October 17-23: Back in the Panhandle

October 23, 2013

Destin West RV Resort, Fort Walton Beach, Florida

After our great week in Cedar Key, this stop in Destin/Fort Walton Beach was quieter and less noteworthy. But, we had a good week nonetheless!

We’ve been to Destin, well west on the Florida Panhandle, before. Although we had a nice spot, the park we used had way too many rules and not so nice sites. So, my research identified another spot for us to try. Although it’s called “Destin West”, it’s way west, actually in Fort Walton Beach.

We had another easy driving day, this time with no Interstates involved. We headed back out FL-24 to the US-19 junction, then north to Perry where we picked up FL-20 heading west. We bypassed Tallahassee, had lunch at a roadside stop, and soon turned on US-331 back to the beach. A few miles through Destin on US-98 and we were at the Destin West RV Resort.

This is a nicely laid out, newer park. It’s on the bay side as opposed to the beach, and it was relatively quiet even though right on the “main drag”. I suspect that might not be the case during the summer season, but we were fine. Actually, the only noise we heard was from the “Halloween Fun House” next door.

We didn’t plan or attempt to do much, and all expectations were met nicely. We walked the pups around the park, watched the birds and fish by the dock, caught up on some e-reading and nap time, made a couple of shopping runs and ate well, and not much else. All in all, a relaxing week…

Tagliatelle with Sausage and Red Peppers...

...and Chicken Thighs with Yellow Rice made for nice meals!

This was the second place we saw cranes just hanging out.

And the sunsets just keep on coming!

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.

October 10-16: Livin’ the Low Key Lifestyle

October 16, 2013

Low Key Hideaway, Cedar Key, Florida

This week’s stop was probably the most interesting place we stayed this year. Similar to the Red Coconut last week, I found it via Internet searches. Essentially, I was looking for a place to “drop anchor” for a week somewhere between Fort Myers and Destin/Fort Walton Beach in the Florida Panhandle.

Looking at the map, I noticed a little peninsula with a town called Cedar Key that seemed right where we needed to be. In researching RV Parks, I found that a lot of people mentioned heading for the local Tiki Bar for sunsets. A little more looking and I found that the Tiki was at a place called the “Low Key Hideaway Motel, RV & Tiki”. Wait a minute. “RV”? Let’s check this out.

A little more poking around and a quick phone call, and we were booked into one of the 4 RV spots that sit adjacent to the 5-room motel. Yes, this is a small place in a small town. We ended up being glad we found it!

Our travel day was easy and uneventful. Because of our mastery of night-before preparations, we pulled the coach out of our tight little spot around 8:45 and were on the road before 9:00 AM. Our route retraced our steps back to I-75 where we headed north. This marked the beginning of our trek back to our winter place in Arizona.

After a fuel break at the smallest truck stop we’ve ever seen and a rest stop for the pups, and us, we stayed on I-75 through the Tampa area. Near Ocala, we broke off onto US-27/US-27A, and then turned left on FL-24, which took us right to Cedar Key. We were soon parked and ready to begin our low key adventure.

This is the view out the windshield

Although Cedar Key is located on the Gulf, the Low Key Hideaway is actually on a back bay or bayou facing west. The RV spots are positioned so you can get the best view out the windshield.

 

Maya says "I like it here"!

Once again, our week consisted of, well, not much. Funny how it went by so quickly, though! The owners of the place, Pat and Cindy, were full-time RVers for several years before buying the motel and “settling down”. It’s “eclectic” to the max, with much of the activity centering on evenings at the Tiki and sunsets. During the day, we were able to watch a pair of osprey build a nest on a platform out in the water.

"Hey! We've seen that sign at The Rez Bar & Grill, too!"

Sounds like a plan to me!

It only took a couple of days for a pair of osprey to start nesting on this platform.

During the week, we made a couple of trips into town, sampling local (OK, “Florida”) beer and getting Geri a seafood fix. It wasn’t far, or crowded. The local “entertainment district” is essentially built on an old pier, right on the water.

Decent, but not awesome...

Ditto...

Sunsets were the highlight of the evenings. We only had one night where there weren’t enough clouds to make for nice color. We took advantage of the deck right outside the coach, and spent part of most evenings over at the Tiki.

Doesn't get much better...

...unless it's this!

Mmmm!

It’s an obvious place for motel/RV guests to go, but also a hangout for quite a few locals. One of the “regulars” works at the local marina and has access to fresh seafood (a lot of commerce is done via the barter system locally), and when he heard how much Geri likes clams, he brought a bag of (over) 100 for steaming on the grill. Another night, he brought Spanish Mackerel (even I enjoyed that!) and Red Snapper for the bar to share. Awesome!

We’ll end with a couple of sunset views, taken from roughly the same place but with different tides…

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.

October 3-9: Back to the Beach!

October 9, 2013

Red Coconut RV Resort, Fort Myers Beach, Florida

In researching potential stops for this leg of our trip, I came across several interesting RV Parks. Red Coconut is definitely one of them, and we had another nice week at the beach.

Our travel day was relatively easy. We had a leisurely morning, hitting the road just before 11:00 AM. I love not having to rush in the morning! Heading west on I-4 for one exit, we turned south on I-75. It was a non-stop run down to Fort Myers, where we headed for the little burg of Fort Myers Beach, actually on Estero Island.

For some reason, this stretch of I-75 between Sarasota and Naples seems to be a very long drive, but it only took a couple of hours. As we passed through Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, we thought of my Mom and Dad. Both of their ashes are here; they really loved their time in Florida.

I found this RV Park via the Internet, because I was looking to keep with the “beach” theme. It’s an interesting place, with essentially split personalities. The main part of the park, behind the office is a mix on mobile homes and RV spaces laid out in a traditional manner. Across the road, on the beach side, is a big sand lot partitioned off into the tightest RV parking spaces we’ve ever seen. Because of our length, we were given a corner spot, which provided a bit more breathing room in the back, but definitely not in the front!

Being 100 feet away from the beach, a totally dog-friendly beach at that, made our stay quite nice and very predictable. Out with the dogs in the morning for a walk (“Shall we go left or right today?”), back in the coach during the heat-and-humidity-and-buggy part of the day, back to the beach before or after dinner for sunset pictures. Mix in a shopping trip or two and that’s about it.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

Lots of interesting stuff to see and smell on the beach

Nice sunrise. Yes, we were up to see a few sunrises!

Dog-friendly beach!

No, we didn't starve. Chicken thighs, pizza, Beef cutlets and even the odd grilled cheese sandwich.

"Wait for me, Mom"!

Artsy-fartsy

Even the photographer enjoyed sitting on the beach!

Our regular evening spot

The payoff

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.

September 26-October 2: Visiting in Tampa

October 2, 2013

Lazydays RV Campground, Seffner, Florida

We spent a week in the Tampa, Florida, area and had an opportunity to catch up with most of the people we know in the area.

Our travels began with a nice sunny morning in New Smyrna Beach. We hadn’t deployed fully, so getting ready to hit the road was pretty straightforward. I even splurged with a trip to the local Mickey D’s for egg-a-muffins!

We pulled out right on schedule, quickly heading west on SR-44, this time past I-95 to the I-4 interchange in Deland. (It would have added over 20 miles to take I-95 north to I-4 back toward Deland.) I-4 is notionally an East-West road, but it actually runs southeast from Daytona Beach and then essentially south to and through Orlando before turning west to Tampa. We followed I-4 all the way to our destination, which is in Seffner, a couple of miles east of Tampa proper.

We stayed at Lazydays RV Campground, which is part of the huge Lazydays RV dealership right at I-4 Exit 10. Before the Great Recession, Lazydays was generally acknowledged as one of the largest dealerships in the country. They seem to have survived the economy’s downturn and are still going strong. Within the past few years, they actually expanded into the southwest, buying a large dealership in Tucson, a couple of hours away from our “winter home”.

We relaxed a bit on arrival, eating at their on-site Pub (“Exit 10”) the first evening and walking the pups around the park. We saw a few more of the interesting lilies and even a pair of cranes (the birds, not the equipment) wandering around the parking lot. We learned a lot about these neat birds a couple of years ago when we caravanned through Wisconsin and made a stop at the International Crane Foundation facility.

Part of our reason for stopping in the Tampa area was to catch up with friends and family who live in the area. We mostly accomplished this, although we were disappointed that we could schedule time with my nephews, Richard and David, and their families about an hour north. We’ll try again as we head back through in a couple of weeks.

On Saturday, we drove to Brandon to visit with Barbara and Jim, who were our neighbors when we lived in New Jersey. They have a large house here and we visited before, when we made a “quick” trip to Florida in late-2009/early-2010 to inter Mom’s ashes in Port Charlotte. We had a nice catch up visit with them, their daughter and granddaughter, and their 3 poodles. I forgot to take pictures.

Lest you think we ate out every night, Geri made a couple of pizzas on Sunday that tasted fantastic. I’d frozen a couple of dough balls a couple of weeks before, and we fired up the grill as an oven. We learned a lesson: that dough recipe doesn’t freeze well (or thaw well, take your pick), but Geri worked a miracle (as usual).

Monday, we had dinner with my cousin, Pam, who has lived here for years. We met up at the local Cheesecake Factory, our first visit to this chain. I kept thinking dessert, but the menu was surprisingly extensive and diverse. We had a good time catching up and comparing notes on family history. Once again, I forgot to take pictures.

Tuesday, we ate out again, this time with Bob, a colleague from the Philadelphia days. He’s CEO of a local benefits firm and has been in Tampa for a few years now. He asked what type of cuisine we might be interested in and, being oh so predictable, I suggested steak. I’m pretty sure he knew that would be the response, and proposed Charley’s Steak House. Great steak, excellent wine, and awesome company; what more could you ask for? And I even got our server to snap a picture!

So, we had a busy visit, even if we didn’t take in any “tourist attractions”. In between, Geri caught up on laundry and I fixed up a couple of things around the “house”. Tonight, it was back to the “Exit 10” Pub for a light dinner before doing some of our standard pre-travel preparations. Tomorrow’s travel is only 125 miles, so we’ll be able to finish up in the morning and still be on the road by check-out time at 11:00 AM.

As always, please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.