Kissimmee, FL – September 14 through 20

For my 50^th birthday, I wanted to go to Disney World and Epcot. I always thought Disney World was the Florida equivalent to Disneyland in California. However, the Disney World Resort encompasses many different Disney parks: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, Downtown Disney Area, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom Park.

We stayed for a week at the Great Oak RV Park in Kissimmee, FL. Mike lived in Orlando (McCoy Air Force Base) around 40 years ago. He says Kissimmee was a much different place back then. Now it’s very congested and touristy. The RV park was a little off the main drag though. Most of the park residents are snow birds. I think we were the only ones that were short-term residents. Our space was on grass, and since it rained almost every day, it was extremely soggy.

Our friend Mark Heal happened to be in town for business at the same time. We met on Tuesday for dinner and caught up on all the news over Italian food and drinks.

Thursday we went to the Magic Kingdom. It’s pretty much the same as Disneyland in California, but some of the rides were missing, as they are in other parks in the Disney World Resort. We were really surprised at how busy it was since it was sprinkling out, during the week, and late enough in the year that all the kids should be back in school. The Fastpass system is the only way to go.

 

Friday we went to Epcot. Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. The park is divided into two areas: Future World and World Showcase. Future World has rides and exhibits highlighting ideas and innovations. World Showcase consists of 11 pavilions highlighting the cultures, traditions, food, and entertainment of different countries. The countries highlighted are:

·        Canada

·        United Kingdom

·        France

·        Morocco

·        Japan

·        America

·        Italy

·        Germany

·        China

·        Norway

·        Mexico

Saturday, we went shopping for a new camera for my birthday. I got a Nikon Coolpix L840. It’s still more or less a point and shoot camera, but it has a 38x zoom. I also wanted something that could use regular AA batteries, as I’m really bad about having batteries charged when I need them.

We also looked at some houses in the Orlando area while we were there. We looked at some existing houses, but they were just as expensive as the new ones we saw, and they needed work. That doesn’t make sense to me.

Old Town, FL – September 12 and 13

We stayed at the Lucky Charm RV Park in Old Town, FL, for two nights. The RV park is named after the owners’ dogs, Lucky and Charm. It has probably the widest spaces we have ever seen, and there is a nice salt-water pool in a screened-in patio. It is an adult-only park (40 years old or older) and caters mostly to the snowbirds.

While we were there, we took trips to Fanning Springs and Manatee Springs State Parks.

Fanning Springs is beautiful. The water is almost as clear as air, a gorgeous blue-green, and stays around 72 degrees year-round. In the winter, manatees migrate up the Suwannee River to the springs. There is an area for swimming and snorkeling, a boardwalk path to a gazebo overlooking the river, and a nature trail. You have to watch out for the golden silk spiders as you walk around the springs. We had one slide down its web right into our path. My photos of the spider did not turn out well, but you can see one here. Colorful little suckers.

Indian Pass, FL – September 11

There are lots of quaint little towns along the Florida coast. One of my favorites was Apalachicola, perhaps because it’s fun to say more than anything.

We stopped for the night at Indian Pass, FL. The Indian Pass RV Park was really not what we were expecting. It is more of a fish camp than anything. The spaces were hard to get into, dirt, and not all that level. Lots of long term residents there.

Grayton Beach, FL – September 9 and 10

From Gulf Springs, we headed east along the coast of Florida. We stayed for two nights at Grayton Beach State Park. Again, the beaches were gorgeous. Grayton Beach is a quaint little town, but very touristy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first night, we ate at the Red Bar. It is a small restaurant with only five entrees on the menu and a daily special. The walls and ceilings are bedecked with movie posters (a good majority of them in French) and miscellaneous interesting items, mostly in red. I don’t think there were two chairs alike in the restaurant. A jazz band plays in the lounge area nightly. I had blackened grouper over spinach and a cheesy grit cake. Mike had shrimp. Very good.

On the last night, we heard helicopters circling overhead for hours. We found out the next morning that the police were looking for an escaped convict from Louisiana. As we drove through Panama City the next morning, there was an area surrounded by US Marshalls, state police, local police, sheriffs, and SWAT. I don’t know if they caught him or if they just had him surrounded. Needless to say, we didn’t stick around.

 

Gulf Springs, AL – September 2 through 8

We spent a week in Gulf Springs, Alabama, visiting our friends Yvonne and Mike Chiodo. We ate out, barbecued, walked on the beach, swam in the RV park pool, reminisced, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

The beaches are absolutely beautiful. They have the whitest sands I have ever seen. It looks like someone sprinkled sugar over the beaches, and the sand squeaks when you walk on it (kind of like walking in the snow).

We stayed at Doc's RV Park. There were a lot of long-term residents, but the grounds were well maintained, and everyone was friendly. We made good use of the pool, swimming at least once a day, sometimes twice. There was also a walking/bicycling path that ran along Fort Morgan road. We started walking/jogging again in the mornings. They did have huge centipedes there (4 to 5 inches long). If you left something on the ground, you could almost guarantee that there would be centipedes under it the next morning.

While in Gulf Springs, we visited Fort Morgan State Historic Site. The fort was active during the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II.