2nd Anniversary: Wekiva

As the 2nd full year of marriage quickly approached, Justin and I found ourselves contemplating an "adventure" to celebrate. Aside: I think we are subconsciously trying to preserve our youth by labeling semi interesting activities, "adventurous". We both love anything outdoors, but I don't love "scary adventurous" things, like skydiving, roller coasters, etc. Justin will do anything for a thrill. After tossing around some options, googling "fun outdoor activities in Central Florida," and the like, we finally settled on a plan. I've recently seen friends at Wekiva Springs (Wekiva vs. Wekiwa, never figured this out) north of Orlando and it had quite the balancing appeal of outdoor fun and relaxation.
Justin decided to bring our own canoe in order to save a couple dollars. Let me tell you- we earned those dollars. Justin's canoe is very heavy. I had to help him push/carry this monstrosity several hundred yards downhill to the canoe launch. It felt like something off an Insanity work out. After making it to our destination, I looked a very long distance uphill and dubiously asked how we were ever going to get the canoe back to the car. Justin promptly stated, "Don't worry about it. It will be fine." Typical Justin, and I secretly worried.
Once we were in the water, Justin gave me a quick lesson on how to correctly use a paddle. I even more quickly failed that lesson and gave up paddling. Justin got his work out in for the day by being the lone rower while I lounged in my seat enjoying pure natural bliss. My bliss was interrupted, in predictable Justin fashion, when my sweet husband steered off the main, wide, safe river into a small alcove with a mysterious water path leading away from all the other humans. I promptly complained, and as he eased us into the brush, I was nearly splashed by the whip of an alligator tail as it jumped into the water literally, no lie, five feet in front of me. I turned around and gave Justin the "death stare" as he did his slow "uh oh" laugh shrugging off the near death experience.

We eventually made it out of Justin's secret, non-inhabitable, gator infested waterway and resumed rowing on the river after a light lunch. Justin threw out his line and tried baiting some fish without any bites. I spotted all the animals possible and floated along the river channelling my inner Pocahontas. We eventually "docked" our canoe against a fallen down tree in the middle of the stream and walked around on the log like kid explorers. We were laughing and enjoying ourselves when we heard a large SNAP and a huge commotion of sound. We quickly realized a tree opposite of us had just fallen down out of nowhere. I reacted by exclaiming how it could have fallen on top of us, killing us right then and there! Justin, said,"yea, but it didn't." What would I do without his sobering attitude? So, I've come to conclusion that a tree does make noise when it falls down and there's no one to hear it.  Very philosophical, I know.

After traveling down the river and back for a couple of hours we returned to the launch. My anxieties returned as I stared at Justin, the canoe, and the hill. I'm somewhat fit, but I'm not that fit. Justin did some finagling and attached two straps to the canoe for us to pull on and slide the canoe up the hill. So that's what we did. We ran up the hill as fast as we could pulling on the straps and literally dragging this canoe uphill negative two miles an hour. It was like one of those football drills where they have to sprint against weights, except we were going way slower and there were more entertained onlookers. Half way up we stopped to breathe and I felt like I just completed the most strenuous exercise in the world. We still had a hundred yards to go straight. up. We ran and we pulled and even grunted a little. We made it up that hill and immediately poured sweated, hyperventilated and bent over in pure exhaustion. Quite an exercise in teamwork for our anniversary celebration, and I think Justin was secretly proud I gave it my all.
We then quenched our sweating bodies with a chilly dip in the natural spring. The water is in the 70s and quite a shock to the system, but it was beautiful and clear and refreshing all the same. We played like kids with our dive mask as we looked into the "cave-like" opening of the spring. It was such a joy swimming and splashing with my husband like two love-birds enjoying a summer day.
Our local trip proved to be a perfect one day get-away for our anniversary. I will never forget the day we went to the springs and had quite an adventure in more way than one! Between gators, the uphill climb, and all of our exploring, we made memories devoted to just having fun with one another. Describing our anniversary makes me realize why I fell in love with my husband all over again: he's a big, fun-loving, kind and gentle man who stole my heart with his one and only laugh and unconditional love. Happy 2 Years, Justin!!