After our very brief stay we left Louisiana after our swamp tour on Friday 6th February. We drove through Mississippi and Alabama without stopping and into Florida. It seriously pained us to ‘miss’ 2 whole states but we have plans to possibly return there in the last remaining time of our trip. The only thing that truly happened of any interest on our journey that day was that I had to help a hugely obese woman off the toilet in Walmart. I can’t really think about it too much as I keep getting flashbacks that make my eyes ache. But suffice to say I will never again politely enquire if anyone is “alright in there?” if I hear huffing and puffing in a public toilet!!!
We stopped at the Florida Welcome Centre just over the border and picked up a selection of leaflets of what to do. Hmmm, I’m not sure it was necessarily the most informed of centres. We got one about the Kennedy Space Centre (yep already on our list), a couple about Crazy Golf and Alligator Farms (hmmm, maybe…) Absolutely nothing at all about any of the incredible National Parks they have here (3 in total – plus numerous National Historic monuments etc.). The flyer advertising the World’s Largest McDonald’s almost was enough to make us turn around there and then!!
Luckily Florida was just as we’d imagined with palm trees and gorgeous glittering ocean! We had really weighed up whether to come to Florida or not. I’ve never been but John has a couple of times in his youth. We knew it would add a lot of miles onto our trip and prevent us from seeing more on the East coast and some of the more central states. But after a couple of months of cold weather and the limitations that put on what we could do, we were really in need of some sunshine and some outdoor living again. Also we happened to know of a certain cousin that might be visiting Florida for half term and as we pine for him almost daily we couldn’t pass up that opportunity.
We had been told by lots of people that some of the best beaches in the USA were to be found in Destin. When trying to work out our route over the 10 days Doreen was joining us we wanted her to see a bit of the sort of travelling we had been doing. But also knew that life of the road with 3 adults and 2 kids in Frankie might get a little claustrophobic. So after much discussion with Doreen about what we could do we decided to ‘settle’ in one place for a few days and just enjoy celebrating her special birthday! So as a lovely treat Doreen booked a real life house for our stay in Destin called Lemonfish. It was pale yellow shiplap and with a pool in the back garden and only 2 blocks down to the shore, (white sand and turquoise water), it was just perfect for a little ‘holiday’.
Saturday was John’s birthday and Doreen’s 80th! We had a lovely birthday breakfast and walk on the beach. Then a delicious seafood dinner at a little local restaurant, Camille’s.
Quite understand why they call this the Emerald coast with powder white sand and crystal clear if not freezing water! They say it has the softest, whitest beaches in the world, supposedly because the sand particles come from quartz found in the Appalachian Mountains, which travel down to the Gulf of Mexico via the Apalachicola River. The result is perfectly oval grains of sand that squeak under your feet when you walk on it.
We did most of our swimming in the house pool. It was freezing when we arrived but after a couple of calls to the letting agent John had located the override button and by the time we left we had got it up to 98 degrees!! We had a few days enjoying the sunshine, beach and swimming pool. The kids were in the pool about 8 hours a day. John and I started working on our tans again. Even Doreen ventured into the pool a few times – although we were all under strict instructions not to splash her after she’d had her hair done.
Did proper holiday activities like Crazy Golf (which it turns out Doreen is actually a bit brilliant at!!) and the arcades. We spent a couple of nice afternoons at Destin Harbour Village (one of the locations used for the film Jaws 2), which is full of shops and restaurants. Got our first real glimpse at the Florida Snow Birds, who appear to enjoy the sunshine with a glass of something in their hand at all times – great retirement living!! On Monday we did a Harbour Sunset Cruise to see the dolphins. Lovely to be out on the water with pelicans flying around us and dolphins swimming alongside the boat. The highlight of the afternoon though was watching the pelicans and herons on the boardwalk. The fishermen were there gutting their catch with an audience of 20 odd pelicans who stood begging and squabbling amongst themselves. Then an audience of 20 odd people watching the pelicans!!
Again it was so lovely to be in a house with walls and doors and separate spaces. Will shut himself in their room and watched TV on his own, all door slamming and ‘leave me alone’. But actually was back downstairs snuggled on the sofa next to Charlie within about 20 minutes. So maybe we don’t all need our own space as much as sometimes think we do? John & I snuck off for a bike ride to Henderson State Park (fantastic looking campsite which we discovered you have to have booked 10 months in advance!!). We also had lunch out ON OUR OWN!!
We had a lovely time in Destin, a proper holiday. Not necessarily the truest representation of our adventure for Doreen to experience. But a total treat nonetheless!! On Wednesday 11th February we moved on through Florida, away from the panhandle and down onto the West Coast. A huge 10 hour drive which somehow felt far too long for such a seemingly short distance. I’d never considered how vast the sunshine state actually is. Ridiculous the size of the States here – Florida is ‘only’ 65,000 sq miles compared with 665,000 sq. miles for Alaska!!!
We had booked a KOA campsite in St Petersburg, which worked for us as it had a few cabins for rent, which were perfect for Doreen and we had an RV site just next door. Not the nicest of campsites as we were all very tightly packed in but knowing what we do now about other Florida campsites not too bad! The “Sunshine City” holds a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive days of sunshine – a stretch lasting 768 days that began in 1967. My kind of a town!!
We only had a couple of days here and split it between a day on the beach at Historic Fort De Soto National Preserve and a day in Clearwater. Fort De Soto is made up of 5 separate islands. The Fort itself was constructed in 1906 and named for Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. It contained batteries of artillery and mortars to protect Tampa Bay from invasion but since 1910 it had been almost totally abandoned. During WWII the island was used for bombing practice including most famously by the pilot who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.
It also has an absolutely beautiful campsite (another one to add to our future wish list) and fishing piers and picnic areas. We had a lovely day there including lunch surrounded by some of the islands resident wildlife – including some very over friendly birds. Obviously since we had paid to ‘spot’ dolphins just 3 days before we were now due to see an abundance of them in the wild. Sure enough as we were driving out of the park that evening we were able to pull over and watch a pod swimming into the harbour – a really lovely sight.
It was all about dolphins on Friday, our last day with Doreen. 2 very famous dolphins Winter and Hope….. For anyone without kids they are the stars of the films, Dolphin Tale 1 & 2. The kids had picked up a leaflet back in the hopeless Welcome Centre and had been nagging us nonstop about going there. So Will, John and I used the brilliant bike trail near the campsite to have a great ride while Charlie had Nannie all to himself and they played mini golf and swam (KOA campsites do have their advantages!!) we headed into Clearwater to the Marine Aquarium. Us and half of Florida!!
We were immediately cynical and unimpressed when they charged us a small fortune in entrance fees despite being told the price included a ½ hour ‘trolley’ ride over to the film studio where some of the movie was filmed. Also very quickly realised that they actually only have about 6 different tanks. We were forced to enter via the gift shop (which is never a good start to any visit) and were immediately deafened by the screeching voice of their ‘volunteer’ over the loud hailer system which was like being stabbed in the ear repeatedly. However, the minute we all clapped eyes on Winter we were all genuinely moved!!
Anyone who doesn’t know her story – she was caught in a fishing net as a baby and lost her tail. They thought she would die. Not only did she survive but learnt to swim by moving her ‘tail’ sideways inside of up and down. The Hollywood spin for the purpose of the movie was that a child who needed a friend found her and he volunteered at the rescue centre. His cousin was injured and had a prosthetic leg and his doctor then built a series of new tails until they found one that Winter didn’t reject and she was able to learn to swim once again!! In reality the prosthetic tail is used only for physio for Winter to stop the damaging effect of her new swimming style on her spine.
But she is beautiful and we were up very close to her and her new pal Winter who stars with her in the second film. There was a huge line of kids there to ‘meet Winter’ and she has become a symbol of hope and recovery for so very many kids and adults alike here in the USA who for a huge variety of reasons have lost limbs. It was really moving and we actually all really loved it.
Valentines Day we drove Doreen to Tampa airport and said ANOTHER teary goodbye!! Then we were headed for a very romantic day out with our dear friends the Hunters who were on holiday at Disney World. Too mean to pay the entrance fee to visit them there we had persuaded them to come and meet us in a park I had found online. So it was that we parked up and set up our BBQ at midday in a picnic area in Lettuce Lake Park, Tampa. Just too exciting when they pulled up in their hire car!! The kids were so happy to see Poppy and Rosie, who at nearly 2 is now walking and talking unlike the last time we saw them almost exactly a year ago to the day!!
We had a really fab day with them. BBQ lunch and lots of catching up. William followed Rosie around for hours being sweetly attentive and caring!! Charlie and Poppy once again discovered each other and remembered what great buddies they are and played nonstop. We walked the 3km boardwalk over the floodplain and hardwood swamp forest, getting our first glimpse of a tiny alligator hiding under the surface of the water!!
It was so very nice to spend a day with these lovely people and saying our second goodbye in one day was tough. We all drove away very subdued – the kids especially. Because what they didn’t know and we did was that in less than 48 hours Dad, Carol, Jon, Nina and most excitingly of all JACOB would be making a surprise visit!!!
We had plans the following day down in Big Cypress National Preserve at the edge of the Everglades so drove as far south as we could manage that night before pulling over to sleep in a rest area. Bit confused to see signs very clearly stating “No overnight parking”. Surely that’s resting. This was just the beginning of discovering that the laws around RV’s and camping are so very strict here in Florida. No parking in Walmart. Campsites that are booked 11 months in advance for months at a time. Over priced and over crowded campsites. Every state park campsite booked and no chance of cancellations or ‘first come first served’ spaces. All a bit alarming and not at all in the spirit of ‘ah we’ll see where we end up’ that we’ve been doing on the rest of the trip so far. Struggling to think more than a week in advance that just doesn’t cut it here in Florida as we were to discover… Luckily we had the next week all sorted with a campsite just down the road from the rental house – couldn’t wait to see the kids little faces!!!
Wickenswanderings 