Lake Kissimmee State Park - Lake Wales, FL

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Woke up this morning to birds singing...still cool, but nice.  Before leaving St Augustine, “we need to do something besides watching football.” (NFC/AFC championships)  Well there’s the fort, but we are in Goverment Shutdown, so NO.  There’s a winery, but they make sherry and port, so NO.  There’s a lighthouse with 219 steps, YES. It was foggy and the iron spiral staircase was wet.  Climbing the lighthouse is apparently the morning ritual for the local fitness walkers, climbing with weights you have packed onto your body, either externally or internally.  The sound of dozens of squeaky sneakers going up and down the stairs is a little unnerving, but we made it to the top for a lovely foggy view (fortunately, taking in the view is not part of the fitness regimen).

My next idea, since it was a short day, was lunch in a beach front state park.  The park we found was slightly off the beaten path.  Actually, so far off the beaten path, we had to turn around.  So my next idea was a county park on the ocean.  Deb did some investigation and said the only thing was Daytona Beach,  but all I heard was beach.  About an hour later, we did find a county park in the middle of 30 story apartment buildings, with parking (no oversized vehicles).  I asked Deb if she thought we were oversized...it didn’t even merit a response.  While making root vegetable soup...not sure why since by now it was over 80, the local park patrol came up to the RV.  With trepidation, and over 42 potential excuses, I went to beg for mercy...but she said, “Oh, your fine there!” She was just using the RV as some shade.

Ormond Beach

I was getting sleepy driving, after the soup...asked Deb to drive...fell asleep and woke in a construction zone in downtown Orlando.  After about an hour of white knuckle driving, Deb was ready for me to take over (switched right in the middle of I-4 while stopped for an accident.  The rest of the drive was uneventful.  After deciding to do a few extra things, and getting stopped for a few traffic jams, we pulled into our site just at 5:00.  Our campground is in the middle of the lakes area of Florida...there is absolutely nothing for miles from here.