Graf #12 (Place)

                I knew we were almost there once we drove past the sign with the town slogan, “Don’t get useless in Eustis”. We were driving to my most favorite camping site, Natanis. With my face pressed to the glass, I watched the Chain of Ponds guide us to our destination.  I had never been happier to reach that bumpy dirt driveway after a long three hour drive. Once seeing that old, rickety ‘sign-in’ building, I knew we were finally there.

                After we signed in, we drove around the corner… and there it was. That long narrow strip of land that cut across the ponds. I gazed at the beauty of nature’s openness as we crossed the bridge. The vast majority of the camp sites were on the other side of the pond, but we found their secret spot that very few knew about. On this strip of land, the whole length of it on one side is a beach; so, we used it as our boat launch. We put all our camping supplies into the boat, drove underneath the bridge, and sped off down one of the ponds. At around a mile out, we came to a stop at a secluded ‘island’ (it looked like an island, but technically it wasn’t). We stopped the boat on a little beach and tied it up to a tree. The island was raised about six to seven feet; so, there was a steep incline until level land. There were tree roots that acted as stairs, which made things easier to carry up our load.

After everything got set up, I would just sit in the sun and take in the beauty surrounding me. Trees bordered the island to offer us a little privacy. Mountains were in the background over every angle you looked at. The pond beautifully reflected the trees and mountains before it. It was also an amazing place to fish. At night, the sky was always so clear. We would often have a huge bonfire as we sat beneath the stars, reminiscing about old times. The frogs would sing us to sleep and the loons would gently wake us in the morning. There is nowhere in the world I would rather be then spending the summer here with the people I love.