Leaving Florida

We left Florida early on Sunday morning.  It was sad to be leaving the beauty and the alligators, but we were the last of the seasonal people to leave so it wasn’t too bad.   Our first day was strictly traveling and getting some miles behind us.  Florida is a long state.

Our first stop was at an Encore resort that we have reciprocals with so it only cost us $3.33 a night. I love travelling cheaply!! Driving into Bulow Plantation was reminiscent of the old southern plantations. A very long drive with beautiful large Live Oak trees covered with Spanish Moss leading into the campground.  It was probably one of the prettiest entrances to a campground that I’ve ever seen.  I just wish I’d thought to take a picture of it.  We stayed here for 3 nights.

Monday we drove into Daytona and because we are big NACAR fans, we had to stop at Daytona International Speedway and take a tour of the track.

Of course, they had to make a stop in Victory Lane so we could get our picture taken!

Having been to numerous tracks throughout the years it still is amazing to see the 31 degree banking.  We were allowed to get off the tram and walk up the front stretch and it was almost scary how steep it was.

Our next stop for the day was the beach.

I couldn't convince Fred to go swimming but I insisted on getting my feet wet.

However, it didn't take any convincing for Fred to take the truck onto the beach!!

Our last stop for the day was to see the Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse. The tallest light house in Florida. Neither one of us was up to climbing the 216 steps, so a view from the outside was good enough.

We couldn't resist taking a picture of the pirate for our grandson Jonas.  He's 4 years old and last week when Fred was watching him, they had to play pirates.  So Jonas, Papa says this ones for you.

Tuesday was another day spent sightseeing.  This time it was in St. Augustine. Being fans of National Parks, we had to stop at Castillo de San Marcos.

We enjoyed an interesting ranger talk on the history of the park and then walked around and explored some more on our own.

No trip to the National Park is not complete without a picture taken in front of the sign!!  

We spent the rest of the day taking a tram tour of the old city, learning more of its history. 

We also were able to get off a few times and do some geocaching.