Blue Springs State Park Orange City, Florida Nov 25

On Tuesday, November we left Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont, Florida for a 2 hour and 15 minute drive to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, Florida. I know, I know, the map photo shows it should be a 1 hour and 15 minute drive, but as I’ve mentioned before, that is Google Maps and their assumption is you’re in a car going the speed limit, not pulling a travel trailer.

Blue Springs State Park

We were there for a 14-night stay. Our middle granddaughter, Abby, was with us and helped tremendously in tearing down things at Lake Louisa and setting them back up at Blue Springs. Since Wekiva Springs State Park had still not re-opened for the second year in a row, we were here for the second year in a row, but in a different site than last year.

This year we were in site 27, and it was a tight fit. Cindy said this was one of the sites we looked at last year and chose as a good possible site for us, but if we did it must have been for privacy-only concerns. It was just long enough for Nomad and Voyager, but so narrow that we could not put up Cindy’s screen room. She had to settle for using the bike shelter cover we got to keep her outside table and chair in so they did not get soaked in early morning dew.

Afterward, as we were walking around the loop and passed site 29, we wondered if she mis-wrote or we mis-read her handwriting as 27 instead of 29, because it was a HUGE site with plenty of room for her screen room. But at least site 27 is level, with 50-amp electric, water and is only about a 5-minute walk to the restrooms/showers if they are needed.

Wednesday morning we all walked down to the springs so we could see the manatees that famously make their way into this area for warmer water when the temperatures drop. Which they had. The temperatures, I mean. As an added bonus we got to see the newly remodeled boardwalk that they were working on when we were here last year. It is very, very nice and affords some beautiful and closer-to-the-water views of the springs and the aquatic life that enjoy the water.

Have A Nice Trip

I guess I’m getting to that age where I really have to watch where I’m walking instead of where I’m going. While walking across the parking lot I was looking at Cindy as she was talking instead of where I was walking and tripped over a parking stop. I didn’t actually fall but in catching myself from falling I put a lot of strain on my bad left knee. It made the rest of the walk more painful than it has been the past year, so I sat down on benches or low walls every chance I had.

But at least Abby had a good laugh watching her old granddad tripping and gyrating to try and not fall on the asphalt parking lot.

That night I made homemade pizza and we watched Red One on DVD. Cindy was trying to get me in the Xmas spirt way too soon. It wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet!

Thanksgiving Day

Thursday around 11 am we met Amber at the Perkins Restaurant in Altamonte Springs for our annual Thanksgiving Day meal. Since it’s been just the four of us for the past few years, it is a lot easier than Cindy or Amber having to make a full-blown meal of turkey with all the trimmings.

Amber brought us her homemade cranberry/apple pie, which is always delicious, to take back to the campsite and I tried my best not to devour it all at once.

I really did try!

After our meal Abby left with her mom to visit some friends of theirs for the afternoon and Cindy and I returned to Nomad to take a turkey nap.

That night, we watched the first three episodes of Plur1bus on Apple TV. It’s a very different look at a very different kind of alien/zombie invasion. I enjoyed it; Cindy wasn’t sure.

Cooler Temps = More Manatees

Friday morning we walked down to the springs to see if the cooler temperatures we were experiencing would draw more manatees to the warmer waters. It was crowded, so I stayed away from the crowds and boardwalk with Bella while Cindy enjoyed seeing quite a few manatees enjoying the tropical feel of the water.

That night, during dinner, we watched the fourth episode of Plur1bus. Cindy feels like it is moving a little too slowly but the ever-present question of “Why are they here and why are they behaving the way they do” has kept her watching it.

Lunch With Family and Friends

Saturday we drove down to Altamonte Springs again. This time so I could be my daughter’s guest for lunch at Keke’s (a place she hadn’t been to until then) where we enjoyed a nice meal and an even nicer visit. Thanks Princess! It was fun, as always.

At the same time, Cindy was meeting her friends for lunch. Zephyr was down from Buffalo, New York for a visit (you may remember him from our visit there two years ago) so Cindy met him and their mutual friends Carmen, her husband Dave, Vicky, and Shawna at a nearby Mexican tapas restaurant to all catch up with each other.

Cindy said she had a great time.

That afternoon we walked back down to the springs so Cindy could see more manatees (are you sensing a pattern here?) and then we watched the fifth episode of Plur1bus during dinner.

Sunday afternoon we walked down to see the manatees again. At dinner, we decided to watch the first episode of a series called Countdown with Jensen Ackles from Supernatural (which Cindy liked) and The Boys (which I liked) but we probably won’t continue watching it. Neither of us cared for it and were in agreement that it was too formulaic.

Monday morning Cindy had a doctor appointment in Orlando and everything was good so she was happy. So happy that we went down to the springs again in the afternoon to see more manatees, lol.

Tuesday morning there were LOTS of manatees and not as many people. That afternoon I took her to meet her friend Judith for lunch while I tried out a nearby pub. On the way back to the campsite I refilled one of our empty propane tanks that had run out while we were using the furnace to stay warm. Then we picked up some groceries for me for my upcoming “bachelor week” WHOO HOO!

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Thursday, we had to be in Orlando to drop Cindy off at Amber’s. Our oldest granddaughter’s birthday was coming up that Friday, but since we were going to be in Orlando anyway on Thursday we asked if she would mind if we took her to dinner Thursday night and she graciously agreed.

We stopped by her house to give her our gift and her gift from her Aunt Amber, then we all three picked up Seth from his job and took them to Cracker Barrel. This was Charlotte’s choice as she wanted breakfast for her birthday dinner.

We were at this Cracker Barrel last year, but in the time since that visit this was one of the locations they decided to update and what a strange sensation it was after 30-plus years of the former Cracker Barrel restaurant layout, design, and menu. I felt like we were in a Denny’s and to help that make sense to you…I hate Denny’s.

But I have to say our server was outstanding and the food was good (there were a few menu changes but we all ordered what we usually get, which hadn’t changed), however the tables, chairs walls…well you can see what I mean in the photos. They kept “some” of the wall knickknacks and the central fireplace, but the other changes took some getting used to visually.

Even the store section was different. For the first time ever, I think, Cindy did not want to roam through the merchandise. It was almost surreal.

But we had a wonderful time with Charlotte and Seth and hope our oldest granddaughter had a wonderful early birthday celebration with her grandparents.

Afterward, I dropped off Cindy at Amber’s and kicked off my…

Five Nights Of Bachelorhood

Simply put, I did a lot of reading, writing, walking Bella and watching the second season of Hill Street Blues on DVD. It rained Saturday afternoon as well as Sunday afternoon and night. The girls spent Saturday and Sunday at Universal Studios and got soaked by the rain Sunday afternoon because they forgot to take their raincoats.

Amber dropped Cindy off at our campsite on Tuesday morning a few hours before we were scheduled to leave. I had done as much as I could in getting us ready so that Cindy could spend an extra day with Amber, but there were still a couple of things we had to do to get everything shut down and ready to leave for our next destination.

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