a state park like this one.

It had been a commercial tourist attraction and somehow ended up as a state park. I was skeptical, but as Tom liked to say, if you never try, you never know.

Inside the gates, another sign, not brown this time, said "Glass Bottom Boat Rides." Why not? It was great fun. I learned about artesian springs and saw a 1500-year-old sunken Native American dugout, turtles, fun fish, and underwater statues that had been created for some movie (a James Bond?).

I learned about Osceola and saw one of the best live oaks yet.

Brown signs are good. You never know what's down that road!