Way Behind....Again! Ft. Desoto October 2011

I have to do better at keeping this blog up to date!

In October, 2011, we stayed in site 135 at Ft. Desoto. What a beautiful site! We had beautiful weather, a little warm but still very nice. The fish were biting like crazy....Caleb and I both caught our first fish! It was very exciting.

We spent a lot of time in the canoe and took our Scotty dog to the dog beach.

Site 135 has been our favorite so far! It was big and very private and had a nice opening into the water. Here are some pictures from that trip!

McKenzie on the dog beach with a couple of Vizslas!

Front view of our campsite.

Caught my first fish! Not big enough to keep, but still!!!

View from our campsite at sunset!

Mark with all 3 kiddos and 1 scotty dog in the canoe.

Caleb caught his first fish!

Ft. Desoto is quickly becoming one of our favorite places to go. This trip was to celebrate 15 years of marriage....and a year and a half as happy campers! We made this a family trip and enjoyed every moment. On Sunday, Mark's brother and his wife came over to have lunch with us and watch the Bucs (loose) game.

Buying our Passport has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. We love our little trailer and enjoy all our camping trips!

Tallulah Gorge

September 30, 2011 - October 4, 2011
Tallulah Gorge State Park, Tallulah Falls, Georgia
Site 39

We headed to Tallulah Gorge State Park for a quick weekend trip to NE Georgia. It was my niece's wedding on October 1. Initially, we didn't plan to take the camper. It didn't make much sense to spend the $500 in gas for a quick trip. But since no one had space in their homes and a hotel cost was equal to taking the trailer, we ended up taking. I'm sorry, I can't stay in a hotel anymore when I have such a nice camper!

The weather was amazing! A cold front came through - just in time for our trip. It was a refreshing break from hot hot hot!!

Another exciting thing about this trip, it was the first trip towing w/ our ***new to us*** truck. My wonderful boss is allowing us to use an older truck of his to tow with! Oh my! What a difference!!! I did not stress not once this trip. The truck is a 1999 Ford F350 Diesel. It had no problems towing the Passport. Such a difference from the Suburban. So thankful we had it.

Funny thing though, apparently we had the wiring harness wrong. We had to purchase an extension because my boss used it to tow a 5th wheel, so the electric is inside the bed of the truck. My hubby built the the extension and had the wiring wrong. Our blinkers were switched and the break controller was never connected. We were towing in the mountains with no trailer breaks! But the truck stopped it w/out a problem. On the way home, the break controller light kept going out and we kept stopping to work on it. Finally, in Ocala, about one and a half hours from home he realized what he did wrong. We pulled over to fix it, got it fixed and now have trailer breaks again!!

Now onto the campground. The campground is small, it is somewhat tight to get into. Thankfully, we had a pull through site. There is no sewer hook up. And you have to share your power box with a neighbor. In other words, there is one box for two sites, one 30amp and one 50amp! Thankfully, we read the reviews ahead of time and had a 50amp adapter. Our weekend neighbor pulled in after us, totally confused. So we pulled the 30amp and used the 50amp w/ the adapter.

Bathrooms were OK, not great. Kids were scared of spiders...spiders were everywhere.

However, we loved everything else about it! We loved the short hike to the gorge. The gorge was BEAUTIFUL. We did some Geo Caching while there. This was in an excellent location too, close to the wedding, close to the Blue Ridge (where we drove to on Sunday). Loved it, can't wait to go back.

View from Water Rock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Kids after hike to summit. Very strenuous hike! But totally worth it!

Mark & I atop Water Rock Knob. There were some fall colors, not brilliant but a few!

Front of our site. Pull thru. Had a big fire ring. Loved it!

Mark and his brother's family w/ our family at the Highest Elevation on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The sign at the entrance to Tallulah Gorge suspension bridge hike. Yes, we did it!!! Again, worth it!

We even took our dog on another hike at the Gorge. She loved it!

Me & Caleb at the lake by the gorge. You hike under the bridge and this is the calm lake on the other side of 441 in the Tallulah Gorge State Park. Amazing how when it hits the dam it becomes a roaring waterfall!

Disney Trip 8/26 - 9/3

We just returned from 8 nights over at Ft. Wilderness. We had a really nice time - even though it was really hot and rained almost everyday. The mosquito's were bad...making hanging outside a bit of a challenge. Here is what I love about camping - we did Disney World for 8 nights really cheap. Quick breakdown on what we spent while there:

8 nights on a full hookup site: 448.00

The Kitchen Sink at Beaches at Cream: 30.00

Tron Pin: 9.00

Little Missmatched Store: 30.00

T-shirt at Animal Kingdom: 5.00

Hat at Animal Kingdom: 8.00

Lego Store: 12.00

Total: 542.00

We didn't eat out except for the Kitchen Sink and dinner at Carrabba's (which I had a gift card for). Yes, I cooked every single meal. We packed lunches for the parks or we came back to the camper for lunch. We packed every snack, drink, etc. This is why I love to camp!

Anyway, one with the report!

Site 1616, Full Hook up. Very nice site.

Chip and Dale's Sing A Long

The People Mover Ride in Tomorrowland. Not sure why, but the kids love this!

Me and Delena on Everest!

The kids on Test Track!

Well, we are going back this weekend for 2 nights....only because it is Night of Joy and I am taking Delena to her very first Night of Joy. Going to see Toby Mac...cannot wait!!

Book Early

I've learned from camping that certain places book up really early....but there is a trick to getting the site you want!

For Ft. Desoto Campground in Pinellas County, non-Pinellas county residents can book 6 months to the day you plan to camp. In order to get a water front site, you have to plan.

Go online to Pinellas County - Ft. Desoto and check out the campsites. They have pictures and dimensions of every campsite. Pick a few you would like to reserve. Keep careful watch on the reservation window and then the day it opens up, get up at midnight to book it. Pinellas County opens reservations at 12:00am. This is the only way I have been able to book a waterfront site.

If you choose the pet loop, the sites that run along the back (no seawall) are nicest for canoes and kayaks. Otherwise, you have to put them in the water over the seawall. It can be done, but not nearly as easy as just having them right on your campsite.

For Florida State parks, you can book up to 11 months ahead of your desired time. Their booking opens at 8:00am. Places in the Florida Keys and Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine stay booked pretty much year round. Some of the Florida State Parks have now put pictures of their campsites on the Reserve America page if you download the special plug in. It is totally worth it!

Which is exactly why I am writing this blog post...waiting on 8:00am to book site 16 at Curry Hammock State Park for NEXT YEAR...yes....June 30, 2012 - July 7, 2012.

Also, for Florida State Parks, if you want a certain spot and there are no reservations available, check around 8:00am everyday. That is when cancelled reservations are released.

Camping at the good places does take some planning, but it can be done!

Memorial Day & 4th of July

For Memorial Day & 4th of July weekend, we headed over to Ft. Desoto again. This is quickly becoming our second favorite place to camp (next to Ft. Wilderness of course!!)


Both weekends were hot and full of bugs but we still had a great time. You can't beat the campsites directly on the water....especially with fishing and canoeing. And now, we want to get a couple of kayaks as well!

On the 4th weekend, my good friend and her two boys camped one night with us. They had never gone camping before!

View of the back of our campsite, Site 103

View of the water from our campsite, Site 103

Kids feeding a squirrel. They are very friendly.

Canoe riding at low tide, this is directly behind our campsite (Site 107) There is a seawall but it is fairly easy to get the canoe in and out. And is perfect for fishing!!

Backside of our campsite Memorial Day Weekend, Site 107.

Memorial Day Weekend - Site 107, Ft. DeSoto

July 4th Weekend - Site 103, Ft. DeSoto

Upcoming Trips:

August 26-September 3, Ft. Wilderness

September 10, Ft. Wilderness (1 night for Night of Joy)

October 21-23, Ft. Desoto Campground, Site 135

November 23-27, Ft. Wilderness

December 30 - January 2, Ft. DeSoto Campground, Site 150

June 30, 2012 - July 7, 2012 - Curry Hammock State Park, Florida Keys

Sun N Fun Sarasota

We just returned for a three night stay at Sun N Fun Sarasota.

The good:

The Hippo Water Slide. This giant slide stands about 20 feet in the air. The kiddos went crazy over it. Caleb rode it 4 hours straight without a break! Lots of fun for them.

The splash pool for kiddies. All three kids enjoyed playing in the splash pool - on the day the hippo slide wasn't running.

Sunset at Siesta Key! My favorite beach was a close 20 minute drive from Sun N Fun. We headed over Thursday evening for beach time and sunset. Another beautiful sunset on the gulf coast!

Siesta Key play time. The kids love the beach, I have to make more time for beach time this summer.

Our campsite.....after an upgrade. This is Q53. We LOVED this site. It was super close to the tennis courts, pool, shuffleboard courts, gym...just about everything.

However, it took some work to get here. See, I didn't know anything about booking, so I booked the cheapest site possible. Sun N Fun has 4 levels of sites w/ a pull thru being the highest level. Now at Disney, you can get away with that....at Sun N Fun...not! They put us in the bottom site, it was awful. That is the first time I was ready to go home. We protested the site wasn't big enough, really, I don't think we could have even opened our awning! They were going to upgrade us for free to the next level, but it was situated among the trailer cabins that are full timers. We wanted to be with the campers. So we upgraded to be in the Queens section.

The sites were full hook up and after we got the ugly site off the radar, we enjoyed our stay here! The kids are already planning when we can go back.

What I didn't like:

Had to pay to use the Hippo Slide. It wasn't much, 5.35 a person, but if we stayed a few days, that could add up!

The place seemed like a trailer park with a campground added.

There weren't very many kids until the weekend.

The Hippo Slide wasn't up all the time either. If we stayed a week, and its only up on Friday and Saturday, that could get to be a pain.

Otherwise, we did enjoy it. It has free wi-fi. Mark said we could pick a week this summer and go back so he can "work" (his work is really close by) and we could do the beach and other activities and enjoy the hippo slide on the weekend.

Hillsborough River State Park

March 18 & 19, we camped at Hillsborough River State Park. Here is a picture of our campsite.

The park was nice enough, no full hook up though. Again had to carry our canoe (gonna get Mark something to carry his canoe on for father's day). But he enjoyed his canoe ride. Also lots of fishing, but didn't catch any fish.

We went on a tour of the old fort on Saturday. It was a nice tour.

We only stayed 2 nights but will visit again when its cooler out, it was borer line too hot and the pool wasn't open.