Category Archives: Florida
We Drank From The Fountain of Youth! And Toured Castillo De San Marcos
Another great day-we took advantage of the eggs, sausage and waffles at the hotel and used the jacuzzi one more time. We went to the Fountain of Youth-a completely different atmosphere during the day than it was on our Ghost Train Ride there last night. We tried a sample of the strongly flavored mineral water from [...]
St. Augustine, FL Lighthouse and Ghost Train
We toured the historic St. Augustine lighthouse located at 81 Lighthouse Ave, Saint Augustine, FL 32080 where we climbed the 14 stories worth of stairs to get up to the very top. Admission was $8/adult. I was sadly amused by the huffing and puffing coming from some of the younger kids as they braced the rail and [...]
CityWalk Nightlife, Orlando, FL
We started our night at Orlando’s CityWalk around 6 P.M. (by then parking was free.) We picked up our movie tickets for later, and went to have dinner at Bob Marley-A Tribute to Freedom. The restaurant is designed after Bob Marley’s home in Kingston, Jamaica. It was interesting how part of the inside was actually roofless, so there [...]
Sleeping in Van in Orlando
I spent the night in the van in the parking lot next door to the Intown Suites without any problems. It’s Thursday. Just Friday, Sat & Sunday to go-then we can leave Orlando. I don’t want to live here. At least not from what I’ve seen of the town so far. I was reading the [...]
InTown Suites-No Pets Allowed!!
InTown Suites 7100 S. Orange Blossom Tr. Orlando, FL 32809 Action-Reaction-My head went cold, my brain froze. The security guard at the door of our hotel room, with unnaffected calm asked if that was our van outside. He said no animals of any kind were allowed on the premises. “But they’re in our own van, which [...]
InTown Suites, Orlando, FL
We checked into our InTown Suites room in Orlando today. We had to pre-pay for the week and leave a $50 deposit as well. The room is old but seems adequate. There’s wireless internet, so we got our taxes done. I used the microwave to make hot tea-a novelty I’ve missed a lot since my insulated cup that plugged into [...]
Controlled Forest Fire, Fort Christmas Park, FL
We passed a prescribed national forest burning on our way out of Titusville. The fire was almost to the highway-I wonder if it’s hard to keep it under control sometimes. It was pretty big. We are at Fort Christmas Park to relax a while now. This is where the Seminole Indians used to live. Chris & I [...]
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Aligators
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, sitting on 140,000 acres (on Route 404 North Titusville, FL) was a wild and interesting place to spend some time. We started out on Black Point Wildlife drive. The self-guided dirt road tour through the reserve is a slow drive allowing for frequent photo stops to pull over and get a better view of [...]
Fun Things to do around Cocoa Beach on a budget
Fun things to do around Cocoa Beach on a budget—well we started the morning with the simple plan of finding a good place to shower on the road without actually having to get a motel room (which would pretty much destroy our budget in an expensive area like this). Pro-Health & Fitness Center (located on [...]
Valentine Parking Blues
We tried parking at Melbourne Beach first, but right as we were getting cozy a cop came, shined his spotlight at us and asked for my ID. He wasn’t very helpful in suggesting alternatives. We tried the small Walmart nearby but there were “no overnight parking” signs everywhere. We went to big beach parking lot and [...]
Nature Observations
Nature, each time I return to thee, I learn your secrets-and my own. I woke up at a park this morning, far off the beaten path and we were the only ones there. I got out and followed a path up some stairs, climbing quickly to the top. I enjoyed the lushness and unknown flowers. [...]
Jupiter Island beach
Ox gave us a scare last night. We were about to fall asleep when suddenly the automatic window starts opening. Ox was standing on the button, I think he was proud too-he looked at me and let out a funny meow, as if to say, “I have learned your secret.” Now if only we could’ve gotten him [...]
Key Biscayne Island, Florida
We spent the night in a library parking lot on Key Biscayne Island. Last night we walked across the bridge and took pictures of Miami. I watched as a large coconut fell from a tree making a loud thud. I wonder how often a coconut falls on someone’s head. We’re both getting tired of seeing endless “no overnight parking” [...]
Everglades
We went on several hikes, saw lots of aligators, birds, mangroves (pencil-like trees). We took cold showers at a public restroom and were planning to spend the night in the parking lot. There was a campground down the road, but we were just going to stay in our van and were hanging out watching a [...]
Fruit and Spice Park, Superbowl, Everglades
Today feels like a very full day. In need of showers, we checked prices at several hotels & motels, the cheapest was $39, average was $65 and the high end was $139. Then we stumbled across a community center with a pool for just $3/person. That was wonderful and we used the showers in the [...]