RVing During Retirement

Florida in March

Posted on March 8, 2015 by nesmith's at home

St Augustine Florida

The Snowbirds are starting to migrate north and Spring Break is still a few weeks away. With this information in mind we have chosen to spend the month of March in Florida.

Our first stop was St Augustine Florida with the sky giving us a beautiful welcoming sunset. This is a place you want to spend more than a few days. History is preserved here and worth your time, while also having enough touristy stuff for the grand kids if you choose to bring them a long.

I have added a few links below to give you a hint of the history you will see. We have found going on the web and doing a little research of a city or area we plan on visiting is part of the fun of the trip. It is like touring around before you ever get there. It will keep you from missing some truly amazing sites.

The Oldest Wood School House ~ Fontaine of Youth ~ Mission of Nombre de Dias ~ Flagler College ~ Lighter Museum

The Old Town Trolley is the way to move around the down town area, while the conductors give a guided tour a long the way. With the trolley’s making stops every 15 minutes at each of the 23 stops, it is a nice stress free ride and you are able to tour most of the attractions, stores, and historic sites in this historic old town. Just try to have at least three days.

But don’t forget the historic sites, beaches and restaurants around the outer area of St Augustine.

Staying in Saint Augustine

With many campgrounds around the area we chose the Ocean Grove Resort. Even calling around two months in advance, many campgrounds were booked. We were very pleased with our camp site at the Ocean Grove, it was what I would call a good size site. This being said, some sites are so small you are not able to roll out the awning. I would come back, the picture at the top of this post was taken just three sites down from our RV front door.

Dinning

While RV’ing you make your option, eating out or at home (in your camper or RV). In our case we prefer to cook at home most of the time. Everyone has their opinions and budgets so there is never a right or wrong answer when it comes to dinning. For us, we like to eat at home most of the time and occasionally fine a nice restaurant with some personality.

The Salt Water Cowboy defiantly had the eye catching advertisement and once there the personality of the place did not disappoint. We went on a Monday night. Even though the restaurant was not crowed we had to change our choses many times because they were out of so much on the menu. My husband had to change his four times. Once the food came it was ok but not what I was expecting. Some day we will go back but on a different night.

While taking a stroll down St George Street, the historic district, we stopped in at Florida Cracker Café and had lunch. The food did not disappoint and the service was fast. Even the lunch at the Fountain of Youth was nice. So it makes you wander why the Salt Water Cowboy is listed in Florida Trend’s Top 200 Restaurants. Mellow Mushroom had a nice pizza and the Santa Maria Restaurant has great sea food.

During our five day stay here at St Augustine this is the list of dinning experiences. We did not go for the fine dinning nor fast foods, but that was our chose at the time. We hope your trip to St Augustine will be as enjoyable as ours.

Pick up a copy of the Restaurant Times and you will have all the info you need to chose a great restaurant in Saint Augustine. Also don’t forget a copy of Galleria for art shops and more… or just click here for the link.

Posted in Travel | Tagged campground, Florida, Motor home, Restaurants, St Augustine Florida, travel | 2 Comments

A Few Tennessee Campgrounds

Posted on February 19, 2015 by nesmith's at home

With snow on the ground and below freezing temps, we can only have dreams of camping. Well unless you are one of the tuff kind that like the cold. I thought I would post a few campgrounds in our 2014 trips that are nice family friendly parks. Dale Hollow Campground, is just below the Dam with the Obey River running right by many of the camp sites. We enjoyed watching the raise and fall of the river from the front window of our motorhome. Many campers come to fish while our sole purpose was to sit and watch and take walks along the paved trail. If you are in Tennessee and want to see the beauty of our Tennessee hills, make time for a trip to this campground. It’s location is in the upper middle part of Tennessee, Celina TN and is owned by the Corps of Engineers.

Just about 15 to 20 miles over in Byrdstown, TN you will find another nice campground, the Obey River Campground also owned by the Corps of Engineers. This is one of my favorites because of the camp sites right by the water. There are no walking trails but the campground is large enough to take long strolls. What person does not like to check out other campers. I think that is how we in the camping world deicide we need to up grade to a larger camper. I know we went from a pull behind, to fifth wheel, to motor home.

One more park that is on the top of our list is Reelfoot Lake Campground owned by the Reelfoot Lake State Park in Tiptonville, TN., located in the northwest corner of Tennessee. They say, and we all know who “They are”, they have one of the greatest hunting and fishing preserves in the nation, I don’t doubt it at all. You will fine while there, something seems different; the lake was a result of an earthquake that tore the land in 1811-1812. If I am not mistaken it was the same quake that made the Missippi River run backwards.

There are boat tours, fishing, and canoeing. We found that it was a great place to go bird watching, and the number one most watched bird is the golden and American bald eagle. The banks of Reelfoot Lake is also home to almost every kind of shore and wading bird.

Then there are the cypress trees and there knees. We arrived late in the day after the park center was closed so we were not able to get many questions answered. One of my question was about the cypress, this is not a common tree for Tennessee, so how did it get there?

I do know that it is a place I want to go back and spend more time. We have more pictures of this campground but can’t find them. I will post at a later date. Reelfoot has a lot for everyone to see.

I truly appreciate our Tennessee State Parks and the US Corps of Engineer’s, you can see the passion all the employees and volunteers put into preserving nature.