A Florida Stay-cation, hippie style!

I have been a camper most of my life.  As a kid my family would go on trips to central Florida to camp.  I have many happy memories of those experiences the most surprising of which is the time we went camping and came home with a new dog.  The poor thing wondered up to our campsite, all skinny and covered in ticks, and didn't leave no matter how long we were gone.  I remember distinctly the car ride home.  Our dog Cocoa shared the middle seat of the minivan with my older brother, and I shared the back with the smelly, dirty, flea bitten dog we would come to name Tyler.  He became the doggy love of my life and one of the best things I can remember about camping.  



That was many years ago.  I'm not sure exactly when we stopped going as a family.  Probably around the time my brother stopped participating in Boy Scouts.  Either way it is something I remember loving and have always wanted to do again.  About 2 years ago, I went camping with my significant other (former, thank god) for my birthday.  My birthday is in May.  For those of you familiar with FL you realize what a bad idea that is.  It was a nightmare.  It was poorly planned, the weather was beyond hot, and the horseflies were unbearable.  Two good things came out of that atrocious experience: 

1. I bought a tent, sleeping bag, and lantern 
2. We stayed at a really cool park (Kelly Park in Apopka, FL) that had a spring you could tube down which was a lot of fun.

I learned a few things during that experience, too:

1. I'm too old to sleep on the ground.  I'm not sure when that happened but it is definitely true.  That ship has sailed.
2. Camping in May is stupid. Never do that again.
3. Never let someone else plan a camping trip.  I'm better at it, trust me.

So, despite my first adult camping trip being a disaster, I wanted to try again.  Adam's birthday was October 20th.  I planned 5 whole days of road-trip-style camping.  Everything from where, when, menus, timelines, packing lists, the whole nine was lovingly prepared by me.  Yet another example of my type A personality.  Anyhow, the plan was to leave early the Thursday before his birthday and head to Oscar Scherer in Osprey, FL.  That was truly a beautiful park!  It had a man made fresh water swimming hole with killer amoeba.  Yes, you read that right.  Forget about the alligators, beware of the amoeba!  I swear!  Here is a picture of the sign!

The campsite I chose had water access so we were able to drop the canoe into the creek from there but we still had lots of privacy.  The site was riddled with two varieties of poison ivy, and the closest bathrooms were closed for renovations but hey, no biggie.  That's what calamine lotion and bicycles are for.  Bike seats are great for pushing the turtle heads back in if you know what I mean. Haha!  

So, according to my very scheduled itinerary we were to pack up our campsite Friday morning and head to Manatee Springs, in Chiefland, FL.  I didn't think about the fact that our tent would be soaked with dew and covered in dirt.  Perfect.  After fighting with that for a bit we ended up just throwing the tent into the back of the Tahoe and resigning ourselves to the fact that this was going to be a repetitive problem.  The drive to Manatee Springs was long and required frequent stops to readjust the canoe on the top of the truck.  Note to Adam:  Strapping a canoe with two straps (front and back only) is not adequate fixation for highway driving.  Duh!  Anyway, we were much later then I planned in arriving to the next campsite.  After wrestling with the dirty wet tent we went canoeing and fishing on the Suwanee River.  Adam didn't catch any fish but it was a beautiful view.  We didn't see any manatee but we saw fish and turtles and lots of vultures.  We also had 4 deer come up onto our campsite as soon as we got out of our truck.  

Think they get fed by human's much??!  Against my advice Adam tried to feed them a pancake but they wouldn't get close enough to him to eat it.  

Saturday morning (Adam's Birthday!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!) we got an early start heading to Apopka to see his Mommy (be sure to stop by her blog and give it some love!).  We spent the day at Blue Springs in Orange City floating in the spring and then had a lovely dinner thanks to Debra!  We camped at Blue Springs as well.  We didn't get a chance to really explore that park but I'm sure we will next time.  

Sunday morning we drove to Sebastian Inlet and our site had a beautiful view of the water.  Absolutely no privacy whatsoever but that's ok.  Adam and I rode our bikes down A1A and stopped by a Treasure Museum that educated us about the Spanish shipwrecks all along the east coast of FL.  After some fishing and dinner it was time for bed.  Being that close to the water had a downside I didn't anticipate.  It was so windy that our tent flapped in the breeze all night long.  Needless to say, our last night of camping was the only night I didn't sleep like a log.  On the plus side there was no dew so we were able to completely put away the tent on Monday morning!  Finally!

Overall I think our trip was a success!  We got to enjoy the outdoors and see parts of the state we were born and raised in that we had never seen before.  We worked out a few kinks that will make our next camping adventure that much easier.  Those are:

1. One day in each park is not an adequate amount of time to enjoy their amenities.  I shouldn't have tried to pack so much into one long weekend.  Next trip I will definitely plan for two days at each park.
2. Leaving first thing in the morning isn't particularly practical.  I need to relax the schedule a bit and enjoy the experience.
3. Packing strictly what is on the predetermined menu makes for boring meals and no backup options when Adam decides to cook dinner over an open wood fire and everything ends up inedible.  Love you, Honey. :)
4. Investing in a trailer would definitely make transporting the canoe easier.  Having it on top of the car made it difficult to open the back hatch to unpack our gear.
5. My beach cruiser bicycle is not appropriate for off-roading.  I love my bike but it is better suited for flat, paved roadways not sandy dirt trails.

I am planning on scheduling our next trip for January or February.  I'm excited to perfect the process and make it a trip we take a couple of times a year.  I want to try and have our trip span weekdays only so the parks aren't as crowded.  We ran into that problem at the parks we stayed in on Friday and Saturday nights.  Too many people in one place doesn't jive with my antisocial personality.  Not to mention, I don't appreciate having to listen to someone blaring Mexican Polka music until 9:30 at night.  Yea, you're camping.  Try listening to the birds chirping, assholes.  Ahem.  Sorry about that.  

Interested in seeing the full gambit of photographs from our trip?  Follow me on Facebook and check out the album!