On the Road Again: Our Recent Florida Travels & Where We're Headed! | e107

WHERE WE STAYED🛻⛺:

Gary’s parents and Gary’s brother’s place

in NC for most of December

Georgia Welcome Center –

Much-needed overnight stop after the crazy stop-and-go traffic on I-95. Mental note: take an extra day and stay OFF I-95 (I tell this to myself every time but never listen). This place wasn’t quiet – you have trucks idling on one side and the highway on the other, but it worked perfectly to get some rest in between travels. Just bring a white noise generator and you’ll be just fine!

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Tampa East –

Since we weren’t familiar with the area, we chose to drive our camper to my sister’s house and we borrowed one of their cars to drive to this hotel. Although the Holiday Inn typically has a free shuttle to the strip and back, it was not running on New Years Eve. But Travis took our call about the shuttle and he was kind enough to take us over that evening! He was so helpful and gave us a few tips that really helped! We Ubered back to the hotel that evening and was grateful to come back to a very comfy hotel room. And free breakfast (I brought it up to the room so we could sleep in a bit later). Well-kept hotel and good security in the parking lot as well.

Lora’s sister in Sarasota, FL

for the first 2 weeks in Jan

COE Landing County Park Campground (Talahassee, FL) –

As we are leaving Florida, I saw this place on one of the camping sites and it looked right up our alley. They have several water view sites here and have electric and water at the site and a dump station. We were in need of dumping and filling so this worked perfectly! It looks like there are 3 campgrounds on this lake, but we were only able to check this one out. The campground is small but had a good cozy feel. The sites were reasonable in size and several sites had beautiful lake views. It looked like all sites had water and electric and the dump station was in decent shape (but make sure to have a water bandit if you have a black tank flush). The campground had a boat launch and we saw several trailers so it looks regularly used (but in good shape). Would definitely stay here again.

WHERE WE ATE: 🍽️🥩🍹🍺🍽️

King’s Travel Plaza (Marathon Gas Station) –

We stopped here primarily because they had a dump station that we could use prior to visiting my sister. They have it locked so you have to go to one of the attendants to get the key. $15 to use, but they do have water there as well for flushing your black tank (not potable). What surprised us is that we decided to grab a bit there at a small Mexican cantina. Really great tacos – at a gas station! Would definitely go again!

Gaspar’s Grotto (Tampa, FL)

– Had dinner there on NYE and some drinks to start out the evening. They have 3 bars all with different music which was awesome. Waitresses were fun and it was a great way to start the night!

WHERE WE PLAYED:🐟🛶🚴‍♀️🥾

Coyote Ugly (Tampa, FL) –

It was my first time visiting one of these bars. I wasn’t entirely impressed but it also was early in the evening so I’ll make sure to try again.

Centro Cantina Ybor City (Tampa, FL) –

We only had time to stay for a drink before heading to the Ritz, but this was a fantastic place – the DJ was great and you have a fantastic view of the strip. I could have stayed here the whole night if I didn’t have tickets!

The Ritz Ybor (Ybor City, FL) –

The good – it was a beautiful building, the people enjoying the show were awesome and friendly, the music was exactly what I was looking for. The bad – (not surprising) the drinks were expensive, water was ridiculously expensive ($4/bottle), and the show was long so very easy to get dehydrated while dancing on the floor. The line to the women’s bathroom was so long I was almost glad I was dehydrated. Not sure if this is typical for venues of this nature but it is what it is. I’m not sure why, but Benny Benassi didn’t come out until around 1ish – not even at midnight. That was a bit disappointing since we were recommended to leave the strip around 2am (to miss all of the bars closing at 2:45). Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening!

Ted Sperling Nature Park and mangrove tunnels –

We went here with Michael and Sarah (my *now adult* kids) and their 2 cousins and my sister. We rented kayaks and really enjoyed ourselves in the mangroves. There are the regular trails and there are also some tighter trails. If you want to go on tighter trails, I would recommend getting the individual (not tandem) kayaks for easier maneuverability. We went with Surfit USA, which is one of the several places you can rent kayaks. We wanted to go on our own (not a tour), and we were able to rent for 2.5 hours which is just about all you would need for this area. The kayaks were clean, the folks we chatted with were cordial, and they gave us laminated maps of the area. We’d definitely rent kayaks again from them. I chose to not use my inflatable kayak and I’m glad I did – those mangrove tree roots would have surely done a number on my kayak!

Myakka River State Park –

We recently visited while Michael and Sarah were down to give them a little taste of the real Florida. This park does have RV sites, but we didn’t go through the campground. There were lots of alligators basking in the sun the day we went. The visitor center is small but gives you a good flavor of the area. The park employee recommended stopping at the bridge partway in (lots of other people there) to get some good pictures of alligators and waterfowl. Unfortunately, there was a lot of damage as a result of Hurricane Ian. Several trails were closed due to damage to the boardwalks but we did go on a boat ride on the lake which was both informative and entertaining – we thought it was well worth the $20. BRING BINOCULARS!