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Old 07-12-2015, 09:28 PM   #1
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Summer trip to Florida

We just returned home from a summer trip to Florida covering some of my favorite places and exploring a few new places. About 1600 miles total over 11 days and basically covered the top 2/3 (a trip to the keys is planned for November so the southern part will not feel left out). One of my goals is to stay at every state park in Florida and I knocked two more out on this trip.
Day 1: Mobile, Alabama to Stephen Foster Memorial State Park near Lake City, Florida. This was a great state park with a bell tower and museum devoted to Foster's songs. Highly recommend.
Day 2-5: Tomoka State Park, Ormond Beach. Another nice state park although very vegetated and smaller sites. My 30 foot trailer was about as big as I would recommend. Visited Daytona Beach, New Symrna Beach, St Augustine, and Port Orange from here. There is a fun new brewery in Ormond and enjoyed a lunch at Aunt Catfish in Port Orange. My kids enjoyed the soldiers at the Castillo in St Augustine and being able to drive one the beach. I managed to stay awake to attend the Coke Zero race (lasted until 3am).
Day 5-7: Cypress Campground in Winter Haven. This was a two day stop at Legoland at the old Cypress Gardens. My kids favorite. This was our sixth visit but first time during the summer so we enjoyed getting to visit the water park part of it.
Day 7-9: Ft Desoto near St Petersburg. This was a relaxing time of enjoying the beach and kayaking. This is such a pretty campground. The highlight was kayaking about 25 feet from a manatee.
Day 10: Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland. We stopped at Weeki Wache on the way up and the kids enjoyed the mermaid show and water park. I was initially turned off by Manatee Springs because the campground was near a cypress swamp and very hot with no breeze and lots of tent campers. But the spring itself was beautiful and the kids enjoyed seeing lots of deer (including some that I think had been fed by other campers) and my highlight was seeing the sturgeon jumping in the Suwannee River. However, I think I'll stay at Cedar Key next time I want to stop in this area again.
Day 11: Carrabelle RV resort near Carrabelle. This was a great stop at the end of the trip. The resort had a great pool and there was a very nice public beach directly across the street (less than 100 foot walk from camp site). We had a great dinner at Fathoms on Carabelle and lunch the next day at Boss Oyster in Appalacicola. This is one of my favorite parts of Florida.
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Old 07-12-2015, 09:35 PM   #2
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Here some pics
Bell tower at Stephen Foster Click image for larger version

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Kids digging from crabs on Halifax River at Tomoka (only two are mine)
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My son pretending to fire the cannon in St Augustine
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The track in Daytona
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Ft Desoto
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Mermaid at Weeke Wachee
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Old 07-12-2015, 09:49 PM   #3
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Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing.

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Old 07-12-2015, 10:26 PM   #4
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I totally agree with you on the Stephen Foster campground. I was there June 25th and it was beautiful with nice sites and great facilities. It is the northernmost park from the I-75 GA/FL border.
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Old 07-13-2015, 10:31 AM   #5
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Thanks for sharing, I have lived in Florida all my life and enjoy all the places you visited. Actually grew up near White Springs. There is a lot to see and do here and I know your kids enjoyed, mine always did.
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Old 07-13-2015, 11:44 AM   #6
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Loved your review ! We are planning a "leave after Christmas trip" . After leaving Ms and Al we are on to St. Augustine... Did you stay on Anastashia island ? I would love to hear what anyone has to say. We travel with our two Heelers and seek the most private and remote locations, difficult in Florida ! Our goal is always to have a good time and not be the cause of anyone else's bad time
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Old 07-14-2015, 06:15 PM   #7
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I haven't stayed at Anastasia SP yet but drove right by it. I hear it gets good reviews. It is on my list. Faver Dykes and Gamble Rogers are also nearby. I have reservations for the new riverside part of Gamble Rogers in February.
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Old 07-14-2015, 08:37 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarrod White View Post
I haven't stayed at Anastasia SP yet but drove right by it. I hear it gets good reviews. It is on my list. Faver Dykes and Gamble Rogers are also nearby. I have reservations for the new riverside part of Gamble Rogers in February.
We've been to FL the last four winters, staying at more than 25 state or municipal parks and our only bad experience was at Gamble Rogers.
We've stayed at Anastasia 3 times and have always enjoyed our stay.
Also in regard to the post regarding Stephen Foster we stayed last year during Christmas. They go all out with decorations, bon fires(with smores and popcorn), fireworks and Christmas music played from the bell tower.
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Old 07-14-2015, 09:09 PM   #9
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What happened at Gamble Rogers? I bet the Christmas experience at Stephen Foster is great.
On the subject of other parks in Florida, I'm a big fan of all of the Panhandle state beach parks (favorite is probably Topsail), Hillsbourgh River, Little Manatee River, Oscar Shearer, Turkey Lake in Orlando (city park), and all of the state parks in keys (but Curry Hammock is my favorite of the group). I've never really had a bad experience at a Florida State Park.
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Old 07-14-2015, 09:35 PM   #10
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Why was Curry Hammock your favorite? We are heading there next week....



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Old 07-15-2015, 06:22 AM   #11
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All are nice but like size of sites at Curry Hammock (compared to Pennecamp), privacy and less road noise compared to Long Key and Bahia Honda, better beach than all but Bahia but beach is closer than Bahia and water is calmer for swimming than Bahia. Second best proximity to civilization (Marathon) of campgrounds (pennecamp is in middle of town). All added together makes curry hammock best in sum.
I recommend Key Fisheries in Marathon for dinner when you visit.
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Old 07-15-2015, 06:34 AM   #12
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What happened at Gamble Rogers? I bet the Christmas experience at Stephen Foster is great.
On the subject of other parks in Florida, I'm a big fan of all of the Panhandle state beach parks (favorite is probably Topsail), Hillsbourgh River, Little Manatee River, Oscar Shearer, Turkey Lake in Orlando (city park), and all of the state parks in keys (but Curry Hammock is my favorite of the group). I've never really had a bad experience at a Florida State Park.
Seems like I can never back into a site perfectly squared, always just slightly askew. Just after I have dropped the trailer and set the stabilizers a campground volunteer came over and advised that units cannot be set-up at an angle in the campsite and if I did not move the trailer a ranger would be by to have me "square up the trailer." Sure enough a short time later here comes a ranger to advise that the trailer was not properly set-up in the site. So finally I hooked-up and straightened the trailer. When I re-set the stabilizers I noticed that the front stabilizers overlapped the original imprints in the sand and the rear stabilizers sat back completely in the rear sand impressions. Later the senior ranger stopped by to reinforce the rules. I ask him why the long 5th wheel down near the bath house was allowed to be parked at an extreme angle and his reply was that it exceeded the allowed length for the campground but they made an exception so the family could stay in the park. The rig actually sat a little ways out into the drive. Hopefully your experience will be pleasant.
You mentioned your encounter with Manatees. We stayed a couple off nights at Blue Springs SP off I-5 east of Orlando. The second night the temps dropped down into the upper 30's. The next morning we walked back down to the springs and we were amazed at the number manatees that had moved into the warmer water during the night.
You also mentions the Keys SP's and we have stayed at all four of the parks. All are great places to spend time. We enjoy being right at the waters edge at Long Key, but in our opinion Bahia Honda is the prettiest park.
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Old 07-15-2015, 07:16 AM   #13
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When you come back through, O'leno State Park outside of High Springs is pretty cool. The Santa Fe River runs through it, and goes underground for a few miles. Don't know if they allow it any more or not, but you used to could jump from a suspension bridge walkway into the river... Also, floating down the Ichetucknee River on an innertube is a fun activity for the day, and is only a short drive away...

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Old 07-15-2015, 08:31 AM   #14
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I used to swim at Blue Springs when I was in college at Stetson in nearby DeLand. A beautiful spot. I also like the old grist mill for pancakes at DeLeon Springs State Park about 5 miles north of DeLand (but no camping there).
I agree that the view at Bahia Honda is wonderful. I had a waterfront site looking back toward old bridge. But, it was very windy (and unseasonably cold for January) and I had a fair amount of road noise. None of the key parks are bad - I just like the layout of Curry Hammock a little better.
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Old 07-15-2015, 08:39 AM   #15
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I used to swim at Blue Springs when I was in college at Stetson in nearby DeLand. A beautiful spot. I also like the old grist mill for pancakes at DeLeon Springs State Park about 5 miles north of DeLand (but no camping there).
I agree that the view at Bahia Honda is wonderful. I had a waterfront site looking back toward old bridge. But, it was very windy (and unseasonably cold for January) and I had a fair amount of road noise. None of the key parks are bad - I just like the layout of Curry Hammock a little better.
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Old 07-16-2015, 06:02 AM   #16
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Key west

Has / or is anyone doing the Key West Naval station RV park this year ? ( That is our ultimate destination) and it will be our first time.
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Old 07-16-2015, 07:53 AM   #17
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Our Keys state park preferences, with favorite first:

Long Key
Curry Hammock
Bahia Honda
Pennecamp
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Old 07-16-2015, 07:58 AM   #18
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I understand that you all love the Keys state parks, but how in the world do you get a reservation? They were all booked when I checked a year in advance. Do you all sit a a computer at the exact minute they open up?? Inquiring minds want to know (I made reservations at Jolly Rogers for January due to no openings at State Parks)
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Old 07-16-2015, 08:05 AM   #19
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We live just north of the Keys (Redland FL), and our schedule is flexible, so we watch for and grab last minute cancellations and go, as long as the stay is at least 3 days. Best, Joe
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Old 07-16-2015, 09:34 AM   #20
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Why would anyone want to come to FL during the summer? All we can think of is going north to get out of the temp, humidity, rain and the mosquitoes.

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