Final Florida Stops

Florida really is about family.  First we visited with my aunt and her family and then on Sunday we visited my great-nephew and his family.  Derek and Nichole live on 17 acres out in the country where they have two beautiful children, two dogs, a cat and three horses.  We had such a great afternoon visiting and getting to know the little ones.  I even got to play dress-up with Heidi!  They fed the horses while we were there and it was so fun watching them come in from the pasture and run to their stalls in the barn looking for their oats.  One got so excited about his oats that he ran into the wrong stall and came out looking rather embarrassed as he found his way to his own stall. 

Florida is lush and beautiful but we still don’t like it here and it is lot like Texas when in the panhandle – a long way across.  I think it reminds us too much of California and we certainly don’t like being there.  Funny isn’t it?  I lived in California for over 30 years!  We are now back on Eastern Time and for some reason this change was not hard on us at all.  Maybe it is the full circle.  We left just over a year ago.  We rolled past the Two Thousand Mile mark this week.  That does not count the side trips and U-Turns!

We are in a small town called Yulee, FL and waiting out some weather.  We decided to stop here because it is so close to Fernandina Beach.  We stopped at Fernandina Beach going down the Intracoastal Waterway in our sailboat back in 2007 and then again coming back up it.  We enjoyed our visit both times and want to explore again.  Besides, there is an awesome pub there called the Palace Saloon that we remember had some great brews on tap.

This park we are in is just the strangest place.  Called Bows and Arrows, it is worn out and falling apart.  But the people here, the permanent ones, appear to all be one big happy family.  I don’t think any of them chose to live in broken down old RV’s but here they are and life is not easy for them.  But they help each other.  One woman was taking dinner to an old blind man last night.  I saw a man in an electric wheelchair walking his dog and visiting with his neighbors along the way.  There are absolutely beautiful old oak trees draped in Spanish moss.  But there is no grass, just weeds and dirt and the paving is almost gone.  There is a laundry room that I am using.  The machines work but the floor is so dirty…Heaven forbid I drop any of my clean clothes.

So, this afternoon it is off to Fernandina Beach! Rain or Shine!