#23 Coveys Great Adventure - April 2016 - Florida, Hilton Head Island and Savannah

April 2016 – Florida, Hilton Head Island and Savannah

We had some time to fill before heading to St. Petersburg, so our next stop was the other Escapee park in Florida, The Resort SKP Park in Wauchula. The contrast between it and Sumter Oaks in Bushnell couldn’t have been greater. The Resort is aptly named: spacious manicured lots, a large pool, many activities to pick from and very friendly residents who went out of their way to be sure we felt welcome. We had a great time!

Distinctly Frank Lloyd Wright

The Resort is not far from Lakeland, a lovely city named for its many scenic lakes, and home to Florida Southern College, the largest single collection of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings in the country. We were so taken with Frank Lloyd Wright architecture when we visited Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona that we joined the FLW Society and plan to visit as many sites as we can during our travels this year.

The Florida Southern College campus is a real gem. Each structure is unique while being clearly related to the other buildings in on the campus. The buildings fit seamlessly into the gently sloping site with great views of one of the city’s many picturesque lakes from every one. We didn’t take one of the guided tours but will if we return.

Site 41 at Clearwater RV Resort: the dogs loved it, too.

Finding an affordable RV park near St. Petersburg turned out to be a challenge. A number of “RV resorts” in the area charge $60-100 a night, way beyond our budget. Our coach is too big for many of the smaller parks with more reasonable rate. We were kind of stuck when we happened to read the small print on the Clearwater RV Resort website: they offered discounts to Passport America members beginning April 1. PA discounts vary widely from park to park, but Clearwater’s are pretty generous: 50% off and you can stay as long as you wish! Perfect, and just 24 miles from St. Petersburg. The first site we were given was easy to get into but had no shade at all and was clearly going to be a mud bog when it rained. Luckily one of the best sites in the park opened up a couple of days later and we were able to move. Site 41 is large, private, completely shaded and it backed up to a large pond that was a perfect dog walking area.

Grant and scribe at The Vinoy Terrace Bar

Seeing Kayeanne’s brother Grant was one of the reasons we headed east this year. We spent several days with him visiting St. Pete, touring the local neighborhoods, the beaches and meeting some of his many gracious friends.

Downtown St. Pete. The Vinoy is on the left

Downtown St. Pete is really nice. Many shops, great restaurants and pubs line the streets. High-rises haven’t taken over yet, making for easy views of the bay. The Vinoy is a classic 1920’s era grand hotel that has been painstakingly restored to its original lavish glory. Be sure to have a drink at the terrace bar and tour the public areas. Two other must-see downtown sites are the Dali Museum and the Chihuly Collection.  

Distincly Dali

The Dali Museum is world renown. The museum building itself is designed as a work of art and the collection is really fascinating. There was a special exhibition featuring his relationship with Walt Disney. We had no idea that Dali and Disney were friends, influenced each other and collaborated on a couple of projects.

Dale Chihuly is widely acknowledged as the foremost living glass sculptor in the world, clearly one of the best of all time. We have been fans for many years and couldn’t pass up a chance to see this collection. The sheer scale and artistry of his work really affects me. We spent hours in what was actually a fairly small space just soaking in the colors and forms and the composition of his works. Pictures simply don’t do it justice. Amazing.

Don't miss any chance to see Chihuly's work

 A minor medical hassle required us to extend our stay in Clearwater an extra week. We had a date to meet our friends Charlie and Mollie Kendrick in Hilton Head, South Carolina, so rather than change plans we decided to speed up. By trimming a day or two from each stop we figured we could still see everything we had planned if we didn’t doddle.  We set out to visit Marco Island, the Keys, the Kennedy Space Center and St. Augustine in eight days. We had our doubts, but it worked out just fine.

Not your everyday sign

Kayeanne hadn’t seen her cousin Tracy in over 20 years, so a visit was somewhat overdue! Tracy has lived in Marco2 Island for many years and manages a large, diverse marina operation. We had a really nice time visiting with Tracy and his lovely companion, Shelley. Tracy really knows Marco Island and acted as our guide for a short tour of the town followed by a great dinner at one of the many “locals” places. I hope it won’t be quite so long before we see them again.

As we headed across the width of Florida to the Keys the next morning, it finally hit me just how flat the state really is. I thought west Texas was flat; it is mountainous compared to southern Florida. Driving US 41, the aptly named Alligator Alley is like driving through a featureless green tunnel. Almost nothing rises above the tree line except cell towers for mile after mile. The Arizona desert is more interesting to look at  than southern Florida.

 

Speaking of alligators, we finally saw what everyone was excited about. We pulled into the Big Cypress National Preserve visitors center to stretch our legs and give the dogs a break. Seeing a number of people lining an elevated boardwalk piqued our curiosity and we wandered over to see what was so interesting. Yup, we found the alligators, dozens of them just hanging out in the slough next to the road, soaking up the sun. The park ranger said that the numbers were actually way down. When it rains they will see over a hundred gators in the area where we saw roughly forty. One gator is interesting, but seeing forty of them a few feet away gives me a slightly creepy feeling.

Fiesta Key RV Resort occupies its own small peninsula along US 1, the famous Overseas Highway that connects the Florida Keys to the mainland. It is roughly half way between the mainland and Key West, on the northern end of Long Key. As an RV park it left something to be desired, but as a location it was hard to beat, with unobstructed 180° views of the Gulf of Mexico and the Keys sweeping way on both sides. The peak visitor season had passed and we were able to use our Passport America membership to get a reasonable rate.

The Keys are quite beautiful, with sweeping vistas of the Gulf and the Atlantic from almost everywhere. The sunsets were simply spectacular. We drove up to Marathon, the largest island, which has much of the infrastructure that serves several keys. We had a great lunch right on the water at Lazy Days South in the Marathon Marina, poked around some of the neighborhoods and generally tried to get a feel for the place. I am glad we were here midweek and after the peak season, because with only the one road connecting everything the traffic is just nuts. The resort staff had cautioned us about traffic concerns, so we decided to save visiting Key West for another visit.

The drive from Fiesta Key to the Kennedy Space Center looked harder than it turned out to be. Not wanting to fool with Miami congestion, we decided to pay the toll on the Florida Turnpike. We still ended up in a lot of stop-and-go traffic but finally managed to break free after passing Fort Lauderdale. We pulled into Seasons of the Sun RV Resort in Mims, Florida, around 3 pm, leaving plenty of time to set up, walk the dogs and explore a really nice RV park. We were assigned site 28 in a recently renovated section that had all the right stuff: fully  paved, flat, very large and easy to back in with intelligently placed utility connection points. It even had cable TV! About the only drawback was the lack of any shade. If we return, I’d ask for one of the “forest” sites. They are a little smaller but most are completely shaded.

I am a life-long space junky. I’ve been reading sci-fi since I was 10 and we just saw The Martian twice. I think NASA is one of the greatest achievements of mankind and am dumbfounded that is has been over 40 years since the last moon landing, With that background, you can imagine how I felt finally getting to visit KSC. I was braced to be disappointed, but it turned out to be fantastic. Walking under a Saturn V rocket like those that took men to the moon kind of choked me up. There were even retired NASA folks everywhere who were delighted to answer questions.

Unfortunately tours are not allowed into the Vehicle Assembly Building, the iconic structure that towers above the complex where the rocket stages are assembled and where all of the Shuttles were joined to their boosters. It is still an active facility, so no visitors, but just to be able to drive by it was great. We also drove right next to one of the enormous crawlers that move assembled rockets from the VAB to the launch pad at a breathtaking ½ mile per hour. It really is much, much bigger than any image can portray.

And then the screen opened......

The Atlantis Shuttle exhibit was another highlight. You pass under a full scale replica of the mammoth, iconic fuel tank and solid rocket boosters that every shuttle rode into space and into a darkened theater. A short film reviews the history of the shuttle program and the triumphs and tragedies spanning 135 flights, then the screen opens and you are facing the nose of Atlantis about 10 feet away! That’s something I’ll remember for a long time. I wish I’d been here for just one of the launches. The video was terrific, the real thing must be mind-boggling.

KSC would be a tough act to follow for any place, so with that in mind we headed out for the short trip to St. Augustine. Compass RV Park recently changed hands and the new owner has been working hard to overhaul and revitalize a park the had been getting such bad reviews that we would never have considered it. As it is, we’d gladly return, if only to see what more they have accomplished. It is nice to see the enthusiasm and commitment that the new owners clearly have for the park.

A pretty tourist

St. Augustine was high on Kayeanne’s list of places to see, and I was also interested. As we all learned in History class many years ago, it is the oldest city on the country, predating both the Massachusetts and Virginia colonies. While certainly “touristy”, it has enough real history and relevance to avoid being just a tourist trap. On the advice of the camp ground managers we left the car at the park and took a shuttle to one of the tour tram terminals. For $25 you can ride the tram all over town for three days, getting on and off at any of over twenty stops.

Contemporary St. Augustine, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Key West were essentially the creations of Henry Flagler. Flagler confounded Standard Oil in the late 1800’s with John D. Rockefeller and built the Florida East Coast Railway linking

Flagler College dorms and dining room

eastern Florida to the rest of the country. He also built the Overseas Railway, the first land connection to Key West. Flagler’s vision was to entice his rich friends from the Northeast and Europe to Florida during the winter, the same way they did the New England coast in the summer. Clearly, he succeeded.

A few of the Tiffany windows in the dining room 

Primarily a ruthless robber baron, Flagler had enough vision and community spirit to insure that the commercial enterprises that he created also served a wider purpose. St. Augustine is certainly an example of his vision. High on the list of Flagler’s legacy is Flagler College, a small liberal arts school located in the heart of the city. Built by Flagler as the Ponce de León Hotel in 1888, it became Flagler College in 1968. The central campus building is the original hotel and features many spectacular Tiffany stained glass windows.

The tram tickets turned out to be a good investment because the driver really knew the city’s history and reeled off one anecdote after another as we wended our way through the very interesting streets and alleys. We found another Cuban restaurant for lunch, too. While not up to Smokin’ Cuban standards it was good. We kind of ran out of gas after a pretty full day and came back the next day to visit the St. Augustine distillery and the chocolate factory. Despite the free samples and an interesting tour, we weren’t impressed with the booze, but the chocolate was quite good.  

We could have spent another day or two touring the areas around St. Augustine, in particular visiting the World Golf Hall of Fame, but we needed to move on. The drive to Hilton Head Island didn’t look hard, but we decided to get an early start, anyway. I’m glad we did because when we got to Jacksonville traffic came to a complete stop. We creeped ahead for almost an hour before deciding that any route, even local roads with stop lights, was better than waiting it out in that mess. Adroit navigating by Kayeanne found a way around the problem and we were finally clear of the mess and back on track to Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort where Charlie and Mollie Kendrick have owned a lot for several years.

We weren’t quite prepared for HHIMR. We have never stayed in an RV park that was anything like this one. As you pull in the sign says, “Welcome to Paradise,” and it’s pretty close. All of the 400 lots are privately owned, many are lavishly landscaped. The entire park is carefully carved into an oak forest. Facilities include tennis courts, a heated pool and spa, a large clubhouse and a fulltime staff to keep everything spotless. As the name says, this is a motorcoach resort, so no towed trailers, no matter how elaborate are allowed. We were escorted and carefully guided into lot 160, just in time for the Kendricks to come calling.

It's their fault

I met Charlie and Mollie in 1966 and we have been friends ever since. They have owned their lot for about 10 years, and Charlie just retired as President of the Board of Directors of the park. Our first exposure to the RV life occurred when they visited us in California in 2009. We’ll get even one of these days.

Along Savannah's river front 

The Kendricks only had a few days to spend with us before they had to leave for family commitments, so we packed quite a lot into a short time, especially a trip to Savannah. We looked forward to visiting Savannah and they know the city very well. It is a charming, diverse and active place. We enjoyed cruising the diverse squares that make up most of the downtown area. Each one has its own distinct style and charm, with many houses built long before the Civil War. Unlike most southern cities, Savannah was not burned when Union forces captured it late in the war. We also strolled the length of the river front, enjoying views, the shops and the historic buildings.

Yes, we are having fun now

We both liked Savannah and look forward to spending more time on another visit.

When Charlie and Mollie pulled out for New Hampshire they graciously offered us their lot to use for the rest of our stay. We quickly decided to make the most of their generosity and added another week to our stay. Hey, it’s the South, y’all, and the place is beautiful. Plus the cable and the WIFI are the best we’ve had in two years. We’d be fools not to.

Ripley at home on the Kendrick's lovely site at HHIMR

We had been running around the island for a couple of days, running errands, doing a little shopping and generally catching up with life. One the spur of the moment we decided to stop for lunch at Signe’s Heaven Bound Bakery and Café, a local’s place just down the street from the resort. It turned out to be another great find. Besides being both charming and friendly, the food was outstanding. I had shrimp and grits which included homemade andouille turkey sausage and Kayeanne had the tomato tart. Both were outstanding. On the way out I spotted a sign for the daily desert special, Key Lime Bread Pudding. Wow, that was great: tart, sweet, golden brown on the top and firm enough to eat with a fork. If you visit HHI you have to stop at Signe’s.

More soon from Paradise.