Key West

A nice 4 hour ride on beautiful US 1 to Key West. Gulf on one side and ocean on the other. We're staying at the Navy's Sigsbee RV Park LINK  

Everglades

Fantastic all back roads trip of about 5 hours to the Everglades down Tamiami trail. Neat thing is the alligators in the canal that is aside the road. We stayed overnight in a very nice National Park Service campground in the Big Cypress National Reserve.  LINK. The alligators in the pictures was in the canal near the road. We were one of two rigs that stayed overnight. No alligators came visiting.

Lazy at Lazy Days

Short, 1 hour run to Lazy Days Campground. LINK Lazy Days is a huge RV dealer on the outskirts of Tampa. A very unique thing is that they leave the RV's, new and used, unlocked during the day and let you wander through them without a sales rep. We saw MANY motor homes and got some ideas to add to ours.

Beach

Anne took us to a fantastic beach near St. Petersburg Beach. The beach is located at Pass-a-Grille. Anne and Robin had a great time baking and chatting. Steve sat in the shade and read his Kindle.

Giraffe Feeding (Camels too)

FANTASTIC day at the Giraffe Ranch. LINK Robin says this was the best time she ever had. The owners are very knowledgeable and the husband ran the Zoo in Tampa for decades.


We had a great dinner at Kafe Kokopelli in Dade City, LINK.  The restaurant location used to be the garage of an auto dealership! Note the amazing bar.

Church and Tarpon Springs

Started out at early services at Anne's church, St Mary's Episcopal LINK. The pictures on the website don't do it justice. Robin is getting quite an exposure to different Protestant religions!

Tarpon Springs

Tampa

Today Anne took us into town for a fantastic tour of theTampa Bay History Center Link It is a great history museum with lots of interactive displays of Tampa area history: Indians, cattle, citrus, etc. Really enjoyed this. Afterwards we ate like kings, yet again, at the museum branch of the famous Columbia Restaurant LINK

Dade City

While Tibby was finally getting groomed, Anne took us on a windshield tour of Dade City. LINK When I first came here this was a citrus town with a huge OJ processing plant and orange groves everywhere. Diseases have severely damages the groves and the plant has closed. It is still a quaint town where it seems everyone knows each other. We had a great lunch and then talked more. For dinner we went to the City Market Bistro LINK for a fantastic meal.

Florida

Another all back roads run to Dade City Florida to see Steve's Sister-In-Law Anne and introduce her to Robin. Went all on US 1 and US 301. Great seeing the small towns along the way.

My late Brother Frank and Anne turned their property into a work of landscape art. Robin says it looks like in the movies. Some pictures.

I was last here almost 3 years ago so it was great to catch up with things with Anne and she and Robin chatted late into the night. Great chemistry!

Moving on to Georgia

Great time in Lenoir but moving on time. Heading south to Florida. We are staying at Ft Gordon's RV park Pointes West on Strom Thurmond Lake near Augusta GA for 2 nights .  LINK

Went to the Signal Corps museum but wasn't impressed...Vietnam era barely mentioned. 

Lunch with Howard

Fantastic 2 hour drive up into the mountains to have lunch with Howard (Robin's dad). We went to the Shatley Springs  family style restaurant LINK that has been a favorite for ages. Everything was amazing, including the ride in the moutains!