Author: li***********@*****il.com

Saturday morning we packed up slowly and headed out to see the Comiskey family just east of Orlando. Jon had responded to our post last year and invited us to come by, so we did! Let that be a lesson to you all, that if you invite us, we will come! 🙂

It was wonderful to see him and meet his family. Jon was about 5 or 6 when I started at the Dale House, and now he’s got a wife and two kids. And their house is a revolving door of friends, family, and random visitors from Colorado! It was super kind of them to have chili waiting for lunch and to sit down and chat for a while. What a great crew!

From there we stopped at a Best Buy to deal with an issue with Claire’s computer, stopped by a Walmart for some supplies, and then parked at a Cracker Barrel for the evening. Their apple streusel pie is quite tasty for anyone wondering!

The next morning we headed to Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but it was a hoot! Read more about it here, but it was like you were transported back to the 60s. We watched live mermaid shows in an underground theater built at the mouth of a super deep freshwater spring. They’ve explored down 400 feet and still haven’t found the bottom of the spring.

There were peacocks wandering, Christmas decorations going up, a ranger show to watch with live, local animals, and a boat ride down the river to see wildlife. Even with all that, one of Claire’s and my biggest highlight was swimming next to a manatee! It was in the swim area. We didn’t bother it, but we were able to get pretty close. A very cool experience. But no good pictures, sorry!

From there we went down to the KOA campground we had booked for several days. It was super nice! Pool, leisure sports (cornhole, putting green, tetherball, ping pong), gorgeous landscaping, and even complimentary continental breakfast!

On Monday we did school, went on a plant walk with a campground staff around the campground (Reece climbed up and picked a papaya), and went swimming. Overall a relaxing and productive day.

Matt decided to use some of his rental car points and rent a Tesla for our couple days here. So Tuesday morning we picked up the car, did some school in the morning, and then met my Uncle Al and Aunt Judi at their condo. After Matt eagerly troubleshot a heating issue they were having, we went to the beach for lunch/snacks. It was a lovely visit.

We stopped by the nearby Seabird Sanctuary Center on the way home and saw a myriad of birds close up. It was very educational and fun!

The next day we did more school and then headed down to Fort DeSoto Park. We enjoyed some beach/swimming time and found a lot of live sand dollars out off the shore a bit. We were excited because we had seen dead sand dollars at the Bay of Fundy, but when we had looked it up, we had also seen pictures of live ones. And now we got to see them alive!

From Fort DeSoto we drove to my cousin, Nate, and his wife, Kandis’s house in Largo. We met Uncle Al and Aunt Judi there too and had a lovely evening making pizzas in their pizza oven, catching up, and playing table shuffleboard.

We got an updated picture of the birthday twins – Reece and Nate before we left. (The last one was a little old.)

We’re really enjoying seeing friends and family. Heading to see more friends and family over the next few weeks too! Reach out if you’re in the South and want visitors from Colorado! (You may already be on our list!)

We spent last week at Manatee Hammock Campground in Titusville. It’s on what’s known as the ‘Space Coast’ since it’s right across the water from Merritt Island/Cape Canaveral. Matt had work here for a few days. We booked the campground a few nights and then ended up staying longer since plans kept changing.

We did school most of the day Monday and discovered a rec center at the campground that had puzzles sitting out, so we did a lot of puzzling this week. Claire and Reece are both getting pretty good – Grandma McKinley would be proud!

On Tuesday, the kids and I went out to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (the visitor center and the beach were closed), but we went to Haulover Canal (built to haul large space parts/equipment over to the Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral) and saw manatees swimming in the canal. We also saw some dolphins go by. And Reece spotted an alligator in the ditch!

Then we went for a short hike at Scrub Ridge Trail. We started on the short hike, but soon encountered some water-logged areas. We went through them carefully and didn’t get too wet until the third or fourth area. We kept thinking about turning back, but figured we’d have to get back through those areas, so we might as well continue on. Well, we made it to the halfway point and started back only to find that the ENTIRE trail was about 3-4 inches of standing water for the great majority of the walk back (it was clear, but brownish and not pleasant). Luckily we didn’t see any snakes or alligators and rinsed off when we got back to the car. The hike has now gone down as the worst hike – worse than the Sleeping Bear Point hike where we got pounded by blowing sand the entire time.

The next day we got to see a rocket launch! – from the fishing pier at our campground! It was a really neat experience. There was even a guy there watching it with us who does work on the landing pads. So cool.

That evening we carved pumpkins and our friends in Colorado Springs, Tim and Mel, joined up via video! It’s an annual tradition that we were able to keep up via technology.

On Thursday we all spent the day at Kennedy Space Center. So impressive and informative! Also, the progression of space travel was neat to see – from the Saturn rocket (with the Apollo program) to the shuttles that built the International Space Station (shuttle Atlantis is displayed at the space center). And now to Project Artemis which is going to build a space station to orbit/be on the moon.

The following day was Halloween and we did school in the morning. Swam in the pool for PE in the afternoon and then went trick-or-treating at night.

From Roanoke Island we stopped at our first Harvest Host overnight. It was a brewery in Williamston, NC. It was quite the place. Friendly people, sodas for the kids, lots of great artwork, Halloween costumes for sale on the cheap (Reece got some accessories and Matt got a costume), and our favorite – $5 gifts. Like a whole pile of wrapped gifts (Christmas wrapping). You could buy one for $5, but you have no clue what is inside. And we hear it’s very mixed bag. We bought one as a host(ess) gift to give out to an upcoming stay. 🙂 There was an article written online if you want to read more about Hook Hand Brewery.

The next morning we got tasty, greasy breakfast sandwiches at a local place and hit the road for a long day of driving. We saw cotton fields for the first time. It’s almost harvest time here, so we also saw big bales (like round hay bales) of cotton.

We made it to Brunswick, GA that night and stayed at a Walmart parking lot. The next morning we went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, GA. (Thanks, Kristin, for the recommendation!) Then we travelled around the island to check out Driftwood Beach and saw an alligator! So cool!

After Jekyll Island (a long used vacation spot – read history here), we finished our drive to Titusville, FL. That afternoon/evening/overnight Titusville received 11-14 inches of rain (depending on your exact location) in about 12 hours or less. (For perspective, the ANNUAL rainfall in Colorado Springs is 16.5 inches on average!) We were there for most of the rain. It was CRAZY! We kept hoping it would stop, but it just poured for hours straight. Grateful for super sandy FL soil and flat lands that don’t create rushing rivers, but there was plenty of flooding – Matt’s work was blocked by massive puddles, so the owner came and picked him up in a big truck.

Our camper fared fine as far as we can tell (Great job Richard!). Here’s a picture of our set-up. There was a lull in the rain after we had been there for a bit that allowed us to set-up. The yellow blocks at the stairs were stepping stones over the massive puddle we were parked in. At one point in the evening those washed away under the van, but we retrieved them and set them on higher ground.

Today we packed up and left Vicky’s. We had a lovely time there, but were excited to move on as well.

We decided yesterday that we should just drive down to FL with Matt for work. We’re heeding Vicky’s advice and not going for efficiency this time.

We are not taking the most direct route because we really wanted to see Kitty Hawk and some of the Outer Banks.

Kitty Hawk (also technically closed, but we walked in and walked the grounds) was really neat – monument markers showing the length of each flight, a large monument atop Kill Devils Hill, and an air strip that small planes still use.

We had a neat experience as we were walking the flight path of first flight. There was another couple there, and they were from Colorado Springs too! In fact, they had flown there – like by themselves, in a plane he had made! It was so cool! Such a small world.

We continued south and drove inland at Nags Head over Roanoke Island. Did you know/remember that the first English child born in America was Virginia Dare in 1587? But wait, didn’t we just visit Jamestown which was the first settlement in 1607? Well, technically, there were other settlements in 1585 and 1587. The 1585 settlement was abandoned, and the 1587 settlement disappeared (The Lost Colony). The governor of the settlement returned to England for more supplies, but didn’t make it back to the settlement until 1590 and the settlement had disappeared. It’s still a mystery to this day!

When we arrived back at ‘Grandma’ Vicky’s we enjoyed a fabulous southern meal with Vicky, Greg, Noah (Vicky’s son), and Amanda (Noah’s wife). It was nice to spend time with them.

The next morning we headed out to the Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown). We added one more stop – Freedom Park. It has a replica of the first free black settlement in the area. the slaves were given their freedom and places to live rent free for 10 years after their owner passed away. A lot of work was put into the replicas and creation of the place. It was fun to learn the process.

Our second stop was Jamestown – the first settlement in America in 1607. Lots to learn as we walked around the settlement. Our favorite part was the glassblowers house where we watched them make different glass pieces.

Also, we learned/were reminded that trees were a valuable commodity to England who was dealing with deforestation and couldn’t build ships and didn’t have enough trees to burn to blow glass (the fire for melting the glass is about 2,000 degrees) and more. I sometimes don’t connect all the natural resources and their value. Although, we drove by a paper mill by ‘Grandma’ Vicky’s often and saw trees being delivered there and wood chips being made.

Our third stop was Colonial Williamsburg where we simply enjoyed walking around the town that looks like it did back in the 1700s when it was the capital of Virginia. We even got to sit in the church that people like George Washington and Patrick Henry sat in. It was fun to step back in time. Claire LOVED it! (Sorry, no pictures!)

Our fourth stop was Yorktown – where the British surrendered to the colonial/US army led by George Washington in October 1781. We learned about the siege, the battle, and the help the French gave. We tried to drive the battlefield or encampment tours, but they were closed.

We drove ‘home’ a new way and stopped for food at a restaurant/bar on the way home. Matt and the kids played/learned pool. A lovely day!