a birthday party, a headache, and taking the slow road

This past Wednesday was my mom's birthday. She planned to celebrate at her boyfriend's house in Live Oak, FL this past Friday, so I decided to drive up and join in. I brought Mochi with me, and left poor Charlie at home. (Apparently Charlie spent the entire 24 hours that we were gone loudly voicing her displeasure at being left behind. I need to harness-train her and start bringing her along on these adventures!)

Mochi and I in Live Oak
F gives mom a birthday cake

He also got her a metal detector, which is something she has wanted for ages.
Here she discovers a rusty nail.
Mochi, who always relishes being able to race around off the leash had a great time, and totally wore himself out.
Unfortunately, I had started getting a headache on the way up, and had somehow neglected to pack any excedrin. Unfortunately, it developed into one of the worst headaches I've had in a while. F had baby aspirin and Tylenol PM, and that was it. I took three baby aspirin, but they did nothing. I eventually gave in and took two Tylenol PM, which totally knocked me out. Yeah, I drove three hours and ended up being pretty lame company. C'est la vie.
The drive from Orlando to Live Oak took three hours. It also cost me about $10 in tolls to get out of O-town. There's also the fact that driving on the interstate is boring. I've been up and down that stretch of I-75 so many times in my life that there isn't anything remotely new to be seen. And hell, even if it were my first time driving that route, there wouldn't be much of interest to be found. I had just finished John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley the day before I left on this short road trip, and I kept thinking of his comment, "When we get these thruways across the whole country, as we will and must, it will be possible to drive from New York to California without seeing a single thing." So very true. 
For the trip back, I decided to set my GPS to avoid not only toll roads, but also interstates. The estimated travel time was four hours (as opposed to three) but after I stopped for breakfast (I had a biscuit, Mochi got a Hardee's sausage), various scenic spots, and a state park, the trip ended up taking six hours. And yet it was MUCH more enjoyable than the drive up. From here on out, unless I have a very limited amount of time, I'm avoiding the interstates.
Old gas station on County Road 49 between Live Oak and Fort White
Fantastic old overgrown sign, somewhere between High Springs and Archer
Just north of Leesburg, I spotted signs for the Lake Griffin State Park, and decided to pop in. Unfortunately, the park was a tad disappointing. It was a nice park, for what it had, but it was very small. Also, unless you had brought or rented a boat, there was no access to Lake Griffin itself. (There was a stagnant body of water, accurately named the Dead River which could connect boaters to the lake; those of us on foot were out of luck.) There was a very short nature trail, which could hardly be termed a 'hiking' trail, that brought us to the Mammoth Oak - allegedly the fifth largest living oak tree in the state of Florida.
Mammoth Oak
This brought me to another Steinbeck moment. There's a section in Travels with Charley in which Steinbeck introduces his dog (Charley) to a California redwood. Steinbeck expects that the tree is totally going to blow Charley's mind. After all, Charley has been peeing on trees all across North America at this point, and the redwood will most certainly dwarf anything in his canine experience. Charley, to Steinbeck's surprise, was not at all interested in the redwood. Likewise, Mochi was not at all interested in the Mammoth Oak. Encouragements of "C'mon, buddy, pee on the tree!" yielded nothing.
With Mochi, in front of the Mammoth Oak
Pretty flowers of some sort
We walked around the campground, where we spotted this lovely Charlie-type kitty, who most unfortunately wanted nothing at all to do with us. She skeedaddled into the brush the instant after I shot this.
Having exhausted the few options offered by the Lake Griffin State Park, and feeling a tad cheated by the lack of lake, Mochi and I got back on the road. Just a few minutes south of the State Park, we stumbled upon a public boat ramp, with a nice view of the lake. And no entrance fee. Sigh.
Lake Griffin
Lake Griffin
By this point, little shortlegs here was getting pretty tired, so I made this our last stop of the day.