Wekiwa Springs

Just got back from Wekiwa Springs State Park.  It was a  nice park, but doesn't compare to Ft. Desoto - I think we are a bit spoiled.

We headed over around 2pm Friday.  Apparently, we were just ahead of the I-4 shutting down due to the brush fire near Disney!  We saw the smoke as we approached the Disney area but didn't have a traffic problem.  Once we got on the 429 heading toward Apopka, I looked online to find that I-4 had just been shut down!  Had we been caught in that mess, it would've taken us forever to get there!

The park itself is huge, a lot of trails for biking, walking and horses.  The campground was OK, not anything spectacular.  It was full and mostly families - so that was nice.  The bathhouse was probably the cleanest I have seen besides Ft. Wilderness.  It had no A/C though.  Saturday night, there was no hot water in the shower stall we used - my girls were not happy.  Our site backed up to the bathhouse area so it was really close.

As for the canoe/kayaking....well, let me tell you it was a serious hike to get those things to the launch.  We lugged 2 kayaks and 1 canoe down a somewhat steep sandy grade.  I had my kayak on a dolly until the sand got so thick, it couldn't be pulled through it.

We headed out on the river.  The water levels were somewhat low so there were a ton of tree limbs to maneuver around.  Rentals are VERY popular so there were kayaks and canoes EVERYWHERE.....lots of bumper cars as most people were new to kayaking.  I didn't see a gator but heard them.  The kayak trip was nice enough, not buggy, a bit hot and except for dealing w/ kayak traffic - was a nice ride.  However, hiking those things back up the launch was awful!  I was stressing not doing my Insanity workout this weekend, well I got an insane workout!!  It was just too much work to carry the boats all around.

The spring area was very cold and crowded.  For a spring fed lake, it was covered with algae.  People would stand on the rocks and move the algae around so it was floating all over the spring.  The snorkeling wasn't that great because of the algae but the kids did see some fish and Delena snorkeled over the spring itself which was really deep.  I didn't get in, I couldn't handle the cold but my kids did for a little bit at least.

We took our Aussie for a nice run down to Sand Lake.  He hiked a small trail down to the lake and let Pepper splash around and get a drink.  We saw two gators in the water while down there.  It was probably about a  1 mile bike ride from the campground to the lake, so Pepper got plenty of exercise!  We didn't do any fishing this trip either.

And, we can add camping in a tropical storm to our list now.  Tropical Storm Beryl made landfall near Jacksonville.  While the news was talking of rain and high winds....we got nothing!  Only a small rain storm Sunday afternoon.  Everything dried out really quick and didn't get in the way at all.

Overall, the trip was nice.  It wasn't the best place for taking the boats.  But we enjoyed it.  The kids had a great time - they rode their bikes a ton!

We were in site 42.  There are two loops, 1-30 and 31-60.  Loops 31-60 are a bit more secluded.  Loops 1-30 were a bit bigger but closer to the road and had some road noise.

Here are some pictures!

Campsite 42.  Some shade.

Delena snorkeling in the spring. 

The road going through the park. 

Here the kids are trying to get up the nerve to get in. 

Another view of the spring, there is a large grassy area on a steep hill leading to the spring.

What campground wouldn't be complete without wildlife!  Raccoon on our campsite!

Unexpected Trip

Much sooner than planned, we found out how our Suburban would tow in the Mountains.

My mother in law passed away and we took our Passport (out of necessity). This certainly wasn't a "fun" trip - for obvious reasons. The temps were just too cold to do any traditional camping activities - we never even got our chairs our or opened the awning. But, since we took it, I wanted to post a few pictures from the campground.

We got a late start heading out. We had to pick the Passport up at Lazydays because it had been in for service. We didn't get on the road until 2pm, so we opted to drive a little less than 1/2 the trip. We stayed the night at Reed Bingham State Park in Georgia. We pulled in about 6:30pm, at dark. Thankfully, we had enchilada's left over from Delena's birthday party that we were quickly able to heat up for dinner. We had a nice pull thru site which made overnight camping super easy. With all the crazy emotions going on, me nor Mark slept well. I got up around 4:30 the next morning and saw rain coming. We didn't want to drive in it, so we left around 6:00am to get ahead of the rain as it moved north. So we stayed the night in a campground that I have no idea what it looked like since we arrived and left at dark!

Coming home, we got another late start, so we stayed in Tifton at a KOA. My hubby didn't like it at all, but it really was OK. We got there about 4:30pm. My brother in law and his wife were driving home also and staying in a hotel in Tifton. So, they actually came over to the campground for dinner with us. I cooked spaghetti and made a salad. They brought strawberry shortcake and garlic bread. The dinner was good, and it was nice to spend time with them, especially as we all deal with my sweet mother in law's passing.

So, we stayed at Creekwood Resort in Helen, GA. The campground is very small, only about 17 sites. They also have 3 cabins they rent. When we arrived, snow and ice where on the ground, which totally scared me! But we got set up without much of a problem. We were the only campers there during the week, so we just picked a site and went with it!

The campground is very clean, but there isn't anything really to do at it. For our purpose of going, it was a bit far away. It took us about 25 minutes to get to Mark's dad's house. It probably would've been better to have gotten a hotel.

We also learned that our camper doesn't have good insulation. We ended up purchasing a space heater but it didn't help a whole lot. When we go back for Thanksgiving, we will have electric blankets!

Family picture at Anna Ruby Falls. On Thursday, my brother in law and his family met up with us over at the campground and we did a small bit of sight seeing. Creekwood is on the same road as Unicoi State Park, only about 3 miles past it. Getting to the falls was super easy. It was cold but as always, the falls were beautiful!

Here is a side view of the campground. We picked the only site with a wood deck. Too bad we never got to use it.

Kids playing in the snow. The snow all melted by Thursday but for the first couple of days, they sure had a blast with it! It didn't snow while we were there. The kids would've loved to see snow falling.
Front view of our site. Site 9, Creekwood Resort. All paved, full hookups and even had an anti-freeze hydrant.

The campground was beautiful! I would love to stay here in October sometime. I bet it is beautiful! Not sure yet where we will stay for Thanksgiving. Maybe we will stay here, we will be able to do more sight seeing and its close enough to get to Clarkesville.

Thanksgiving Trip!

I am way behind posting pictures from our Thanksgiving trip. So here is a quick update before we head out next weekend for New Years weekend. This trip will be our first non Disney trip (and will have no sewer hookup) so it will be an interesting few days :)

Anyway, heading to Ft. Wilderness on Wednesday around 2pm. Mark had to work that day so we couldn't leave until he finished all his work. To our surprise, check in wasn't bad at all. I really expected a horrible line and wait but we got right in.

They put us in the 1800 loop. We have now stayed in 3 of the 4 full hookup loops - and never been in the 1700 loop, the one loop we want to stay in! Our site was good, no real complaints.

We had friends come over Thanksgiving Day for lunch and then we headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours. We saw the castle light up, it was beautiful as always!

The parks were really crowded so we spent most of the time at the campground. Mark had been working crazy hours for work and he was really tired so it was good for him to sit and relax for a bit.

We did end up going to Hollywood Studios as well to see the Osborne Lights. They are so beautiful! Love doing that!

Also took a bike ride to the Wilderness Lodge to look at their Christmas decorations.

More Osborne Dancing Lights.

View of our campsite.

View from the road.

There you have it! Short and sweet. We decided to cancel Christmas at Ft. Wilderness and stay home, so I am really looking forward to next weekend camping again!

Merry Christmas!

Halloween Weekend Trip Report

Here is the Halloween trip report, finally!!

Location: Disney's Ft. Wilderness Campground
Site: 1621, Full Hook Up Loop


This trip was so much fun! We were a part of the DISboards October Grand Gathering...which, btw, was the only way we were able to go for Halloween as Ft. Wilderness is the place to be!

Two other friends of ours went. My friend, Paula, came over with her hubby and son on Thursday (the 28th). Caleb and their little boy, Griffin, are best friends. They took Caleb over with them on Thursday so he and Griffin had some time together before the rest of us arrived on Friday.

We headed over Friday (the 29th) around noon. Our other friends, David & Barbara, came over around the same time as well. When we got to the Fort, there was a long line of campers. Lucky for us, we left the camper in the parking lot so I walked into the tent/cabin registration and checked in. So we got in quickly.

Disney assigned the 1600 Loop to the DISboards October GG. We had a site right next to Paula and Jay and the Barnett's site was about 5 down from us.

Here is a side view of our site - site 1621. It was tight getting in but overall, we really enjoyed it. Especially since this (below) was our morning view behind us!

Saturday morning --- up early making breakfast, but not before Mark caught this picture of sunrise behind our camper. Loved being on the water....mosquitos...not so much fun.

First activity for Saturday.....MUMMY WRAP UP. This is Taya all wrapped up, however, she busted out before the race began.

And their off! Caleb and Delena participated in the race...neither won and both were out of the mummy wrap by the time they reached the finish line. Toilet Paper was everywhere!

After hours of non-stop playing between 3 campers.....(and carving 3 pumpkins)...the kids headed over the the Meadow Swimming Area for Spooky Crafts. Do you notice something? Me, Paula and Barbara are helping the kids while the dads sit back and take pictures!

Next up was the Golf Cart parade! So much fun. I had no idea decorating golf carts could be sooooooo creative! I loved this pumpkin carriage, especially at night!

Flintstones cart. There were actually 2 different Flintstones carts. The kids loved standing in the parade line waving. Some people in carts actually through out candy and beads.

This one was my personal favorite...the slinky dog from Toy Story. I believe this one actually won the best for decoration.

Another cute cart. Caleb loves the monorail so this was one of his favorites.

Pirate Ship. Here the kids are with the Barnett Boys...Peyton and Blake. They have all been friends forever, so neat to go camping with them.

Another Toy Story cart - very cute...love the little Buzz Lightyear being towed along.

Here are our pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest. Barbara brought a kit and the pumpkins so the three families each entered one. None of us one. I didn't get a picture of the winner but it was a pumpkin carved like an Airstream camper painted silver...too cute.

Halloween morning picture. We are hoping to get one of these sites for Christmas since we are getting the kiddos fishing poles!

Early morning fun. Mark found a nice place to hang our hammock, of course the kids love playing on it.

Sunday morning...Pet Parade. Yes, that is a cat in the parade...beautiful cat but it was none to happy to be in the parade. There were actually two cats in the parade and the other cat won...he was dressed as Tuna Fish.

Yep, we entered our Scotty in the parade! Delena walked McKenzie in the parade.

Here is McKenzie in her costume. She was a princess (I bought it at the Dollar Store for $1). Guess I need to find a better one for next year. OH and she didn't like being in the parade either. And she was none to happy to see cats!

Here are the kids waiting with McKenzie for the awards.

Finally, camp or treating arrived. The campers went all out decorating their sites. We also did camp or treating at 5, before dark, which I actually really enjoyed! Our friends, Betsy and her family, came over that evening to camp or treat with us and have dinner...chili (yummmmm).

Here is my kids, Griffin (Paula's) and Brandon, Sam and Aidan (Betsy's). We met up with the Barnett's after this picture and finished camp or treating.

We had a great time with our friends. We met several DISers....Lorna, Jen, JW, Melissa, Bob, Donnie and a few others that I only know by their DIS names. We look forward to next year - Halloween at the Fort!

Anniversary Trip

I am so far behind posting this trip report! I hope to get Halloween weekend posted as well this weekend (we will see)!

Anyway, we had an awesome time on our Anniversary Trip. Quick stats:
Location: Disney's Ft. Wilderness Resort
Campsite: Site 1902, Full Hookup Loop

On with the report!


I finally nabbed the trophy picture. I guess we go so much I don't pay a whole lot of attention to this but don't have one for my pictures either....so without kids in the back asking "how much longer?" I remembered to take it! Now my pictures are complete.



After arriving around 2:30pm, we set up camp and then headed over to Boma's at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The food was actually really good. This is an African buffet. I especially enjoyed the soup, couscous, tender roast and my new favorite thing: Zebra Domes! Be beware...dinner for just the two of us - $80! OUCH! (Not that good of food).





Saturday we spent the day riding bikes and relaxing at the camper. We rode down to the Marina and just hung out on the beach for a bit. This is on the dock at the Marina. We did eventually head over to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks around 10PM but only stayed about 45 minutes because it was crowded. This wasn't a crazy plan....the park was open until 3AM for resort guests.


Site 1902 from the front. Although the 1900 loop doesn't seem to be among the DISboard favorites, we enjoyed this spot. We might actually request it for Thanksgiving.....we'll see. Sometimes part of the adventure is seeing what site you get!


Site 1902 is the first on the left so we had a lot of side space that leads up to the road. This would be a great site for Holiday light decorations!


Here is the other side view of our site from back in the wooded area. Campers said this area of the loop goes underwater during the rains, which makes it somewhat undesirable - but no rain our weekend!


Another front view at Dusk. I love my Mickey Lamp!

Sunday morning, we requested a late checkout and took our time loading up. Disney let us park the camper in the parking lot for the week because we were checking back in on Friday for Halloween weekend.

I have been busy this week trying to plan out all next years camping trips. I didn't realize how quickly popular holiday's book up! Here is a somewhat tentative schedule for next year...with 3 certain bookings already:

January - (Booked) Ft. Wilderness for Delena's Birthday trip (Jan. 28-30). This is 2 weeks after her actual birthday since it is on MLK weekend and they were all sold out.

February - Long Point Park in Melbourne (booked). Our first non-Disney camping trip.

March - Hillsborough River State Park (booked). This is for Caleb's 7th birthday!

May/July - Memorial Day & 4th of July - we will go somewhere.....not sure yet.

August/Early September - Ft. Wilderness. Our passes expire 9/1/11, so we will try to get a week around that time (unless we are able to renew them).

October - already booked for Halloween with the DISboards group :)

November - We will take our first out of state trip and head to NE Georgia to visit Mark's family. After the fiasco taking place this year for Thanksgiving, we will spend next year with Mark's family. I am researching parks and campgrounds now and will book something in the next few months. (BTW, the fiasco isn't Ft. Wilderness, I am excited to be camping at Disney for Thanksgiving!!)

Thats all for now! Hopefully Halloween will be posted this weekend.

Our First Trip!

It seems like forever since we closed on our new Passport 290BH that we bought at Lazydays! But finally.....our time for camping came. We left on September 11th to head over to Ft. Wilderness Campground at Disney World!

We headed over around 11am and got to the campground around 12:30 or so. We figured it would take a little longer since we were towing for the first time. The first big surprise came when at check in the cast member checking us in informed us that we had been upgraded to a...get this....Premium site! We were not expecting that at all (I only booked a full hookup). The all concrete pad was so nice and we were really close to the marina (not so close to the pools) but that was OK - we have our bikes!

Here we are in the 400 loop - Site 427. It was a very nice site! We met one fellow DISer (The Lug). The loop was small which was wonderful for the kids to ride their bikes on. There were also plenty of kids around (now Caleb wants an electric scooter for Christmas).

I love the Fort because there is plenty to do without even leaving the campground! Here is Mark and the kids goofy off in the kiddie pool area. This was obviously during the week when hardly anyone was around!

Caught a good picture of my hubby going down the slide! He loves to be silly for pictures.

Delena going down the slide. She always enjoys the pool at the Fort.

More pictures of our campsite - 427. We had really nice neighbors around and enjoyed this loop very much. I have to not get used to upgrades like this!

Pool party at the Fort! Delena actually won this hoola hoop competition. She got up to three hoola hoops and outlasted all the other kids.

This trip was neat because both Caleb and Taya were able to ride some rides they previously had not been able too. Caleb finally hit 48" and was able to ride Primeval Whirl in Animal Kingdom. Taya rode Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Test Track, Soarin and Dinosaur.

Taya had a blast on the slides. Her goofy swimming sometimes gave the lifeguards heart attacks. She likes to swim to the bottom and then swim out of the current, I can't tell you how many times the lifeguards were ready to jump in the pool after her!!

What trip to EPCOT would be complete without the kids pictures in the mouth of Bruce??

Caleb is in love here! A yellow Camaro at EPCOT. I had to pry him away from the car - crazy Bumblebee..

Friday evening, our friends came over to the Fort to camp the last two nights with us! Somehow they managed to talk Disney into the upgrade also and got the campsite right next to us. We had so much fun with them. They have a super nice Laredo by Keystone. Kinda makes our camper look a bit cheesy, but thats OK :)

Taya moved up to a 16" bike right before the trip. She did so well riding around. One thing we love about the Fort - the biking!

No trip to the Fort would be complete without a few long and nice bike rides. There is an awesome trail leading from the Fort over to the Wilderness Lodge. On occasion we see some wildlife....this night it was all about deer. We capture this deer crossing the road at the Wilderness Lodge.

These deer were on the trail. We had just started on the trail when we saw them. There were about 5 in all and a baby. So cool to see!!

And of course, Chip & Dale's singalong!

All in all the trip was amazing. We really enjoyed our camper. Had a few things happen though.

The first night, Caleb flooded the whole thing. He was washing his hands in the bathroom and the plug was in the sink. The water filled up that tiny little sink rather quickly and poured out all over the floor. He screamed and we ran in to find water gushing out of the bathroom. I shut the water off and got to cleaning up the mess....luckily no damage!

We are still trying to get used to the proper way to flush out the tanks. We had a few nice odors creeping in where things were caught in the sewer lines.

Then Sunday morning as we were packing up to leave, we discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. That will require a Lazydays visit for repairs.

Our first trip is definitely a learning experience. I hope we get more efficient as time goes on so that camping isn't as much work. I'm sure once we have the camper properly outfitted, it won't be such a chore.

Our next adventure begins on Friday, October 22. This is mine and Mark's 14th wedding anniversary so it is a solo trip to Ft. Wilderness....can't wait....

Until the next adventure!