Today I heard something that saddened me to the core.
While standing in line at a gas station, a woman was asking for directions to a local spring that I happen to frequent. I told her how to get there, and a woman standing behind me grumbled,
"Why waste your time? It's just a hole in the ground."
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| image source |
I stopped, smiled, and turned around. "But it's quite a beautiful hole in the ground."
She looked down and grumbled again about it being a strange place.
It's a small, strange place, indeed.
I'm strange. I guess I like pretty places that vibe with that.
It's a very historical place.
It was sacred to the Mayaca and Seminole peoples.
Its use was commercialized in one of Florida's first health spas.
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| Green Springs |
Green Springs is a naturally occurring sulfur springs in Enterprise, unincorporated Volusia county, Fl.
The tree you see to the left grows right out over the spring, then flips almost 90 degrees and grows toward the sky. (It is crooked like an elbow.)
I've heard it said that first peoples believed this means there is a source of powerful energy from this spring. Whether or not that's true, it is a very attractive and interesting place to sit and soak in the sounds of the birds and the breeze in the trees.
You'll see the remains of steps on the bottom right from the days of the health spas when people came to soak in the healing waters of the springs.
On hotter days, the no swimming signs are ignored by a few brave and rebellious souls.
They climb towering live oaks stretching out over the pool of emerald water and plunge down into a chilly 73F.
The spring empties into Lake Monroe, which is chock full o' gators. There are also other dangers such as snakes, bacteria, and shallows, fallen logs, etc., so breaking this law is not exactly recommended.
Less than a mile down the ECR trail there's a marker for Garfield, a community that was formed in 1881 by a group of former Florida plantation slaves. A freeze in the late 19th century wiped out the citrus crop, and it was abandoned by the Great Depression.
The entire area is filled with unbelievable beauty and history.
But then again, so is everywhere.
It just takes a little wonder, and some wandering.
I'm a lucky girl to be able to take my trail runs and rides over this way.
This is precisely the exchange I've made for the conveniences and social circles of city life.
Today, I actually got to have a really cool encounter with a hawk and then see that hawk mating.
I have seen the beginning of spring and wildflowers blooming throughout the forests and fields.
Wanderlust is a very trendy thing lately.
I do love travel and discovering new things.
However, I think at its heart, wonderlust is the more appropriate term.
Yes, lady. Green Springs is a hole in the ground.
There's also a sense of mystery and magic in the air because of it.
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Today I challenge you to find your wonder.
What's your hole in the ground?
