From there we head out towards the park! Here I was thinking that we would jump back on the highway. Instead we stayed on secondary streets which was nice. The roads remind me a lot of what I was used to driving. There's some palmetto flats and the roads are long and straight. We eventually pull off the main road towards the park and end up on Old Bluff Road which Abby points out that it's a scary name for a road before we come upon Lost John Road which just continues the series of unfortunate names. Eventually we pull into the park and grab the obligatory photo op with the sign. As we head into the park, the speed limit is 27. It's almost as if they felt bad for those numbers never really getting to be on many of the signs so they picked them. This is before it turned to 13 which I think just furthered the case.

We get to the parking lot for the visitor center and start to unpack a bit to get cameras, walking sticks, etc for the hike. It is hot. Like steamy hot which I guess makes sense given most of the park is swamp. As we head in towards the visitor center we are greeted by some good sized Golden Orb Weaver spiders with their normal, rather large webs and while looking at those, I nearly miss the skinks that are on the other sections of the wall having a light snack of some ants. This is the kind of wildlife that I grew up with and I love seeing it again. The visitor center also has a gauge for how bad the mosquitos are for the day which ranges from All Clear to War Zone. We are in Mild and I would agree. We swing by the visitor center to read a bit more about the park and do some shopping. After the stop we need to swing by the van again to drop off the goods and do final prep for the walk we are doing.

We head out for the start of a hike along the boardwalk trail with an option to head out for a longer trail depending upon how we feel when we get there. There continues to be a lot of species I'm familiar with, bald cypress, crab spiders, palmetto, entitled retirees behaving like they own the place. By which I mean there was a guy there that was a doppelganger for RFK Jr here and he is walking the boardwalk like it's a speed walking competition. Left he yells out at us as he approaches and speeds by. It is still very hot but at least the water is mainly out in the swamp so it's not as humid as it might have been. We turn a corner and there's a gorgeous six-line racerunner there in the cypress knees with some beautiful blues and purples in its tail. I do miss the variety of reptiles down here.

We get to the part in the trail where we can go for some additional miles and as a group we decide that the heat is just too much at this point. We continue on the boardwalk trail. We get to a pond and get to see some turtles and fish. There are so many Golden Orb Weavers out here and I think it's causing some discomfort in Abby and Court who are both a bit creeped out by them. Along the remainder of the trail we get to see the second tallest pine in South Carolina, an old still, so many spiders and some beautiful dragonflies.

After the park is all done, we set directions towards Key West and start trying to find food. This was a mistake. There is literally nothing but farm land between the park and Interstate 95. So we keep snacking on items in the car as we drive towards civilization again. We eventually find an Arby's after trying to find some local place but being relatively unsuccessful to grab some food as we go. We decide to stay in Jacksonville for the night based upon how far that gets us towards Key West and not having a long driving night.

We make it to Jacksonville and pull into the hotel, getting the smaller bags for the night and attempt to check in. I say attempt because we are told that they don't seem to have our reservation that I had booked from the highway a few hours ago. Crap. As I work on pulling it up, the woman at the desk asks if we had booked at the Townplace which jogged my memory and I realized we had booked at a Residence Inn. Apparently either they have the same address or Google Maps has directed us to the wrong building. Regardless, the woman at the desk indicates that the Residence Inn is next door so we head over and check in. Court has been hankering for Ruby Tuesday's and there is one literally next door. We decide as a group that that's our dinner and that we will go catch a movie after dinner and try to get some sandals for Gideon who doesn't have any that fit anymore.

So after dinner we head out across town a bit to a theater to catch Minions and Monsters. We get there super early to a super busy theater and it looked like it was outside of a mall so we decided to try to go and check for sandals at the mall while we waited. Something doesn't look right because there's practically no one in the mall parking lot. Sure enough, apparently the mall has been closed for a good amount of time. There are currently two occupants of the structure. A Dillard's outlet kind of location and a Christian charter school. Feels fitting from what I recall of FL, religion and discounts are the two things that drive so many people here. We take the chance to allow Gideon to drive around the parking lot and get some practice in for driving and parking. Of course as we start, suddenly their security starts milling around the part of the parking lot we are using. We move our practice to another part of the parking lot. Then a county sheriff is suddenly cruising around the part of the parking lot we are in. No one comes and asks any questions though and Gideon does a pretty good job and continues to develop his driving skills.

Before we go to Minions and Monsters, there are these Minions tubs for popcorn with a little cup with small Minions for the top and stuffed minions. Gideon and Abby both pick one out. Abby manages to pick one of the main characters, Gideon picks Dick. A name that they make sure you understand was used because of the character of the minion. Ironic that they would choose the two opposing sides. The movie was pretty good and Court reminds us that on at least one of the other road trips we have watched a Minion movie of some form because our road trip cooler is covered in Minion stickers. Must be some kind of tradition. Lookout for a new minions movie during Gideon's Senior Summer.

Tomorrow, driving towards Key West and Dry Tortugas!

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