Crystal River Archeological State Park and Crystal River Preserve State Park were the twin destinations of last week's Adventure Friday. The first park is the site of an interesting set of early Timucuan Indian mounds. The second park is a nature preserve that manatees frequent over the winter. We visited along with another friend and homeschooling family. Additionally it gave us the opportunity to check another stop off on our quest to earn our Florida Junior Ranger pin. If you are a history buff like me or just enjoy viewing nature you should consider a visit.
Crystal River Archeological State Park
Our first stop was the museum next to the parking lot. While us mom's got the lay of the land from the park ranger the kids explored the touch and feel table, with items they could handle from alligator scutes and deer skulls with antlers to turtle shells and alligator gar skulls with their razor sharp teeth. It was a great tie in to our nature studies this year as we have looked for animals or their remains on the trails.
Inside the museum itself, we admired a large mural of the Timucuan Indians and reviewed what we have learned about them in previous discussions on other Adventure Fridays. The kids remembered a fair amount and then we discussed how the artist was able to make inferences through the artifacts found in an area to construct a picture of daily life. After making several observations, the kids were dismissed to wander the room and view various artifacts and displays with the instruction to pick one that particularly interested them to share with the others later. Kate choose to share about a map of Indian tribes that showed the Indians of Crystal River traded with those both in Mexico and those further North in the United States. Rebecca "really liked" the model of the village. Meanwhile, Ruth found interesting the stone hammer heads and some of the trade goods, like quartz. The deer skull and other ancient animal skulls on display in the glass cases were most intriguing to Britt.
Next, we hiked out to the Temple Mound, the largest mound at the park, to complete our page for the Junior Ranger Program. As we mentioned on back when we visited Dade Battlefield, we have begun exploring some of the Florida State Parks while working on the Florida Jr. Ranger Program. Today we took one of the printed up sheets about cultural destinations and learned a little more about the work of archeologists in the state park system. Then after admiring the views of Crystal River from the top of the mound, the kids turned in their activities sheets in exchange for stamping their passports. Additionally, our friend, who accompanied us, started on his own Junior Ranger adventure.
Finally, we enjoyed a leisurely picnic lunch before leaving the park. We all ate and talked about some of what we had seen and done today. Then while the kids ran around the picnic table and played tag with one another my friend and I talked typical mom homeschooling stuff. Eventually the no-see-ums drove us off, and we headed-out to our next destination the next door Crystal River Preserve State Park.
Crystal River Preserve State Park
After pulling out of the parking lot at the Archeological State Park we headed over to the Nature Preserve. Our first stop was right at the entrance to find a geocache. Locating it was a cinch with the clue given. It was a micro cache too, one of the smallest we've found, unfortunately the log inside was damaged and we couldn't sign it. We've found 24 now this school year.
From there we headed over to the manatee viewing area in hopes of seeing some of the peaceful creatures that flock to the warm water springs of Florida during the winter, but unfortunately we struck out. We did enjoy reading a little more about the curious looking creatures, and admiring the inlet to the ocean. Kate was hoping for some beach area to play, but she struck out again, as there isn't any in the Crystal River area. To really enjoy this park you should consider their kayak and boat rentals, but that wasn't in the budget for today's trip.
There are a number of short trails and even a seven mile hike that you can do here, but the kids didn't feel like hiking today, so we just took it easy. I think another time we'd like to come back here with Gary and let the kids fish and either do some kayaking or take one of the trails, such as the Discovery Trail which is a two mile loop with eleven Discovery Zones with Sensory tips for your hike.
If you'd like to make a trip the address to the Crystal River Archeological Park is 3400 North Museum Point, Crystal River, Florida. Both parks are open from 8 to sunset daily. Entrance to the Archeological Park is $3 for a car load of up to 8 people, and entrance to the Preserve is free.
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