Leaving Manatee Springs, we continued North to the state Capitol, Tallahassee. We were on a deadline to get to our parking spot by 4pm, but we did go through town to get gas at Sam’s Club first. Thanks to the Harvest Host program, I found out about the Tallahassee Auto Museum, which was a surprise for the boys. We checked in and parked on their spacious grounds, along with a few other campers. Before they closed the gates for the night, I took the car over to Subway and got sandwiches. After eating and some reading time, we went for a walk around the grounds and enjoyed the statues and displays they had outside. Again, temperatures were low enough that we were comfortable sleeping with the windows open.
The next morning we were up early to enjoy the museum! The boys were very excited to get inside and see all of the cars and memorabilia on display. I was surprised to find the variety of collections, including outboard motors! I got a kick out of all of the chrome hood ornaments, so you’ll see a lot of pictures of those as well.
This first slideshow is from the downstairs section. It is mostly cars and at the end are a few shots of the piano collection.
The next slideshow is from the upstairs of the museum. The collection gets a bit more ecclectic, with very unique vehicles, boats, vehicles that are boats, cash registers, toys, and other odds and ends (including a fun-house mirror!).
After getting our fill of cars, we parked the camper at a shopping center and took the car downtown to see the capitol. Florida built a new capitol complex in 1977 and is currently updating the grounds and parking garages. The original capitol building has been restored and is open for to the public (free admision). We did a self-tour and the boys worked on a scavenger hunt worksheet.
After all of this touring we were certainly hungry, so we decided we could handle Momo’s Pizza. Their huge slices were a hit with us, as well as the fun decor.
After filling up on pizza we were read to pick up the RV and head down to Panacea, FL to spend our last night in Florida.
After one last night with our temporary cat, we packed up and headed a little farther north. A little too far, actually, as I wrote the wrong state park on my atlas post-it! Luckily it was only fifteen minutes out of the way. So, after a brief visit to Fanning Springs state park, we drove back to Manatee Springs, where our camping site was waiting for us! During the check-in we were warned that the park does not have cell service, but there is some wifi at the snack bar area by the springs.
We parked the RV and did our hook-ups, and then all got in the car and headed to Cedar Key. I remembered the island fondly from a trip my friend Annette and I went on (over 20years ago–GULP!) to Florida together. Some things had definitely changed–there were many more houses, for sure! Some things were the same, like the little row of businesses clustered together jutting out into the gulf was the same. I don’t remember the concrete fishing pier, but we enjoyed walking out on it and checking out what fish were being caught. While we were there one of the fishermen caught a large fish (a black drum fish), but they said it was not good eating and after a photo op they tossed it back in. We watched the stunned fish get its bearings and finally swim away before heading to the shops. After some laughs, a few small purchases, and some ice cream, we headed back to the car and our campground.
On our way out we saw one more funny golf cart scene; check out this guy’s passenger!
After settling in, we went to see the springs (aaaand maybe use the cell service by the snack bar!!). On our way we got the sweet surprise of a little deer family making its way across the parking lot. Another couple had some leftover apple slices they were tossing to the deer, and they let the boys do it, too. After the deer we went over to the springs and watched some turtles and fish in the clear water. No manatees around, but we didn’t expect them as most of them have moved back to the gulf with the warmer weather.
The weather might have been warm for the manatees, but we were enjoying the fact that it was cool enough to camp with no AC. In the morning, more deer were in our campsite, and they were calm enough to stick around even when the boys went out to investigate!
Next up was a long hike in the woods. We started by checking out the springs again, and saw more turtles on the move, along with a few crazy-looking insects. We went around the springs and did the full nature trail loop, with the boys reading all of the sign markers along the way. We learned about the plants in the area (our favorite being the loblolly pine) and also about the Seminole Chickee people and how they lived. We have a Liddy family tradition of making Sasquatch jokes wherever we go, which explains the boys on the bent tree (“everybody knows Sasquatch like to bend trees to mark trails!”). The hut is a reproduction of a Seminole Chickee tradtional building.
Another great place to enjoy the natural side of Florida. Maybe this winter we will come back here and actually see the manatees!
Getting packed was of course the first challenge! I did have tubs of items that I have been collecting for a few years (this was always a dream of ours) that had to be sorted out (will I REALLY use this??) keeping in mind the small spaces I was working with. I made a big portion of the formal living room at Lynn’s into a staging area and went through all of the boxes, bins, etc we had stored in the garage first. I actually donated a full carload to Goodwill as part of the process, which surprised me a little as I had tried to be fairly brutal with the sorting during our move. Still, there were many items that already didn’t seem relevant to our new life, either RV or Florida.
This is the sorting in progress. It looks chaotic, but I had a pretty good system going through the whole process.
Once I knew WHAT was going, I had to work on HOW it was going to all fit. I solved the biggest issues with a system of cubbie/cube boxes. It just so happens that five of them will JUST FIT in the cabinets above our dinette. Using a small notepad I wrote a master list of what went into each (numbered) box. There was “outdoor equipment,” “games,” “extra storage” and two that were more misc. than themed. It was pretty amazing how much fit into these cubbie bins! For clothes Joe and I used laundry baskets that fit under our bed, and the boys used large, clear tubs that fit at the end of their bunk. We hung a few things in the closet space, which we also ended up putting a set of plastic drawers in.
The kitchen was a bit challenging, since I wanted to take many spices and baking supplies. My favorite thing is that I was able to use some wire baskets that Lynn was getting rid of and stick them down behind the sink and stove with some gel tape. Everything fit and was ready to roll! I also stuck down a soap dispenser at the edge of the sink, and a light-weight trivet that was my grandmother’s onto a cabinet door. I wasn’t so sure it would stay, but it’s still there seven weeks later! What was a struggle was figuring out the best solution for food storage and our basic kitchen supplies. It did take several weeks to work the kinks out, but some wire stand-alone shelves and a couple new tubs later I finally got it mostly workable. The goal was not to have to unload everything to get the one thing I wanted, and we are pretty much there. Still have to do a bit of shuffling, but the most common things are very accessible.
On the first day we *thought* we would get moving early enough to go to the Busch Gardens water park, Adventure Islands. The reality was that we left loading our new bike rack until that morning and we weren’t the smoothest at it. Plus there were some last-minute decisions et cetera, et cetera and….those who know us well know the chaos that is our departures! This was even more so, knowing we would be gone on such an extended trip. We got some first-day pictures in, a group-shot with Grandma, and we were off!
Once we hit the road, we knew we were just too tired to do a water park, then drive another hour and set up camp. So we did the Liddy thing…we went to Cracker Barrel! We polished off a huge breakfast and then went up to the Tillis Hill campground in the Citrus Wildlife Management area. This was a perfect first stop for our big trip, as it was the first place we went camping when we got our RV! We even had the very same site–number 17. It is definitely not fancy, but we enjoy the quiet, the nature trails, and the fire pit! This time our site had a visitor–a ginger cat that was very friendly (see her hiding in the woods?). She made us contemplate fitting a pet into our plans and small space, but ultimately she stayed in her woodland home.
We did get to the water park the next day (we have anual passes, so it was no big deal to change our tickets), and on the way we stopped at the MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) in Tampa to get membership passes. This was strategic–they have an eight-person family pass and are members of ASTC (Association of Science and Technology Centers), and they gave me a great discount as a homeschool teacher. As you will see later, we use it a lot! The boys and I explored for about 40 minutes and then we were off to the water park. We didn’t bring our phones into the water park, but I will leave you with some fun optical illusions from the MOSI.
Now I know why I chose someone to do our business website and pretty-much went with “plug and play” options which I never tweaked! I got help from my family professionals and while it was amazing to see my nephew zip around code and various inner-workings I’ll never have a clue about, I didn’t get too much closer. Now that I am on a good WiFi I am using their advice and will start getting caught up. At least I achieved something which is to put up a few picutres and re-set my Home page. I’m sure it looks super-basic and nothing like what I would love it to look like but at this point….I’m moving on! Which is good, because we are already in Arizona and there is much to get caught up on!
