Beach Time

We are back in Florida for our third winter and it is the first time that we stayed near the Atlantic Ocean. I thought we should have a few days at the beach so our first stop was just north of Daytona and was fairly close to Ormond and Flagler beaches. When we upgraded our Thousand Trails membership last year, we got a year free of their Trails Collection membership. This is an add on to Thousand Trails that includes additional RV parks for an additional annual fee. We hadn’t fit any of those parks into our travels yet and I wanted to try one.

Our site at Sunshine Holiday Daytona. It looks bigger than it was because nobody was in the site next us. The tree is the dividing line between the sites.

I picked Sunshine Holiday Daytona which is an Encore Park. The park was in a good location, convenient to get to the beach but isn’t the type of park that we prefer. The roads were very narrow and the main road had very low tree branches which made getting in and out challenging. We like parks with more of a natural setting but don’t like low tree branches that can damage our RV. This park also has mostly annual or seasonal sites, many of which were little park model homes. I probably would not go back to this park but I am still not sure about renewing that part of the membership.

A bit of a cloudy and cool day for the beach.

The best part of this stop was that is was close to the Flagler Beach I had read about Gamble Rogers State Park that has a campground located right on the beach. Many full time RVers have mentioned that it is their favorite Florida State Park. Since it wasn’t far from where we were staying, we decided to check out the beach and campground. The ride to the park was very scenic along inland waterways and then up along Rt. A1A with views of the ocean. The park is across the road from the beach and there are 2 campgrounds, one at the beach and one near the river. I liked the river side better although both looked really nice. For a bonus there was a really nice hiking trail and a butterfly garden in the park. If we ever go back to that area, I would like to stay there although we were told it is hard to get a reservation.

The drive to the beach was very scenic but my pictures through the car windows weren’t that great.

The hiking trail at Gamble Rogers State Park

You felt like you were in a jungle on this trail although you could hear traffic noise from A1A.

The weather wasn’t the best beach weather, a little cool and very windy, but we still enjoyed Flagler Beach. When we left the park, we drove south along A1A and found a cute place to have lunch where we could sit with a view of the ocean that was out of the wind. Can’t beat that! We finished the day finishing a drive down A1A through Ormond Beach and turned at Daytona Beach to head back up Rt. 1 to the RV park.

Our lunch stop; no music but the food and the view was terrific.

During our stay, we were able to get together with Tim’s sister and her husband, Sue and Greg. They suggested meeting in DeLand, Fl for the Fall Arts Festival. The weather didn’t look great for the beach with more cool temperatures and possible rain so it was a good day to travel inland. It rained a little after we first got there so we had an early lunch. Luckily the rain stopped and we ended up with a nice day to walk around an arts festival. There were lots of interesting items at the vendor booths and many cute stores in town that were great for browsing. We ended the day with some wine and relaxations at a wine bar in town. There seem to be many cute towns in Central Florida that have a variety of festivals and entertainment. Definitely up my alley.

Sue and Greg relaxing after the arts festival

After our stay near the beach, we moved to Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort. This is probably the nicest Thousand Trails park on the East Coast. It is a huge park with at least 1,000 sites and lots of amenities. With a location close to Disney World, it is a very busy and popular park especially during a holiday week. We arrived on the Monday before Thanksgiving thinking that was a good day to check in. This park is first come first serve which I usually don’t mind because they tend to point you to where there are some open sites when you check in. Unfortunately that didn’t happen here. They said they could tell us where to look but that there had been many departures that morning so there were open sites. We drove in circles for awhile hunting for a spot. While we eventually found a really nice site, I didn’t like the process.

We have had some brilliant red sunsets at Thousand Trails Orlando

We are not big fans of the Orlando area because of the heavy traffic but we came to be near Sue and Greg for Thanksgiving. They cooked up a delicious meal on Thursday and it was wonderful to be able to spend the holiday with family. That alone was worth a stay in this area. We have also found some smaller towns in the area to visit without having to deal with the heavy traffic around all the tourist spots in Orlando.

Clermont is just north of us and we have been going up that way to do some shopping. The town seems pretty nice and we have enjoyed Lake Minneola. Tim and I went to the Tiki Bar at Lake Minneola Inn one afternoon for a drink and dinner. Neither of us cared for our meals but the location was wonderful. We would stop back for a drink and to enjoy the view of the lake.

The tiki bar would be a great place to watch the sunset.

On Saturday, we met Sue and Greg at Winter Garden for a Farmer’s Market. It more of festival than a farmer’s market. There were all kinds of vendor booths as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. We spent the morning wondering through the market and stores in town. We stopped for lunch in Clermont on our way to Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards to spend the afternoon. They had a blues musician for entertainment in the afternoon. It was a pretty day to sit outside, enjoy some wine, good company and music.

The vineyard sits on a ridge above a lake. Very pretty!

So far we are enjoying our stay at this park. We have 2 more weeks here before we head to our winter home in Wildwood, Fl. I am sure we will find lots to do in the next couple of weeks, even if it is just enjoying amenities here at the park.

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