Florida Beaches and an Alabama RV Park

We spent almost a month in Florida visiting friends and family. When you visit Florida you will probably end up at the beach at some point during your trip. We made it to two beaches this time – New Smyrna Beach, near Daytona along the Atlantic Ocean, and Santa Rosa Beach, near Pensacola in the panhandle.

Our friends moved to New Smyrna last year and it had been awhile since we had seen them, so we were eager to catch up with them. They live in a very nice community, unfortunately we were not able to park the RV at their place (darn HOA rules), but we found a campground nearby to park the RV while we visited.

“New Smyrna Beach is one of the closest (and nicest) beaches to Orlando, and many will take a day trip or an overnight trip to New Smyrna Beach to add a little sand and salt water to their Disney or Universal vacation.” – travelpulse.com

It is also one of the few beaches in Florida where you can drive your car right onto the sand, as long as you have purchased a beach parking pass. As locals, our friends have an annual pass and come down here often.

The water was warm even though the surf was pretty choppy from a storm out in the Atlantic Ocean. We were amazed at how far out the surf ebbed and flowed. The water was very shallow and you could easily walk out about a hundred yards before the water came up to your chest.

It was a bit concerning to hear that New Smyrna Beach is the unofficial shark capital of the world. “Volusia County has a five-year annual average of nine attacks, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF). The county has more shark attacks than anywhere else on the planet but most are not severe, explained Gavin Naylor, who manages ISAF.

Naylor estimates the chances of getting bit by a shark in New Smyrna Beach are 10 times higher than anywhere else nationwide, but he says that probability is still small. “You’re far more likely to get involved in a fender bender driving to New Smyrna Beach,” he said.” – Orlando News 13

Luckily we didn’t see any sharks, however, as with many of the beaches we’ve been to along the East Coast on this trip, there were many sea birds running in and out of the waves.

Here is another view of the surf going out. When I stopped to take this picture the water was around my ankles. It slowly moved back out to the ocean and stopped about the point I took the picture below. If you look along the rocks you can see a group of people at the end fishing.

We’ve always said that when we travel one of the best things to do is hang out with locals, they always know the best places to go. Our friends took us to the River Deck Tiki Bar and Restaurant, a fun restaurant right on the water in New Smyrna Beach.

And we were lucky enough to snag a table right on the water. Tanya said she learned about this place from her coworkers, and we weren’t disappointed. The fish sandwiches were really good.

We’ve gotten into the habit of going for morning walks on this trip. We love that no matter where we go we get to see so much local wildlife everywhere. We didn’t get close enough but I think the bird in the picture below is either a little blue heron or a triple-colored heron. Either way the ducks didn’t seem too sure of it either.

The real reason we were in Florida was to meet up with my family. Earlier this year we all were able to get our Covid vaccines, after that my mom decided she wanted to see everyone for Thanksgiving. We all checked schedules and figured out that the best time for everyone was actually October. So happy we were all able to make it work.

Joel and I arrived a few days before everyone else did.

Then I drove up to Tampa to pick up my sister June from the airport. She and I had decided a few months ago to stay overnight and catch up before everyone else got together. My sister and I have become closer as we’ve gotten older and I love that we were able to have this time together.

My brother Jay, his wife Melissa (Mo) and their two kids, Marlee and Boston, flew in from Hawaii. They had the longest travel day (it’s usually a 14 hour flight each way from Kauai to Florida) and we were so happy they were able to make it out. Though, in the picture below, Marlee doesn’t seem very excited to be on this trip.

After dropping June off at my parent’s place, I drove down to pick up Jay and the rest of his Ohana (that means family in Hawaiian).

Even though the calendar proclaimed it was October, we still decided to celebrate Thanksgiving while everyone was together. Even Aunt Marie and Uncle Curtis came over. My mom got us all matching t-shirts for the celebration. It has been years since since we were all together in the same room and it was just another reason to be thankful this year.

Here we are enjoying a charcuterie board and some appetizers. Ugh, no matter when we hold Thanksgiving dinner there is always way too much food.

Despite the heat and the overwhelming (I’d even say opressive) humidity, we continued to do our morning walks. June joined us and set a blistering pace, for which I was…happy? (Yeah, I’m not really sure about that)

Both my brother and sister were born in October, so, of course we had cake and birthday shenanigans.

During our trip around the U.S. we bought bottles of wine at many wineries we visited. Our plan was to have a wine tasting night when we met up with the family. When tried side by side, many of the wines were good…

…and at least one bottle wasn’t, as Mo so aptly showed us.

And there were many games played while we were together – cribbage (a card game), Mexi-train (a game played with dominos), and at least one of us took over mom’s iPad to play Candy Crush (yup, looking at you Jay). All in all it was a fun time.

We are very lucky that three doors down from my parents, one of their neighbors has their house on Airbnb. We’ve rented their house a couple of times and it makes things so convenient to have all this extra space so close by. For us, the best part was that we could park the RV in their driveway for the week we were here.

Before we left June gave me a painting she made for the RV. The monkey was a paint-by-number painting she had done during her covid lockdown last year. I love the colors and we both think that it perfectly captures the year that was 2020.

On our way home we decided to spend a couple of nights on a beach in the panhandle. It was too far to drive straight there so we stopped for a night at the Madison RV & Golf Resort in Madison, FL. We found this place on our last trip out to Florida and enjoyed staying here. The sites are large, clean and fairly level.

Here are some of the views around their campground from our morning walk.

I’m not sure the picture below quite captures the humor of the sign on the back of this car. It is a small Mini Cooper car towed behind a large Class A (bus sized) RV.

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park was created in 1998 when the state purchased a private RV resort along the beach. It then expanded the campground and today it has 156 RV sites (almost all with full hook ups), 22 tent sites, 16 cabins and 16 bungalows. It has also been combined with the neighboring State Preserve.

“The park has 1643 acres, over 15 miles of hiking and biking trails, five rare Coastal Dune Lakes and 3.2 miles of beach along the Gulf Coast. Three of the Coastal Dune Lakes are reachable by hiking trails. The trails to Campbell Lake and the beach are paved for an easier hiking or biking experience.” – Florida State Parks

“Topsail Hill is named for its dunes, which rise like a ship’s sails over soft sand beaches and the emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico.” – Florida State Parks

There is a tram that runs regularly from the RV campground to the beach. While tram rides are included in the park admission we chose to walk. It was an easy one mile paved trail that led us to the wooden walkway over the dunes and to the beach.

The beaches up here in the panhandle are stunning, though the water was just a bit too cool for us when we came by in the evening.

“The park also has a very active geocache, interpretive program and special event schedule. Make sure to get a program/event schedule before you leave. Geocache packets are available at the Ranger Station.” – Florida State Parks

We loved this park and have put it on our list of places to return. It books up quickly during the winter months so check ahead if you plan to visit.

After visiting our last beach on this adventure we headed north to see an old friend in Atmore, Alabama.

Catherine and I worked together early in my career and we have remained friends ever since. She works at the Wind Creek Casino, which has a RV park onsite. We typically avoid staying at Casino RV parks since they tend to be just an adjacent parking lot with no real amenities. This park pleasantly surprised us.

When you stay at this RV park you have access to all the same amenities as hotel guests, that includes access to both the pool and spa, which looked very nice when we walked by them.

We were able to get here early enough to spend a wonderful afternoon with Catherine. It was great to finally catch up in person.

Living through all the uncertainty, lockdowns and craziness of the Covid pandemic has made us both realize how important it is to spend time with family and friends.