Thursday, November 17, 2011

In south Florida and meeting new folks…

2011-11-12 Merritt Island NWR 009As I mentioned in the last blog we are now at Jonathan Dickinson State Park which is just a tad 2011-11-12 Merritt Island NWR 003north of Jupiter Florida. This park is really a great place to spend time. The sites are huge and have a nice gravel pad with everything you would want in a state park. Lots of good dirt bike trails, great hiking, and even pretty decent fishing on the Loxahatchee River.

Turns out we are also not far from Jill and Steve of Two Tools and a Dream and if you haven’t read her blog yet you are simply missing out on a good read… We stopped by their place for dinner and a chat one night and then the next night we met them and another couple and their friend for Taco Tuesday at a nearby Mexican restaurant. It was nice meeting Jim, Pat and Linda. The $2.00 tacos and buy one get one free Coronas were pretty tasty too…

2011-11-12 Merritt Island NWR 021It was fun swapping yarns about RV’ing and other topics with each other and I am sure we will all meet again one day. Until we meet again we have been simply enjoying our time here in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. We have been biking, hiking and fishing… I finally caught a couple of Mangrove Snapper and a Stingray as well as a fish I couldn’t identify… that is why I like salt water fishing since you never know what you will get.

fishingWe will be in this park until Monday unless we are able to extend our stay for another week. I never would have thought it would be difficult to find a place to stay during the Thanksgiving four day weekend but everything I look at is booked including here… we may end up staying at a Wal-Mart tor a Cracker Barrel for the fist time if we aren’t able to extend here or find another site on the way to Bonita Springs.

386285_10150368417901139_550561138_8376588_779164246_nWe never really thought about spending the holidays without family around us but we will be doing so for the first time this year. We bought a small turkey that barely fit in the Norcold freezer and we will still have the annual feast with or without family members present…

8 comments:

  1. Is there an Elks Club nearby? I don't recall if you are a member or not....but usually you don't have to belong to stay. It may cost a couple bucks more (say $15 instead of $12) but you can stay.

    Just checked my book....there is an Elks with overnite parking in West Palm Beach. Better than a Walmart!

    Happy Thanksgiving.......Paul

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  2. If you can stay somewhere out of a state park, you should be able to find plenty of places to stay over Thanksgiving week, since most of the snowbirds aren't here yet.

    We're in Zephyrhills (north of Tampa) and the park is 3/4 empty. There is a nice cg in Vero Beach that we stayed at a few times. It's a snowbird park, so probably is fairly empty. It's called Sunshine Travel. It's right off 95. There is another one in North Fort Myers that we'll be going to right after Thanksgiving, called Pioneer Village. We just made reservations there recently. We haven't been there yet but it's one of our Thousand Trails discounted parks. I hope you get to stay at Jonathan Dickinson, but I'll bet it will be pretty full. We haven't been able to stay there yet.

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  3. I wrote this place down. It looks super.
    Glad you met up with Blogger friends. It is so nice to actually put a face and voice to a name.

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  4. This looks like a great state park. I really hope you can stay. Thanks for the tip on the blog. Glad you got to meet up with such great folks. That's one my favorite parts of the life style.

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  5. Got to add this park to the list for when we go back to FL next year. Looks fabulous!
    If you're headed south check out the Broward County Parks (TY, Markham etc.) They're lovely parks and *might* have space for thanksgiving since they tend to be mostly local spots.
    Nina

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  6. Looks like a beautiful place. I always like to have reservations on the holidays, that's always a crazy time. I hope you find a spot. I always miss my family at Thanksgiving, this year I'll be working so maybe it won't be so bad

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  7. We are heading for Florida in a couple weeks and will be doing a couple of Habitat builds. You asked about how to volunteer.
    To join a build, do a Google search to see if there is an affiliate near city where you want to volunteer. Then look for the tab or icon that says "Volunteer". Call or email the volunteer coordinator. No experience is necessary. Once you arrive on site, sign the waiver, let them know it is your first day and that you'd like to help and that should get you started.

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  8. That is what I don't like about salt water fishing. Stingrays, puffer fish, gar fish - ick.
    Have a great thanksgiving!

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