Weeki Wachee

At 14, I could slice under pool water like a knife.

But when my parents chuckled at a friend's suggestion that I had a future at Weeki Wachee, Florida's mermaid show, I'd wanted to cut off my arms and began responding with single words, tapping louder and faster.

Thanksgiving.

Your father and I will be in South Africa.

Good for him.

Like, Weeki Wachee, I think.

Weeki Wachee.

Yeah, his sister is doing comedy.

She was opening for somebody at Laugh Out Lounge.

You're looking at a manatee and then all of a sudden 15 people are pushing you out of the way sort of thing.

Weeki Wachee Spring State Park kayak rentals in Spring Hill.

The Weeki Wachee River runs so clear that seeing wildlife feels almost too easy.

launching from the 6131 Commercial Way in Spring Hill, a state park rental service, puts paddlers right into the spring-fed water.

So yeah, there's tons of spring-fed water there, for sure.

People fly in from Germany, France, and the UK just to tag a junked car in a Texas pasture.

Number two, Weeki Wachee, Florida, where since 1947, young women have performed underwater in a 400-seat theater built into a natural spring.

Smiling and sipping soda pop 16 feet below the surface.

Elvis even stopped by once.