Silver Springs- The Forgotten Florida Attraction

As our time in Tampa is beginning to draw to a close, I am working on visiting more places on our "bucket list" of places I can get to in a few hours from Tampa.  Silver Springs was one of those places.

It was easy to imagine Silver Springs in its prime.  Reminders of years past when this was once a bustling Florida attractions surround this beautiful park.

Today, it was calm and quiet with very few people on property.

The kids and I went on a glass bottom boat tour.  This was their first time on a boat like this, and my first time since I was a kid.  For some reason, I always remember glass bottom boats as being dull with a scratchy glass area that prevented you from seeing much.

I think this is how Hannah will remind this ride, despite the fact that it was quite informative with crystal clear glass and waters.

Our captain took us over several springs where we saw bluegill, bar, bass, turtles, and lots of grassy areas.  Nathan and Nicole seemed quite intrigued.

We then spent some time touring the grounds.

We found a beautiful blue tailed skink.

And the kids were excited about the Osceola monument (he is even stabbing the treaty here).

There was a cute little display area with stuffed animals, and animal pelts

Nicole is touching a beaver pelt.  It was really thick and heavy

Hannah was sad because this poor animal had to die

 Hannah said this picture was for Papa....She has antlers on her head.

However the highlight of the day was something I didn't even really intend on doing.

We spent the afternoon at Wild Waters, the water park that was on the Silver Springs property.

Nathan was pretty nervous about the wave pool

Apparently, this water park was under construction earlier this summer, so the rates were greatly reduced.  They never changed the rates once construction ended, so we only spent $25 for an afternoon of great fun.

The best part was....all three kids were big enough to go down most of the slides.

With much excitement, we spent all afternoon running up stairs, and sliding down slides.

I even got in on the slide action...which was So Fun!

The longest we had to wait for any slide was two people.  No one was there, which meant we could pack a lot of fun into just a few hours.

One thing I love about opportunities like this is that it creates a fairly safe environment to overcome fears.  Nicole was so afraid to go down the slides with tubes because some of them were tunnels.

However, after one time, I couldn't get her to stop:)

Antics while waiting for his sisters

Hannah struggled with similar anxiety.  (Dad, this was the kind of tube ride that dumps you into a bowl that you swirl around in...it was fun!)

However, she quickly realized the fun outweighed the fear and tackled the tube rides several times.

This was Hannah's face after her first tube ride

And then her face after her second tube ride.

Nathan could barely swim by the end of the day, he was so exhausted.

That boy ran and giggled all day long.  He had a blast!

The one big thing that was missing was daddy.  I was so sad that Jeremy couldn't be there.  He would have had a blast on those slides with the kids!

However, now we know this is an option.  All three are over 42 inches, and all three can swim.

I LOVE that I got this shot!  It was purely by coincidence.....uh, I mean, completely on purpose!

Silver Springs is a forgotten little Florida attraction, to bad....it has a lot left to offer.