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I don't need no sunscreen!


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Today was a beach day! We all slept in some a little longer than the rest can you guess who? I started laundry hubby got breakfast started. Today would be my last time meeting my new friend and her Mom. What I love about camping is you can have a conversation with someone in a bathroom in your pjs and it's normal. We had breakfast I finished up the laundry we packed up our beach stuff and we where on are way.

First we need to make a stop at the outlets my husband dropped us off and went to get gas. My son went into Nike Niece and I head off to go to Disney. On the way there we got stopped to try this lotion. The guy was very pushy Niece wants to try it. A decision we both regretted. He told my 13 year old Niece she had bags under her eyes and her skin was only going to get worse as she ages. We did not buy anything and walked away. Found the Disney store Hubby text he found a parking spot and will just wait in the car. Son text he is done at Nike and will meet us. Nothing good at the Disney store lots of Star Wars we are not into that and, Disneyland stuff. Niece gets a stuffed animal for her little brother I got nothing. We head into the food court and get lunch to go. Text Hubby we are on are out. While waiting at the curb for hubby to pick us up we saw two families yelling at each other. There was a police officer there and kids where crying. It looked like this was all over a parking space. We left before it got resolved. I felt bad for the kids!

We decide to try a beach we have never been before Howards Beach it's located in Tarpon Springs. We arrive it's very quiet only about 3 other groups of people. We set up I get the sunscreen out and lather up Niece. Husband and Son have swim shirts so they just need some on their face. We head over by the water it's really warm like hot tub warm in some low spots. We walk around find lots of crabs and take some pictures. Relax a bit at our spot. Kids are ready to leave to quiet for them they want waves. I ask them if they want to rent some of the water stuff they have or leave? They wanted to leave.  Ok we pack up and leave on to Clearwater. Since it's getting later we find a spot in the lot. We gather all of are stuff again and head over to the beach. As we are walking in Niece is behind me and says your back is red Son looks and says it is. Oh ok what do they know? I again lather up Niece put sunscreen on all of our faces. Husband says don't you want any on your back? No I don't need any I say . A sentence I will regret later! We have lots of waves kids are happy. When we are done at the beach kids want to walk around the shops. Remember Niece wanted a ankle bracelet we find lots of them she gets a couple. Son gets a couple of shirts and stickers at Ron Jon Surf Shop. Niece gets one of those life guard sweatshirts at a big souvenir shop. We then head out. Dinner that night we be at the extra large Mcdonalds in Orlando. My Son wants to show this place to my Niece she has never been here. Last year they had a build your own burger option no more Son was disappointed. He got a burger off the menu Niece got chicken nuggets Husband and I had pasta. The kids go upstairs to the arcade for bit and we head back to the fort. We always had really friendly guards when we got back and Husband would joke around with them.

We get back into the camper my back is feeling hot. I ask my Husband to look at it and he says yup it's red. Good thing I brought aloe just in case someone would need it. Guess I'm the only one who needs it because, I don't need any sunscreen. Lesson learned Florida sun is a lot stronger than Wisconsin sun! We get ready for bed and talk about how this is already our last night. How can this be?

Up next we leave the fort but we are not headed home yet.

 

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It was the highlight of all the posts from the past week!   Sorry Robin, but if you've been lurking, you know how threads get hijacked until the original poster jumps back in a gets everyone

Are last morning in the camper. We all got up and got ready for breakfast. Up at the ranger station they had a waffle breakfast for 4 bucks a person. We had very little food left this was perfect. I s

Long time lurker first time trip report. This trip was my husband, 17 year old son, 13 year old niece and, me. We left Wisconsin on August 9th about 2:30 in the afternoon. We bought a used pop up

12 minutes ago, Robin said:

Yes, it is a nice park! I just typed in best Florida beaches in my phone that morning and it came up. My husband and I wanted to stay but the kids wanted action I guess we are old.

One really nice thing about Fred Howard Park is that there's plenty of parking, and nice rest rooms.  Parking and traffic at Clearwater Beach can be brutal.

TCD

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Worst sunburn I ever got as an adult was at a beach in Florida a few years ago. We sprayed sunscreen but apparently, we realized afterward, it was pretty windy.  I was there for several hours with nothing protecting me. One of my sons also. Oh so painful. Thank goodness for aloe.  Learned my lesson with that and I do lotion basecoat and spray over it now. 

 

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Howard Park is a lot calmer than Clearwater, but the beach and water isn't as nice. But like TCD said plenty of parking and you can drive back to the mainland and find a shady spot for a picnic.

If you want nice sand and beautiful blue water Anna Maria and the other beaches up and down the island are really nice.

And then there is Lori Wilson Park over at Cocoa Beach.  Plenty of waves there and it has a lot of free parking.  But they are proposing to charge non county residents a parking fee up to $20 a day.

Yup FL sunshine is a lot stronger than Northern states, or Great Britain, based on the ton of pasty white people walking around WDW with strange accents!

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45 minutes ago, Travisma said:

If you want nice sand and beautiful blue water Anna Maria and the other beaches up and down the island are really nice.

Hey now don't go announcing that to many places, fiends are one thing but we already have enough tourists down here.  Haha I'm joking.

The beaches are nice and a few years back they re arranged parking at Coquina beach which really helps.  But holiday weekends and a good part of the winter forget about it. There are only 2 roads with drawbridges going out to the island and unless you go early you'll spend more time in traffic than you will on the beach. But I think it's that way with a lot of the beaches on the west coast. 

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20 minutes ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

There are only 2 roads with drawbridges going out to the island and unless you go early you'll spend more time in traffic than you will on the beach. But I think it's that way with a lot of the beaches on the west coast. 

I agree- if I was looking to go to the beach from WDW, there's no way I'd head to the gulf side of Florida.  The ride to the east coast is much easier, and there are plenty of nice beaches there.  Since my kids were used to the mild gulf beaches, the Atlantic ocean waves were always fun for them.  Unless there's a storm, forget about boogie boarding or surfing on the west coast of Florida.

TCD

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Leaving day is not fun! Where did the time go? Today we got everyone up I got my aloe on with help from my husband. We started to pack up and had a quick breakfast. When we where close to done we went for one last bike ride to soak it all in. We went down to the marina took some pictures and walked on the beach. We went into the settlement and looked around in there for a few min. Next we rode over to meadows my son pin traded for a Duffy pin to remember him and his cousin getting all those stamps. I got a Fort shirt and I love it!  We walked around for a bit and I could not stall any longer it was getting late. We rode back and finished packing up and rolled out at 11:03. We stopped at the entrance to take our customary Fort pictures. See you real soon! The plan was to spend the night in Georgia and go to 6 flags the next day. We are season pass holders we can go to any 6 flags. We did this last year and it was fun way to end our trip. If you live near there you might be seeing a problem with this plan? We stopped a few hours later got some sub sandwiches and Starbucks again. We decided to stay at Stone Mountain park for the night. We arrived right after the office closed. We just picked a site on the map put money in the drop box. When we got to the site we picked it looks like they where putting up tents you could rent. We moved down a couple of spots no big deal. I walked up front to change our spot on the map the rest of the family started to set up. When I got back I found out that my Son and Niece got into a fight and where not talking. This was the only fight they had the whole time. I chalked it up to tired, hungry and, no more Disney. We quick finished setting up and went out to eat. We found a little diner about a mile away. Food was good and, reasonable. Kids are still not talking. We got back got ready for bed I got more aloe and we where out. Traveling sure makes you tired.

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After a nice night sleep we are up. My husband and I sat by the lake for while and relaxed. Kids where up but still in bed on their phones of course! We all hit the comfort station which wasn't bad my niece didn't like her creepy crawly thing in there with her but it's camping. Breakfast was slim pickings today but, that's ok we have the dinning pass at 6 flags and, that's where we are headed. Kid's seem better today with each other no mention of the fight. We pack up and head out. We are all excited and hungry! All the way there we are telling Niece about the rides they have and what we are going to eat. We start getting close I start getting are bag ready. Tell kids to grab their drink cups. We get free drinks with are dining pass. I hear my husband say do you remember how to get in here? I look up and see barricades and no cars I say it's closed. I grab my phone and look it up yup it's closed only open on weekends. For those of you that live there is it because of school starting? I didn't even think to look at the hours before we left major fail on my part. We just sat there now what we had a brief thought of the movie Family Vacation. My husband makes the decision we will drive to Kentucky and stay at the Jellystone Park. We are visiting his sister in southern Illinois and this would make us close to her and we can still have some fun. I call for a reservation they don't make reservations for one night. Great, we start driving and eat what is left of the snacks all the time thinking about what we would of been eating. We hit traffic and construction. I start to worry we wont get a spot and look up other campgrounds near by just in case. We finally arrive a little after 6. I go in the office others wait in the van. I got the last spot I can not believe it!  The kids hit the pool husband and I set up. By now we are starving and we have no food. Husband and I leave and drive down the rode we get Pizza Hut and BBQ. Get back call kids back and we have dinner. After dinner we walk around for a bit kids hit the movie for a bit and we get ready for bed. I'm so glad the kids got to have some fun I felt really bad!

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57 minutes ago, Robin said:

After a nice night sleep we are up. My husband and I sat by the lake for while and relaxed. Kids where up but still in bed on their phones of course! We all hit the comfort station which wasn't bad my niece didn't like her creepy crawly thing in there with her but it's camping. Breakfast was slim pickings today but, that's ok we have the dinning pass at 6 flags and, that's where we are headed. Kid's seem better today with each other no mention of the fight. We pack up and head out. We are all excited and hungry! All the way there we are telling Niece about the rides they have and what we are going to eat. We start getting close I start getting are bag ready. Tell kids to grab their drink cups. We get free drinks with are dining pass. I hear my husband say do you remember how to get in here? I look up and see barricades and no cars I say it's closed. I grab my phone and look it up yup it's closed only open on weekends. For those of you that live there is it because of school starting? I didn't even think to look at the hours before we left major fail on my part. We just sat there now what we had a brief thought of the movie Family Vacation. My husband makes the decision we will drive to Kentucky and stay at the Jellystone Park. We are visiting his sister in southern Illinois and this would make us close to her and we can still have some fun. I call for a reservation they don't make reservations for one night. Great, we start driving and eat what is left of the snacks all the time thinking about what we would of been eating. We hit traffic and construction. I start to worry we wont get a spot and look up other campgrounds near by just in case. We finally arrive a little after 6. I go in the office others wait in the van. I got the last spot I can not believe it!  The kids hit the pool husband and I set up. By now we are starving and we have no food. Husband and I leave and drive down the rode we get Pizza Hut and BBQ. Get back call kids back and we have dinner. After dinner we walk around for a bit kids hit the movie for a bit and we get ready for bed. I'm so glad the kids got to have some fun I felt really bad!

Us Floridians forget about northern places closing.  Not just theme parks, but ice cream stands and other outdoor activities.

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Are last morning in the camper. We all got up and got ready for breakfast. Up at the ranger station they had a waffle breakfast for 4 bucks a person. We had very little food left this was perfect. I started a load of laundry kids got ready for the pool. My husband and I then started to pack up. We would not be going in the camper again till we got home and we needed all my Nieces stuff and a over night bag for us. I finished up the laundry and we closed up the camper. It was still warm out but much less humidity from down south.

We parked up at the front and found the kids. I had bought a extra pizza the night before so cold pizza was for lunch.

My husband joined the kids in the pool and on the waterslide. They where having a great time! Me not so much my sunburn was the worst today! After a couple of hours we all played mini golf. There was a women there from the local magazine who took are picture we are famous. The kids got a slushie  we took a couple of photos and it was time to leave. We had a 4 hour drive to southern Illinois to visit family.

We arrived just in time for dinner we went out to a Asian Buffet. We had a nice visit and both kids where tired and went to bed early. The next morning My sister in-law made us a big breakfast before we hit the rode for the last time. We had a 6 hour trip a head of us. We made it back with no problems and I took my Niece home. I was sad to see her go and I think she was a little sad to leave us.

All in all we had a great time and the weather wasn't to bad. The kids got along great! We did not get to do everything we wanted but, that's what next time is for. My son keeps asking me when we are going back. He says once a year isn't enough we are raising him right lol! I have learned my lesson with the Florida sun and the water. I will never again say I Don't Need No Sunscreen. I have never had such a bad burn and I hope I never do again!

Thanks for reading along to my first trip report!

 

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