Headed North for Thanksgiving -- then back to Florida

With plans to leave our motorhome in the Tampa area,  we first needed to head north to celebrate Thanksgiving with our Aberdeen, NC family.  We made an overnight stop enroute at Colleton State Park in South Carolina along I-95.  A nice compact campground to break up the drive.

On arrival in Aberdeen, we driveway camped.  Jordan joined us in our RV for overnights bringing along his 7 blankets.



Thanksgiving day, while the turkey roasted and the Macy's parade was on TV, we played games and waited for the feast to begin.  YUM !!!

The following day, we all headed to Asheville.  We had Saturday morning tickets to tour the Biltmore Estate mansion, so we camped at Powhattan National Forest campground, while Mike & Jess were at a

hotel nearby.

Yes, Jordan joined us again for more camping!
and a visit with Smoky.





Saturday morning we arrived at the Biltmore to crowds of people, but still enjoyed walking the mansion which was all decorated for the holidays.

Sunday we all departed with us heading back to Florida to store our RV until mid January
(and have some repairs done).  And we finally did our first overnight at a Walmart in Valdosta, GA. --not so bad.

DISNEY !

We're back at Disney World for our 23rd? time.  What made this trip extra special was the surprise.

Shane & Anna were getting up for school when their mom said to them, "Let's play hooky and do something else today."  When they got to the airport and then to the gate where the plane was going to Orlando, Shane figured it out...…."We're going to Disney World!"  The surprise doesn't end there, as when they arrived the following day at Hollywood Studio's, Shane said, "That looks like Nana and Papa...……….Hey, it is Nana & Papa!"

We then spent two fun packed days at Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom.  What a great surprise and adventure.

Wanted to mention that when we pulled into Fort Wilderness at 10:30 in the morning, way before the 3pm check-in time, the nice Disney cast member, gave us a choice of available sites.  We took site 424 which was a short 5 minute walk to the boat to the Magic Kingdom.  It doesn't get better than this!

Since we arrived early, we had time to check out the miniature golf course followed by dinner at Disney Springs.

 We love Disney !  

From Spring to Spring.....

We needed to change our itinerary, staying on the Florida Natural Spring tour.  Originally we planned to catch some sun & sand on the Gulf of Mexico, but unfortunately (much more unfortunate for the residents), hurricane Michael wreaked havoc destroying much of the gulf coast towns near Mexico Beach.  So last minute, we made plans to stay in central Florida.


On the way to our new destination, we stopped at Paynes Praire to check out this unique part of Florida.  There is a small bison herd (which we didn't spot) and lots of alligators swimming in the marsh lands (which we did spot).

We headed to Juniper Springs, originally developed by the CCC, Juniper has a nice campground, a spring fed pool for swimming, and canoe trips through the tropical vegetation.  We barely got a reservation, as it was Veterans weekend, and then discovered that due to the new online Recreation.gov, there were many empty sites (although the campground thought they were totally full.)  We sure hope the new online reservation company gets there system working properly before we need to start booking our next fall's plans.  It's currently a mess!

At Juniper Springs, we hiked seven miles along the Florida trail, traveling through a government designated Wilderness area of pines, palmettos, and marsh areas.  No hills here!  We also hung out at our very nice camp site which included a roaring camp fire one evening.

Next to Blue Springs State Park, where we have visited at least twice before.  This visit we only spotted a few Manatees as the weather was in the high 80s, so no need for them to duck into the spring area to stay warm in its constant 72 degrees.  To stay cool, we should have jumped in the spring waters.



We also biked on the local bike trail which is now ten miles long and in construction to connect to another trail further south.  We look forward to being back to Blue Springs in the spring to ride the additional miles of the trail.

More time along the Suwanee River

Next camp stop, Manatee Springs State Park.  We came to swim with the Manatees, while the alligators & snakes watched.  More spring fed pools to keep us cool on very hot humid and buggy days.



Although no cell service, there was WiFi at the snack bar and canoe rental shop.  Since we were here for election day, we walked over in the evening with our small TV, and used our phone's hot spot to watch the election results.  We figured our glowing TV screen would bring out other campers, but no; not even the racoons nor the squirrels.

The following day we biked down to Treasure Camp, along back country roads.  Had a great lunch of fried shrimp and enjoyed the sun and the river flowing nearby.  The next day we biked the nicely paved Nature Coast State Trail to Fanning Springs State Park.  Arriving hot and sweaty, we jumped into the pool.  Cool and
refreshing!






Another eating out for lunch day, as we then crossed the highway and ate at the BarBQue Shack.









Speaking of eating...…...we must mention Dave cooking us all breakfast on a campfire.  Yum!

Way Down Upon the Suwanee River..........

Spending more time in northern Florida, we camped at Suwanee River SP along the Suwanee River.  We hiked by one of the many natural springs dumping gallons of ground water into the River.  The Cypress, the Palmettos, and all of the aquatic life made for some great hikes.

Being on this famous river, we decided after a beautiful blue sky day, why not rent a canoe and a couple of kayaks and head down the Suwanee.

  Unfortunately, this day started overcast with only a small chance of rain...……...wrong!  After we embarked, it started to sprinkle, then rain, then downpour.  Did we have to start baling our boats?  Three hours later, we reached the end point.  A trip we will never forget.

 

Football Saturday at Suwanee River State Park, Florida

A beautiful day to watch the University of Michigan Wolverines decimate Penn State.  Morey dug out the extra TV that he brought just for an occasion like this.  Then he hung up his cell phone for better signal so we could stream the game.  Success, on all accounts!

Oh #%*?¥# !!!

We stopped at the Stephen Foster Folk State Park to spend some time at the cultural center and learn about Foster and his works.  Since we pulled into the parking lot at noon, it was first time for lunch.  Ruthie opened the refrigerator door and it crashed to the ground.  A broken plastic hinge!

This happened to us five years ago with our old RV and Norcold.  Last time it was plastic pins and sockets.  This time only plastic sockets.  Will Norcold ever fix this ongoing problem?

UPS delivers!

With a barely functional fridge; the door was taped shut, we headed to Camping World to discover they couldn't get us a new door and hinge for two weeks.  Morey called Norcold and they suggested Amazon.  It arrived four days later!

Should we join the Running Man movement?

Our friends, Dave & Nan, have introduced us to creating Running Man photos.  And yes, we will join the movement and add this to our traveling tradition!

Running Man …….. 

Fort Clinch State Park on Amelia Island, Florida

We're back in the south....Florida.  The sun is shining and the temps are in the high 70s.  How nice after the rain and cold of Lake Superior.

Back at Fort Clinch - our 4th time?  We're camped only a short distance from the St. Mary's River, where we've enjoyed the sunset every evening as we've enjoyed the company of Nan & Dave.  We biked into Fernandina Beach for a walk through the quaint downtown and lunched on some great shrimp Po'Boys.


Another day we biked 36 miles on a round trip island ride which included a nice cycleway.  We stopped for lunch at American Beach, the only "black" beach in Florida before the mid 60s.  Then Ruthie remembered the Tomato stand and Morey remembered the Dairy Queen.  They were both still in business and so we stopped at both.

Today, we headed over to the pre-Civil War Fort Clinch.  This fort never played a part in any battles.  The closest activity was when the Union troops arrived in 1862 to discover that the local citizens and Confederates had abandoned the fort and town, and only a few of the dignitaries were on the last train out of town on the David Levy Yulee built railroad.  The fort returned to the Union flying their 36 star flag.

Jordan's 7th Birthday

We came to Aberdeen to celebrate Jordan's birthday, along with his parents, Michael & Jess.  Jordan is such a great kid!

While in town, we did some home projects including painting Jordan's bedroom from baby light blue, to big boy dark blue.

On Sunday, we stayed for his birthday party with many of his friends.
Decorating pumpkins, grilling hot dogs, and a really tasty cupcake birthday cake.

  

 

The Smoky Mountains

We're back in the Smokies!  A couple of years ago we spent most of our time at Cades Cove campground and then just one overnight at Elkmont campground.  We said we need to return to Elkmont, and we did...for 6 days.

Jumping on the reservations 6 months ahead of our planned trip, we secured the primo site right on the river.  What could be better than hearing the water cavorting around the rocks as we slept in BIW.  We even pulled into our site forward facing the rushing waters.
What a great campground even though it is rustic.  We even had a couple of roaring campfires to keep us warm in the evening.

We hiked three of our days.  As the week progressed the fall leaf colors continued to get better.

 

Our first day we hiked to Laurel Falls with all of the masses of tourists, but fortunately continued after the 1.3 trail to the falls, and we were almost alone.  Next we hiked right from Elkmont on the Little River Trail to Cucumber Gap Trail. We stopped at Daisy town, a former resort of cottages from the 1920s and 30s.

Then our RV friends, Gail & Dan, arrived and we headed over to the Alum Cave Trail.  Fall colors getting even better!  We were tempted to hike all the way to Mt LaConte, but decided a 6 mile hike with an elevation climb of 1,700 feet was enough for us.