After a month of rest, relaxation and fun it was time to say goodbye to Tampa and hit the road once again. We had found an RV storage area not too far from our Ybor property and after picking up Bubbles and packing we were off. Our stop for the night was in the town of Sanford, which is a little to the northeast of Orlando. Our good friend Ryan had recently moved there and we were excited to visit him. Sanford isn’t exactly a tourist town, but it does have something that most Florida cities lack, a historic downtown.
We arrived late in the afternoon as traffic between Tampa and Orlando wasn’t the best but we arrived in time to enjoy the music festival that was going on in town. Ryan had pre-purchased some tickets and we were off. As Sanford is a smaller town it was only a 15-minute walk from Ryan’s house to the downtown core and the music festival. The music fest was great as there were multiple stages as well as a few indoor music venues with bands playing. We wandered in and out of them listening for a while before checking out the next band. There were a few vendors selling shirts and other items. Ryan had been telling us all along that Sanford was a pretty nice place. He was pleasantly surprised to find a shirt that said “Sanford – Its not that bad”. He of course had to purchase one. After a while we got a bit hungry and since we had not had BBQ in a while we checked out Fuel BBQ. The food was great with the brisket being the star of the show. From there we walked around town with Ryan showing us some of his favorite places. Interesting fact about Sanford, there are free power plugs all over town. Not just in a normal place such as on the side of a building but in its parks, along its sidewalks and anywhere that you might need to just sit down and plug in your phone or laptop. You’ll never be without power in Sanford.
The next day we woke up ready to explore the area a bit more. First up was breakfast at the Market Restaurant. This was a very local spot with filling home cooking that we all enjoyed. From the restaurant we drove towards Orlando to Wekiva Island. Wekiva Island is an island in the Wekiva River, which you can rent canoes, paddle boards, kayaks or just swim in. They also have a bar so if your style is to just sit back and take in the scenery you can. As it was a weekend the place was packed. We were told that the best time to come was in the middle of the week when not many people are there. On the other side of the spectrum though since there were a ton of people the people watching was top notch. We stayed for a while watching people come in go in canoes, play volleyball and come and go from the bar. We had a good time. Our last stop with Ryan was back near his house at Gators Riverside Grille. This was a small restaurant right on the St. John’s River. It was pretty nice as we were seated on a patio overlooking the river listening to a singer strum his guitar as we ate fresh haddock. It was the perfect way to end our time with Ryan in Sanford. From Gators we hopped into Bubbles and hit the road traveling northeast to St. Augustine. Once we reached our campground outside of the city we made dinner and relaxed the rest of the night.
The next morning we woke up excited and ready to explore. St. Augustine was especially interesting to us as it is the oldest city in the USA. It was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers and has been continuously inhabited since. Our first stop in the city was at the Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth Park. This is a 15 acre private park that is rumored to be the landing spot for Ponce de Leon in 1535 in his search for the Fountain of Youth. While he did find a natural spring on the property and yes you can drink from it, I’m not sure if we got any younger from drinking it but it was pretty good water. The property showcased the Spanish explorers that founded the city and showed what life was like for them, the native Indian tribe in the area as well as artifacts found on the property. It was a bit touristy and cheesy but since they did do a live cannonball demonstration it was worth it for us.
Next we headed downtown exploring the central district as well as historic Flagler College. The main building for Flagler College had been built as a luxury hotel by Henry Flagler in 1888. Henry Flagler is best known as the founder of Standard Oil Co. He had also built the Florida East Coast Railway in which he needed a hotel, hence his luxurious St. Augustine property. The college took over the property in 1968 and has flourished ever since. This was pretty neat for me as the main building for my own alma mater (The U. of Tampa) was also in an old historic hotel. This building in Flagler College was leaps and bounds prettier than my own. We walked around the historic building ooing and awing at its architecture. After walking around downtown for a bit longer we hopped back into the van and headed back to the campground for the night.
The next morning we woke up ready to venture out once again. Today we would be exploring our last Florida city, Jacksonville. So as we always do we packed up Bubbles and we were off! Jacksonville is pretty to drive into. It’s located on a bend on the St. Johns River, which allows a good number of its buildings to have water views. We drove into the city, found parking and started to walk around. As we walked towards the center of town we stumbled upon a candy shop called Sweet Pete’s. If any of you are familiar with the TV show “The Profit” then you are familiar with Sweet Pete’s. The show follows entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis as he invests his money into struggling businesses. Sweet Pete’s is one of his most successful ventures. We had no idea it was located in downtown Jacksonville and were pretty happy to be able check it out. As we entered the building there was actually a summer camp field trip about to enter. This was probably the best field trip these kids had ever been on before. Once we entered we were blown away. The store was pretty incredible. Besides rooms of candy there was a fully functional restaurant and toy section. After picking out a few pieces of candy and even seeing Sweet Pete himself we exited and continued on our tour of Jacksonville.
From Sweet Pete’s we headed down to the waterfront stopping at Jacksonville Landing. While it was nice to be on the river the complex seemed like a mall from 1985 with half empty tenants. Nonetheless we enjoyed our time on the waterfront. From the waterfront we drove to the Riverside and Avondale neighborhoods. These areas were pretty neat as they were older neighborhoods of Jacksonville with eclectic stores and restaurants. We walked around enjoying the local scene stopping for lunch in the van before hopping in and out of a few stores. From here we started to make our way back to St. Augustine by the coastal highway (we had taken the interstate into the city). This was pretty neat as we drove through small coastal beach towns and even stopped at a beach park, The Guana Reserve Middle Beach. As it was a weekday the beach was deserted and we walked for a few miles collecting shells and watching the waves hit the sand. It was really a perfect time to be on the beach. From the beach we walked back to Bubbles, used her outside hose to wash the sand off of our feet and drove back to our campground.
All in all we had a great time in Florida! We saw thousands of miles of the state from Pensacola to Key West to Jacksonville and many points in-between. We were able to catch up with many friends and even had time to relax a bit. It truly is one of our favorite places.
Next up…Coastal Georgia! We explore Jekyll Island and Savannah.
