Day Trippin' to Green Cove Springs, Florida

As part of our get out and explore summer, we visited Green Cove Springs, Fl. which is just a short drive from Jacksonville.

Over 7,000 years ago natives first inhabited the area after being drawn by the warm mineral springs.

Green Cove Springs is named after the portion of the St. Johns River where it is built. The river bends here, and the area is sheltered by trees that are perennially green.  It's mother natures way of giving visitors a wonderful respite from the summers heat.

I love the mini dips of the rolling green lawn.  The Jacksonville area is pretty much as flat as a pancake, with the exception of a few spots.

Doesn't this little bridge have the cutest iron work.

I love spotting sweet little gems like this when I'm out sightseeing.

You can see their city sign represents the spring, river and greenery it's famous for.

Don't you love the old Spanish architecture of the Old City Hall.

The mix of the victorian architecture and spanish moss draping the old oaks leaves a haunting impression.  

The hydrological spring,  locally know as the "original Fountain of Youth", attracted guests in the 19th century.  At the time more than a dozen hotels sprang up near the spring.

Today the sulfur-scented spring water feeds an adjacent public swimming pool.

I still remember taking a Sunday drive with daddy when I was very little girl and visiting the park.  Well it could have been a Saturday but that's what dad liked to call those drives. I never forgot the sight of the big pool or how daddy explained it spring fed waters.  It's funny how those little moments of time stay with us all our lives.  I treasure them.

It's hard to see how deep it is because the crystal clear water clearly shows the beautiful green trees and blue skies in its reflection.

The spring water leaves the pool and travels pass bald cypress knees a short distance to the St. Johns River.

The photo above is the little stream of spring water that flows to the St. Johns River.  I love all the greenery of the banana trees surrounding it.  Just looking at this photo cools me off by 10 degrees.

Source: http://www.greencovesprings.com/departments/city_pier.php

The city pier is the perfect place to pull up to and take a break.  I mean really, who wouldn't enjoy this view.

The Pier provides a centrally located covered pavilion and 12 floating finger boat slips which allows visitors to dock for very affordable prices:

• 0-6 hours of dockage with electricity and water....$5.00
• Over 6 hours with electricity and water $10.00
• Overnight with electricity and water......................$20.00

All-in-all, it was another nice day in the south.  If you're ever in my neck of the woods be sure to visit Green Cove Springs and stay awhile.

Where have you been lately?  Maybe you enjoyed something fun or pretty right in your own neighborhood.  I'd love to hear about it.  I hope you'll share some comment love with me.  

Hugs Y'all...

P.S.  Don't forget to stop by and enter my $100 Hapari Swimsuit giveaway here.

They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out it roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; it's leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:8

Well it's been a really busy week here. Neil and I were lucky enough to have my only sister (only sibling for that matter) Joni and her family come in from Atlanta for a few days. It was so great to see everyone. We haven't seen them since last July 4th. They missed the 4th this year but still made it.

Unfortunately we got a lot of rain while they were visiting. We did head to the beach one day but it was cloudy and overcast. The kids all went swimming but not Joni and me. By the time we left at 7pm it was really cold. I had to actually dig through the trunk and find a sweater. Can you image that - in July!!!! Just last week we had a heat index of 105 degrees. The cool air was wonderful. The rest of the time was spent enjoying the cool weather on our porch. We have a wonderful wrap around porch that Neil built that looks out over the river. I'm so lucky that he is willing to take on so many projects. The inspector said it was so well built that we couldn't have found anyone else that would have done such a good job.

Our property is lined with age old oak trees draped in Spanish moss. I don't know what we'd do without these lovely old trees to take the edge off our sweltering hot summers with the gosh awful humidity. They truly are a God send.

I don't have any pictures of anything I've made recently but hope to post some soon. Instead I'm leaving you with a few pictures of Jacksonville, Florida, the city of seven bridges (I know there's more). I've also thrown in a photo of the fireworks over downtown Jacksonville.

This picture is a beautiful purple sunrise over Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island where we grew up spending all of our summers.

The downtown fireworks celebrating the 4th of July. You can see the Main Street bridge to the right.

The beautiful Hart bridge over the St. Johns river with downtown Jacksonville in the background. This was taken not far from our home.

This is a photo of the Dames Point Bridge. When first completed in 1989 it became the longest cable-stayed span in the United States, the longest concrete span of its type in the Western Hemisphere, and the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. It crosses the Intercoastal Waterway, you can see the marsh in the background.



This is a view of the Downtown skyline from the old Ortega Bridge. It's gorgeous at night. I always thought it was one of the most romantic spot in Jax. Very romantic.