January 16th 2017 Hannah Rose and Sean Zalewski

“Hope you didn’t think you were actually getting sleep tonight” –Sean Zalewski (discussing the duration of the following blog entry)

This morning we woke up bright and early in order to get to Blue Spring State Park at 8:00.  We were all up before the sun rose and we got a chance to see our bird friends Charlie and Shirley before heading out.  We got there right on time (ish) and met our new pal Harry.  Harry is a former prison guard from Virginia who retired and now volunteers/works for the park.  He is an extremely welcoming and outgoing member of the Park and even surprised us with donuts when we arrived at the park.  For our service today we cleared out overgrown areas in one of the park’s parking lots.  We were split into two teams so we were more able to tackle the numerous areas they needed help with.  We did this work for the majority of the day 8:30-2 (with an hour lunch break).  Some of us were a bit melancholy after raking leaves into stellar piles and then later being told it was unnecessary.  It did help us get our daily workout in though.  The first impression we had of the park was both the beauty of it and the sheer number of people at this park.  It was also interesting to see how this park compares to the other park in the area.  It seemed to focus much more on tourism and less on traditional outdoor recreation activities.  It is pretty clear that this park is the one in the area that brings in most of the revenue.  This park is definitely amazing to see.  The densely forested area around the park is beautiful and when you walk along the boardwalk to the spring itself you are met with a beautiful view of crystal clear water typically populated with the majestic cow of the sea.  “I think I’m the only one that thought this was funny but, the park is called blue spring but the water is green” –Hannah Rose.  Back to the manatees, there were not a ton of them at the park due to the higher temperature outside. However we were able to see a few, including a baby swimming with its mother.  We also got to see human babies so that was pretty awesome as well.  After service we came back to camp and had the chance to hang out with Charlie and Shirley, as well as play with our new PIRATE THEMED ball.  Aaron and Sophie made us a stupendous dinner of foil wraps and everyone was more than happy to eat a second helping…especially Jill.   “I feel like no one else is going to put quotes in it.” –Hannah Rose.  We then started our reflection for the night, which consisted of an unwinnable human chain attempt, followed by meaningful dialogue about the service we are doing and an activity to help us reflect on it.  Tomorrow we will be going to Hontoon Island State Park to do some trail maintenance and have a chance to paddle around in canoes and kayaks.  Hopefully we’ll even see a gator (not swimming next to us).  Hannah and Sean signing off.