Three Florida State Parks: Jonathan Dickinson, Blue Spring, & Anastasia

We absolutely love Florida State Parks and spent the next 5 weeks at some of the best. Our first stop was a return to one of our favorites, Jonathan Dickinson in Jupiter. The sea grapes didn’t make it through Florida’s cold winter, so the park was a little brown this year.

Cody was highly entertained by the tortoises and birds at the park. She loved this cardinal so much that she went on a minor hunger strike after we left.

We spent our weekend days either shopping or at the beach, because that’s what you do in Jupiter.

Our next stop was Blue Spring State Park, an hour northeast of Orlando. Blue Spring is the winter home of hundreds of manatees.

The manatees spend their days eating in the St. John’s River and then sleep in the 72-degree spring run at night. There is a nice boardwalk with lookouts along the ~1/3 mile spring run.

Looking back at manatee counts this year, there were 900+ in the run on Feb 2nd! We were at the park in early March, admittedly near the end of the season, and the count ranged from 47 to just 8.

On Saturday, we went to Orlando. We parked at Disney Springs (shopping/dining area) and took a bus to the Caribbean Beach Resort, where we could access the Skyliner gondola. We spent the rest of the morning riding the Skyliner between all its destinations.

Next, we took a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we had lunch and spent the afternoon watching the animals. It was entertaining to watch employees try to get an escapee back inside the fence.

Our last stop was Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine. I’ve tried to stay at Anastasia every winter we have spent in Florida, but I couldn’t find a good campsite for us. We only fit in about 5 of them, and I think that there is only one open enough for Dishy.

The campground is adjacent to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre, and if you are outside or have your windows open, you can hear the music. There’s also a great beach, and if you walk far enough north, there’s a view of the lighthouse.

And of course, the main highlight is that it’s just a couple of miles from historic St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement in the US, dating back to 1565.

One of the most popular things to do is visit the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.

We also wandered around Old Town, Flagler College, and the Mission Nombre de Dios.

And wrapping up another winter in FL, we got to spend our last day hanging out with our family in Jacksonville!

Next up is Georgia’s Golden Isles.