Florida

We started our visit at Juniper Springs State Park. While we were disappointed that COVID had closed the canoe rides down the river, we still enjoyed the park. Our campsite was lovely and quite private. We enjoyed walking around the springs where we could see the water bubbling up through the sand as turtles swam by. We also enjoyed walking the trails where we saw some beautiful pink lichen on trees.

We next parked our RV at a site mid-state then left it for three nights. Our first stop was a hotel near Cape Canaveral. We got up early the next morning and walked to the beach where we saw a SpaceX launch! Watching a rocket launch has been on Ken’s bucket list for a while.

Afterwards we went to the Kennedy Space center and spent several hours being awed by the size and engineering of all the rockets on display. We got to see the space shuttle Atlantis (so cool!!). But the massive Saturn V rocket amazed us the most.

That evening we drove to St. Augustine, the first colony and oldest European settlement in America. Learning about the Spanish influence and history of this area was quite interesting. In school, we had both learned that Jamestown was the first settlement, which showed the English bias of our education. The city was quaint and interesting. It was a destination for the wealthiest people during the gilded age and the Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College) was built to house the Rockefellers, Edisons, Vanderbuilts, etc during the winter months.

A high point of the visit was seeing the fort - the Castillo de San Marcos. This fort was never taken in battle, but has hosted the Spanish, the British, Native American captives, the Confederate Army, the Union Army and the US Coast guard. The British traded control of Havannah for St. Augustine just a few years before the Revolutionary war, as having a British colony on the continent (that was not rebelling) was strategically important for them during the war.

After one night in the RV, we drove to the other coast of Florida to spend time with Ken’s sister Karen. We enjoyed drinks on the patio in her lovely backyard then went out to dinner with her and her boyfriend Mike. Hushpuppies and grouper were on the menu as we continue trying to eat local food. Karen has Jerusha trying celery juice daily to help with her dizziness.

The next day Karen joined us at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

A night in the RV then a two day drive to Alabama followed. We spent several hours cleaning the RV and getting it ready for 7 weeks of storage on the lawn of Jerusha’s sister’s father-in-law. Thanks Jim and Jean! After dropping it off, we drove to New Orleans to catch a plane back to CT for the holidays.