Our 3 nights and 4 days at the Island View Casino were awesome. That place really knows how to treat people with their give aways. Within the 4 days of gambling, Greg was ahead and I was down a hundred bucks but we ate every main meal for free on them so that’s a win.
Heading back to the Eastern Time zone took a couple more days. We stopped at a cute park near Pensacola, Florida for some lunch and a walk and then continued on to the Cracker Barrel for the night. This Cracker Barrel was PACKED!!
Another two hours further down the road we wound up at another Cracker Barrel and another nice rest area for lunch. This part of traveling can be a bit boring when you are just sort of getting from one place to another but we still enjoy every second of it and try not to ever drive more than two hours a day. And if it gets too monotonous, we stop for ice cream.
We made it to Greg’s parents house and had a nice visit with them. Dinner at Cody’s was great as always. Greg’s dad was able to fix his Lectric Bike which broke on the last bike ride we did. The back brake cable snapped and soon after, the bike stopped working. Must be some kind of safety feature that shuts the bike off if the brakes go. Poor Greg had to pedal that bike back to the van about a mile or so. That’s no easy task as those bikes weigh around 65 pounds.
We had a nice time visiting Greg’s family in Palm Harbor. The weather was absolutely perfect. We had a nice afternoon at the pool. They keep the pool temperature so warm. It was wonderful.
We stayed 4 days and then headed across Florida to spend a few days in Disney. Our friends Lisa and John had booked a trip so we figured we would join them.
We arrived before noon and there was a site available for us. Site 2008. Every time we have been to Fort Wilderness, we are always in the same general area. We are starting to get a lay of the land now. It’s such a big campground that it takes a while.
We hung around and then when Lisa and John arrived, we all took the bus to Disney Springs for dinner at Maria and Enzo’s Italian restaurant. Food was amazing. Then of course, you can’t go to Disney Springs without getting a giant donut.
Next day we spent the day at Hollywood Studios. The last time we were there, it rained all day so didn’t really get to enjoy all of it. We met tons of characters and had a blast.
Chewbacca was my favorite. That night we went to see the Fantasmic show at 9 pm in this huge outdoor theater that holds like 7000 people. Every seat was taken and the show was unbelievable. It was the highlight of our trip this time.
Also Oga’s Cantino was pretty cool. It’s like the bar in the Star Wars movies with fun cosmic themed drinks.
I’m not really that big of a fan of Star Wars but this whole area of Hollywood Studios is just done so perfectly. They really thought of everything when they designed this area.
Next day we had to check out if the campground by 11:00 but they let you stay another day parked in the overflow lot. They actually encourage it. So we parked and got on the bus to the beach and took the boat over to Magic Kingdom to grab another bus over to the Disney Boardwalk to do some Lobby and pool hopping. Spent the entire day visiting lobbies and swimming in their pools. It was a perfect day for it.
We got back to the campground parking lot at 6 pm and drove an hour to the Cracker Barrel in Titusville. We got a great nights sleep and woke up pretty early and headed to the ocean. Found a park called Kennedy Park, had some breakfast and spent the day lounging in the sun and enjoying the manatees that were popping up in the water.
Next day we headed to Fort Pierce to see my friend Lisa’s new house and help a bit with tiling her bathroom. The town is so cute. We had dinner at this amazing outdoor Seafood Place. I think it was called Cobbs Landing. We got some Oysters and then I tried the Wahoo which was delicious. After dinner we walked around the historic Main Street. Really cute town.
After that we headed further south to West Palm and had a nice lunch with some friends. We are now heading back north to New York. Will take a while at 2 hours a day. We want to make sure we enjoy the journey back. We were lucky enough to get a spot at Jetty Park which is in Port Canaveral where we saw 3 huge cruise ships leaving and then an added bonus of a rocket taking off. This is the kind of stuff that you gotta stop for and I’m glad we did. If you look closely at the ship that looks like a building, you will see a glass enclosed pool hanging off the edge. That’s just crazy!
This park would be so much better if not for our neighbor who has been running not one but two generators for the last 3 hours. Super loud, super annoying. I’m doing my best to just ignore it but they are just so loud. SERENITY NOW!!
I guess we have been pretty lucky to have been on the road for all these months and this is our first dealing with Generator Junkies. I am currently sitting on the opposite side of where Greg is standing. The van blocks the noise out a little bit which helps.
We woke up in the morning to 3 new cruise ships coming in. So we decided to stay the day and enjoy the nice weather and watch the ships leave again. Headed out at around 5:30 for a 2 hour drive to another I95 rest area. The Florida Rest Areas are pretty nice. Always 24 hour security and nice picnic areas.
The Rest Area was pretty uneventful. Continued on for another 2 hours into Georgia we go.
April went pretty fast for us. A lot of driving which shows in the calendar for both gas and camping. It’s a lot cheaper to just stay put out west. Our total for Camping this month was $346 (Disney is $103 per night.)and for Diesel was $410.
The Van Stops Here 