sorry to get so far behind, but I will try to catch up now.
The day after the thunderstorm, we went to the beach and looked for sharks teeth (unsuccessfully)
The next day we went to the M.O.T.E. aquarium where we saw several animals, including sea turtles, dolphins, fish, and jellyfish (and much more). When we left the aquarium, we went to the neighboring bird sanctuary, where we saw parrots, egrets, pelicans, and macaws. The macaws are surprisingly smart, when their caretaker left they yelled "Back!", when that didn't work they resorted to yelling "I love you!", and when the caretaker still didn't return, they called "Bye-bye!". later, we saw that caretaker giving each macaw a half eaten chicken bone, they seemed to appreciate them (although one walked onto the far end of a branch, and had to have his bone put in a cup for him, and another dropped his bone immediately). We then drove to clearwater, to see the clearwater aquarium which is where winter the dolphin (from the movie
Dolphin Tale, see winter on a webcam at
seewinter.com) lives (and where the movie was filmed). It was getting late, so we camped overnight at an nearby RV park. The next day we went to the aquarium (which seemed to be thriving, despite being near bankruptcy before finding winter (and filming the resulting movie) where we first went up to see winter who was swimming in her tank with the trainer and she did tricks like find ring with echolocation while blindfolded and jumping up to touch the trainer's hand (as well as a few kids whose parents paid 60 dollars for the experience) after the performance we went downstairs, where we saw and touched the wings of stingrays "flying" through the water. we then took a trolley to a separate building all about making the movie, including a hurricane room (a sign warned us about up to 20 MPH winds and realistic images) where we encountered two snakes an an alligator, lights going out, etc..
We then left clearwater and went to Rainbow Springs State Park, where we camped. After setting up camp, we swam in a river that came from a spring (it was cold!). because of the current, I developed a routine in which I enter the water, swim to the deep part with the current, look for fish as I float downstream, and get out at a nearby boat ramp. I then repeat.
The next morning I swam again even though I was starting to feel sick. Later I had a fever an rested in the car as we drove towards suwanee river state park. on the way, the GPS froze, and when restarted took us to road covered in pine needles, and dead ending, with no sign of a state park (the iPhone agreed on the location). We then resorted to the low-tech method of using a map, and finally, 30 minutes later, arrived.
The next morning, we left for Saint Andrews State Park, on the way there was a thunderstorm, that caused us to briefly pull over because we couldn't see, as well getting the mattresses wet in the (completely closed) trailer. we were late to arrive because the GPS froze again. When we arrived I had a high fever and could barely walk, so the next day we went to a hotel. The next three days, up to now, we have stayed at the hotel except when my mom insisted we go to the beach so she could snorkel (despite the fact I was still sick). Today she insisted we go again but this time she didn't see any fish because she was stung by jellyfish (she says it feels like nettles, but stops hurting right away, and says they were three or four inches long, and were a translucent brown, and there were hundreds of them.)
Tomorrow we hope to go to new orleans and stay in a hotel (I am getting better but still sick).
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