Port Canaveral, second visit

3-12-2015 to 3-27-2015

We originally were going to be headed back to the west coast at this time, but we decided to turn around and head back to the Cocoa, Fl area for our high school class reunion and RV rally after that.

We again camped at Jetty Park right at the inlet from Port Canaveral to the ocean. This is probably one of our favorite places to camp. We are right on the water and there is never a dull moment. We watch the cruise ships come in in the morning, and then we send them off in the afternoon. It's a kick waving and sending everyone off on their cruise. Usually there are anywhere from one to three ships going out, but on one particular day we saw six ships going out. It even brought the locals out to give everyone a big sendoff.

The weather had gotten warmer so many people came out to enjoy the time at the beach on the weekends. We had never seen the beach so crowded.

We saw another night Atlas rocket launch and several submarines coming and going. There never was a dull moment.

It wasn't just cruise ships, submarines and rocket launches but there were lots of dolphins, diving birds, and turtles.

The highlight of this stay was connecting with so many high school friends. We had several lunches and breakfasts with former classmates. The reunion committee did a bang up job organizing the Saturday dinner/ dance. We can still do it, can't we.

We had one interesting encounter as a German cruise ship docked very close to our campground. The cruisers would walk through the campground on their way to the beach. They were amazed at the size of the Rvs in the campground. We had interesting discussions with people from Hamburg and Munich.

Of course, their English is much better than our German.

The weather finally turned on us. We could not run our air conditioner at night, so some evenings were a bit sticky. We left just in time to attend an RV rally in Orlando, where we had electrical hookups and could run our air conditioners.

Florida Panhandle

3-2-15 to 3-11-15

We spent 4 days at Rainbow Springs and then headed west along highway 98, a back country road leading to the Florida panhandle. This time our destination was St George Island State Park. It is located outside Apalachicola, Fl, which is know for its oysters. John fondly remembers another stay here and the delicious oysters.

Again, the campground was filled with mainly snowbirds and not very many Floridians. It's another very nice Fl state park. They are all well maintained. This campground is located at the end of a barrier island with a beautiful white sand beach just across the road. Most of the campgrounds also have some nice hiking trails, which this one also did.

Besides the oysters, we are also enjoying the fresh shrimp, grouper, mahi and red snapper.

We enjoyed a nice seafood lunch on the river in Apalachicola with Dede J, a former CHS classmate. It took us awhile to get caught up on what we've all been doing since high school. We all agree, retirement is the best.

We next moved to another state park, St Joseph Peninsula State Park outside Port St Joe, Fl. It is located about 50 miles up the coast from Apalachicola. Not a long drive this time. It's a campground located on a peninsula with a gorgeous white sand beach on the Gulf of Mexico. The other side of the peninsula is St Joseph Bay with a nature walk allowing great bird watching. We were lucky enough to see a pair of bald eagles along with many herons, egrets, sandpipers, etc.

We did see some interesting signs on our nature walk.

If you look carefully, you can see our motorhome tucked up under the trees behind the lagoon. It also made for great bird watching.

Disneyworld to Rainbow Springs

2-23-15 to 3-11-15

We left the Great Outdoors RV Resort in Titusville and drove west to Ft Wilderness, the camping area in Disneyworld. It's located just south of Orlando in Lake Buena Vista.

We were amazed at how large Disneyworld is and how much it has grown since we last visited it. There are many theme parks such as the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, several water parks, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. There is also a Downtown Disney with lots of shops and restaurants. Disneyworld now encompasses 40 square miles with about 30 different resort hotels.

We stayed for 4 days in the camping area called Ft Wilderness. There were about 800 camping spots, but they were arranged on different loops so you never felt that there were that many people. We were most impressed with the bus system. We did not have to use our car and we never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus. They have certainly learned how to control the crowds. And there were crowds. We decided to skip the Magic Kingdom and spend a day at the Epcot center. We like this theme park because it is not as crowded as the Magic Kingdom and has displays by different countries instead of kiddy rides.

The campground was nicely done, had full hookups, clean restrooms, walking paths and lots of activities for families and kids. The campground, as well as the theme parks were rather pricey. It's now $100 a day to get into the parks and that's what the campground also costs. An expensive vacation for families.

We left Ft Wilderness and drove a couple of hours north of Orlando and off of I 40 near the town of Donnellon, Fl. Our destination was Rainbow Springs State Park.

All of the Florida State Parks have been very nice. The sites here were fairly secluded and had water and electricity hookups. The bathrooms and showers are always very clean and are free. Many of the campgrounds also have a washer and dryer.

To our RV friends: if you are planning on visiting Florida, the best months are January through March. The weather is beautiful and there really aren't many bugs and mainly no humidity. That's why all the snowbirds are here, and to get away from their cold weather. However, the campgrounds are mostly full, mainly with snowbirds, so reservations well in advance are a must. The more popular campground reservations need to be made at least a year in advance.

Rainbow Springs State Park is divided into two parts. The campground is on the east side of the river and the headwaters and day use area are on the west side. The day use area has a walk through beautiful gardens and swimming and snorkeling in the emerald colored spring waters. Kayaking is very popular in all of the springs.

My sister Jane drove down from Jacksonville with her granddaughter to spend the night with us. We enjoyed showing them around.

Titusville, Florida

12-20-14 to 2-22-15

We parked ourselves at the Great Outdoors Resort in Titusville, Fl for 9 weeks. Titusville is located in central Florida just north of Cocoa, Fl where John grew up. Plus, it's just 2 hours south of Jacksonville where we have family.

This is the first time that we have stayed in one place for such a long time, but we wanted to see how we would like it. What was not to like. The resort had restaurants, a golf course, post office, swimming pools, hourly classes, social activities, etc.

Most of the people own their RV sites but there are some available for rent. That is how we were able to stay here. Most of the people are snowbirds and only come down for the winter. Some drive their RV down to Fl, while others just leave it in Titusville.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there as we were included in many activities including a New Years Eve party, Superbowl party, and street get togethers. Most of the people were from the NE part of the U S.

While we were staying at TGO (Titusville Great Outdoors) we were able to see a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, Pris did some bird watching at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and we also visited the Canaveral National Seashore. If you like birdwatching, this is the place to be.

One visit was particularly interesting. We visited Blue Springs State Park, which is located a few miles north of Orlando. When the weather turns cold, the manatees move inland from the St Johns River to this spring where the temperature is a constant 72 degrees. On the day that we visited, there were 300 manatees there. It was quite a site. Two manatees had been rescued, rehabilitated and were being tagged and released when we were there.

Top of the list for Pris and her sister Jane was meeting their cousin from Finland for the first time. Pirjo and her husband were visiting from Finland, so we drove south toward West Palm Beach to meet them for lunch. We did lots of catching up about family. It was fun connecting with her and learning that the house where our grandfather was born in is still in the family. We hope to visit it some day.