Hey Guys!! Remember when I told you I’d gotten us into four Florida state parks? Well, one of them had to cancel on us do to storm damage…which messed up the timing for the next one…so, it looks like we’ll be missing out on two of the state parks I worked so hard to get us into. Total bummer. We’ll be missing out on a cave and a beach…but, whattaya gonna do? Being nomads has definitely helped teach us flexibility.

We stayed at the Fort De Soto County Park for two weeks…our limit when the park doesn’t offer full-hookups. We had a great pull-through spot that was so big we could have easily fit two RVs in it. You can see in the top picture Fort De Soto is out on a little Key. The only thing we didn’t like about this park was the fact that we had to go through two tolls to get back and forth between the park and the grocery store.

The weather was still on the cool side the entire two weeks we were in the Saint Petersburg/Fort De Soto area. We had one day where it was around 72° and the sun was shining so we headed to the beach for a play day. I’ll be honest, I thought it was still a little chilly and kept my sweatshirt on the whole time. Fort De Soto has seven miles of beaches. What’s interesting is that the sand at East Beach is sooo different from the sand at North Beach. North Beach has that powdery fine white sand while East Beach has a darker, more coarse sand. We walked around both beaches and decided North Beach was better for playing in the sand. The day we went was super windy! There were probably twenty or so guys there kite surfing. What a show!!

We found a few shells here…not many…and no big ones. In the top right picture, you can see that there’s a sand bar. It was too dang cold to wade out to the sandbar to gather the good shells. If I could have gotten out there without swimming, I would have…but the water would have been up to my neck…and it was cold. So…I missed it. I sat looking at it the entire time we were at the beach…thinking about toughing it out and going anyway, but I don’t handle cold very well. I think I’ll get to it next time. We’ve all decided that when we come back to Florida, we’ll for sure have to stay at Fort De Soto again.

We did some more wildlife watching! There were birds galore and we had raccoons visiting us daily. Two raccoons seemed to like this little cluster of vines above our home-on-wheels. We saw them up there chilling in the sun. The cats seemed particularly interested in the raccoons. They kept trying to rumble through the screen door…don’t let them fool you though. They’re both cowards.

Construction for the Fort De Soto Batteries and Military Post started in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. The Fort never saw any major battles and during WWII it was used for bombing practice by the pilot who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. It’s always interesting to walk around these old forts. We’ve learned so much about history by exploring these kinds of sites.

We’ve been talking about going to the Tampa RV Show for a long time, but we’ve never been in the area for it, so we were excited to get the chance to go while we were in the Saint Pete area! We’ve been to our fair share of RV shows…especially when we were looking for our home-on-wheels. Guys…this RV show is huge! Huge!! We got there right after opening, walked around all day, and left as they were closing up and we still didn’t see it all. We stood in line to look at a million dollar RV. It sure was pretty! But it’s still an RV. I can’t imagine paying a million dollars for an RV. Maybe that’s just me though.

We found some amazing foodies! The seafood in the area was super fresh and super tasty! Our favorite place to grab some seafood was Shells Seafood Restaurant. We found a great little burger place called Boulevard Burgers and an amazing pizza place that I’ll let Nicholas tell you about in the next post!

One morning we were walking along the beach looking for shells and we started talking to a local. We got a lot of great info about the area…but the best thing we learned about was Mazzaro’s Italian Market. Oh…My…Goodness!!! Guys! This place was awesome! It was like walking into some Italian grandmother’s home and having a meal. Or so I think it is…I’ve never actually been to an Italian grandmother’s house. If we lived near this market on a more regular basis, I would need to start working out every single day. We love to find out about spots locals know about!

Our two weeks in the Saint Pete area flew by. It was cool and windy with a few rainy days. It wasn’t what we’d planned. But, we loved it! All of it. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a nomad is to embrace the now. Love it for what it is.

See y’all down the road!

#hidingfromthecold