Trouble in Paradise!

As we got on the road, we had our own conversation about the state of the US union.  We tallied up the number of our friends and family in the US who have guns in their home and a permit to carry a concealed weapon.  It was surprisingly high to us ex-pats that live in a country where there are very few gun owners.  It makes us think...  The US seems very different to Karen than when she left almost 8 years ago.

After a long, boring and expensive ride on the Florida Turnpike (approx $45 toll), we finally found our quaint campsite in Crystal River.  We immediately realised we had ANTS, ANTS, ANTS in the trailer.

We saved that for later and ran out to the Crystal River Natural Wildlife Refuge.  After reading rave reviews on the web and noting it was free and open until dusk, we decided to spend our precious remaining hours there.  We saw a sign on the way in and went to look for it.  20 minutes out of our way, we asked for directions and it was basically back at our campsite.  AARGH!

When we got out and walked up to the visitor centre.  The sign said they closed at 4pm!  Dejected we went to the grocery store and back to campsite where Tim took Georgia for a swim.  The old adage of 'wait 30 minutes after eating (your banana) before you swim' came into affect and Georgia got a terrible tummy cramp.  Then, we spent the evening ziploci'ing our food and cleaning up the ants.  What a day.  

The fun continued the next day when we tried to head back to the Wildlife Refuge at their posted 8am opening time.  They were closed due to staff shortages!  We tried to go to another park, it didn't open until 9:30.  We decided to just get on the road at that point.  So much for wildlife in Crystal River.

One saving grace is that Georgia and Karen spotted an alligator in the campsite pond (and not the Florida Gators which seemed to have taken over).  It followed us around the lake 

Is he coming to say hello or coming for breakfast?

and swam over to the shore where we stood.  That was a little too close for comfort, but we wanted to get a closer look and take pictures, so we climbed on a picnic table just in case.  He was probably only 4-5 feel long, but still they are super fast!

Very close