Florida trip

A 47-day adventure by Bruce and Kim's travelz Read more

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Trip start
January 30, 2016
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Friday, January 29, 2016 at 9:04 PM
🌧 6 °C
Altitude: 276 ft
United States Astoria 46.184896, -123.84041346°11’6” N 123°50’25” W
Astoria
January 29, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
Left home today and drove south to Longview and crossed the Columbia River to Oregon then headed west towards Astoria. Stopped at the Astoria Column and took a couple of pics of the column and Columbia River. This first part of our trip is fairly close to home, just stopped in Centralia and picked up a couple of things and moved on.Read more
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Friday, January 29, 2016 at 9:18 PM
🌧 8 °C
Altitude: 82 ft
United States Lincoln City 44.957343, -124.01207444°57’26” N 124°0’43” W
Lincoln City
January 29, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
We decided to travel along the coast while driving through Oregon. After Astoria, we stopped at Tillamook to sample some cheese. They were a little chinseywith the samples and the cheese cost more at the factory than at Costco. Ended up spending our first night here in Lincoln City. Decided to stay at the Best Western here in town. Only about 2 miles away from the Chinook Wind Casino, so we HAD to go try out Kim's luck. It was no better than mine, we each lost about $40. But it did take several hours and a dinner to do it. Ended up going back to the hotel to sit in the hot tub and go swimming. At least the hot tub soaked off all the cigarette smoke from the casino. Overall, the weather was pleasant for traveling today, a few showers but mostly sunny and around 50. This ended our first day, 28 January 2016.Read more
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Friday, January 29, 2016 at 9:24 PM
🌧 8 °C
Altitude: 26 ft
United States Florence 43.982269, -124.09721843°58’56” N 124°5’50” W
Florence
January 29, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
Left Lincoln City and followed Hwy 101 south, made it to Florence after a couple of hours. Three Rivers Casino happened to in an area where we had to stop for a break. So we decided to stop at the casino. Kim's luck was much better here, she ended up winning the $80 loss from the day before and topping that with another $40. So WE are up $40 now (of course I haven't won a thing yet, I'm lucky she's lucky.)Read more
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Friday, January 29, 2016 at 9:25 PM
🌧 7 °C
Altitude: 16 ft
United States Coos Bay City Docks 43.366451, -124.21257543°21’59” N 124°12’45” W
Coos Bay
January 29, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 7 °C
There is a lot of scenic points along Hwy 101. It's 4:00 PM and time to stop for the night. Geez, there are a lot of casinos on Hwy 101. Mill Casino has the best pulled pork sandwiches around. But the slots are a little on the tight side, We lost $13 tonight after taking into account the $40 Kim won earlier today. (So WE lost $53 here.) Staying at Best Western again, adding to my points I guess. Worked out and soaked in the hot tub this evening. After sitting half the day, working out felt good (for a little bit anyway.)Read more
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Day 1
Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 10:24 PM
⛅ 4 °C
Altitude: 30 ft
United States Rohner Creek 40.59784, -124.16163640°35’52” N 124°9’42” W
Fortuna
January 30, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C
We are now officially in new territory. Up to today, we've been traveling down roads we've previously driven down. Drove past the "Trees of Mystery" (visiting that place once is enough for anyone and drove through the Redwoods again. Now we have to start looking for new points of interest to stop at (besides casinos.) We stopped at three of them today. They seem to have the spaced out about every two hours, right when it's convenient to get out and walk around for a bit. Up to today, WE were down $13 for the trip. Today, Kim ended up ahead $94, so WE are ahead $81 for the trip so far. (My record is still intact, haven't won a thing yet.) We did get into California about noon today and ended up staying in Fortuna for the night. About two blocks away is a nice brew pub that we had dinner at tonight.Read more
Al AdamsBe careful around them Californians. They're crazy drivers! Hoping you're getting your truck figured out. I'll need some training at some point. That reminds me, can you text me Jody's cell phone #? Looks like you're taking it pretty slow. Fortuna in 3 days. You're gonna have to put the blinders on when passing those casino's or you'll not make Florida before this fall sometime. I'll be following your trip. Hope it goes smoothly!
1/31/16Reply
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Day 2
Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 8:45 PM
🌙 9 °C
Altitude: 207 ft
United States Koshland Park 37.773781, -122.43058337°46’26” N 122°25’50” W
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San Francisco
January 31, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 9 °C
Another easy day of driving today. Only stopped at one casino and they gave us $45 to play on. So we never used any of our money and stayed there for about an hour (so we could get out and stretch some before driving into San Francisco.) WE lost no money there. It was smaller than the casino in Tokeland. We did get into San Francisco around 3:30, checked into our hotel and drove up to Fisherman's Wharf for the afternoon. Nothing has changed there since Kindal and I stopped six years ago. Restaurants, artists and pan handlers, they look like the same ones too. Hotels here in Frisco charge more for parking ($35/night here at Best Western). This hotel has been around for some time, a couple of decades since it's last remodel. You do here a lot sirens all day no matter where you are. We'll see how sleep goes tonight. Driving around town with our truck is kind of a challenge (to keep your mirrors on.) So far they're still there, at least when the valet took the truck this evening.Read more
Your place for the night? Get a little too crazy at the casinos?
2/1/16Reply
Yupp, I think I have that same picture :)
2/1/16Reply
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Day 5
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 9:54 AM
☀️ 10 °C
Altitude: 95 ft
United States Arroyo Grande 35.117943, -120.58950835°7’5” N 120°35’22” W
Arroyo Grande
February 3, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
Drove around San Francisco all morning, visited the Coit tower overlooking Fisherman's Wharf and everything on the north end of town and then headed for Twin Peaks which overlooks the whole city from the south. After Twin Peaks, we fueled up and was glad to head out of town towards Los Angeles. Drove down Hwy 1 along the coast towards Santa Cruz and stopped there for a break. Then continued on towards LA stopping at Sand City for a break. Took a walk on the beach to stretch out some. Drove by a beach full of elephant seals sunning themselves. Kim said we had to stop and look at them and it was good to get out and walk around some. Stopped for day at Arroyo Granda. All we did was sit in the hot tub and rest that evening.Read more
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Day 5
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 10:20 AM
☀️ 4 °C
Altitude: 2,014 ft
United States Las Vegas DownTown 36.164237, -115.14300736°9’51” N 115°8’35” W
Las Vegas
February 3, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
Arrived late and booked a room at Circus Circus for two nights. Today we stopped at the La Brea tar pits in LA. It was a free day at the tar pits so we walked around for a couple of hours and looked at the fossils excavated from the tar pits. Well worth the price (a $2 donation). Left the tar pits about the time everyone was heading home from work.Read more
You wrote a post about vegas without talking about any casinos?
2/12/16Reply
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Day 7
Friday, February 5, 2016 at 9:05 AM
☀️ -2 °C
Altitude: 6,864 ft
United States Switzer Canyon 35.194909, -111.6248735°11’42” N 111°37’30” W
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Flagstaff
February 5, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ -2 °C
After two nights in Las Vegas, we headed south towards the Grand Canyon. It now cost $30 to drive into the Park area. It was just around freezing with snow on the ground when we got there about 5:00, just in time to watch the shadows constantly change the look of the canyon. After the sun went down, the temperature really started dropping, at one point it was 19. We checked out a couple view points and then headed towards Flagstaff for the evening. Saw some bull elk and one buck as we were leaving the Park.Read more
Wow, just keeps going!
2/12/16Reply
Allmost looks like a model of the canyon behind you. Nice picture!
2/12/16Reply
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Day 8
Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 9:04 PM
🌙 3 °C
Altitude: 5,131 ft
United States Martinez Town 35.081146, -106.62609135°4’52” N 106°37’34” W
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Albuquerque
February 6, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 3 °C
Arrived in Albuquerque late tonight, all the restaurants around us were closed. So we ended up eating some of the stuff we brought with us. Why we were late is another story. There happens to be a lot of Indian Reservations along I-40, associated with each of those properties seems to be at least one casino. We stopped at three of them. We (Kim) ended up about $170 dollars after the three stops. So Kim's entertainment quota was filled for the day. The one cultural thing we did was stop at the meteor crater just off I-40. That was about two hours well spent. Not only for the experience but to get out and walk around some. Through the modern wonder video/photoshop, they reenacted the 150- ton meteor coming in at 26,000mph, at a 70 degree angle. Which leaves us a big hole in the ground and no to little meteor fragments surviving. (I'm surprised there was no casino there.)Read more
So happy! I have a feeling there's a story behind that smile...
2/12/16Reply
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Day 8
Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 9:18 PM
🌙 1 °C
Altitude: 4,521 ft
United States Ysleta del Sur Pueblo 32.084568, -105.45171232°5’4” N 105°27’6” W
El Paso
February 6, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 1 °C
We decided to head south from Albuquerque to see Rock City, on Joan's recommendation. (Or as near as we could tell, this would be the area she was trying to describe to us.) It was a waste of time, as a scenic side trip, as a campground, it would have been nice. But it was only about two hours out of our way while going to the Carlsbad Caverns. So El Paso is just a stop over on our way back up to New Mexico. Here are a couple of pictures of the City of Rocks.Read more
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Day 10
Monday, February 8, 2016 at 8:53 AM
☀️ 4 °C
Altitude: 3,117 ft
United States Carlsbad 32.417824, -104.23462832°25’4” N 104°14’5” W
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Carlsbad
February 8, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
All we did today was drive up to Carlsbad and see the Carlsbad Caverns. It was about a three and a half hour walk through the cavern. Cost about $10/person but worth the price. We decided to buy a park pass for $80 and they took off the price of our Grand Canyon ticket. Now any national park is free. I think we'll get our money's worth out of the pass. If you go to the caverns, don't bring a coat. It's in the mid 50's inside but you're walking up and down so much that you are plenty warm.Read more
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Day 11
Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 8:30 AM
☀️ 7 °C
Altitude: 705 ft
United States King William Park 29.413111, -98.49325429°24’47” N 98°29’36” W
San Antonio
February 9, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C
Decided to stop in San Antonio to see the Alamo. Arrived about 5:00 PM and walked downtown to the Riverwalk area and had dinner. The Riverwalk area is a couple miles of trail along the San Antonio River through old San Antonio and lined with hotels and restaurants. It's a nice place to walk around after sitting in a vehicle all day. Tomorrow we'll walk down to the Alamo and check it out before heading east.Read more
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Day 12
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 9:16 AM
☀️ 12 °C
Altitude: 20 ft
United States Texas Heroes Monument 29.297928, -94.79394729°17’53” N 94°47’38” W
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Galveston
February 10, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Started the day visiting the Alamo. It was a lot smaller than I expected, only took about an hour and a half to walk through it and watch a video. Although it was interesting and the weather was nice. After walking through the Alamo, we decided to drive towards Galveston, Tx. We drove a longer route that took us along the coast more. After arriving about 5:00, we walked along the seawall for an hour and had dinner at a steak house. Which meant we had an hour walk back to the hotel.Read more
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Day 13
Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 8:50 AM
☀️ 15 °C
Altitude: 30 ft
United States Lake Charles 30.225848, -93.22380130°13’33” N 93°13’26” W
Lake Charles
February 11, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Made it over to Lake Charles, Louisiana last night. Kim finally got her casino fix just after crossing the state line yesterday. Texas was a dry state for her. Ended up hitting three casinos yesterday, one after crossing the state line and the other two here in Lake Charles. Louisiana must be like Nevada, casinos everywhere around here. So we are down $80 here in La. Had to stay up until 11 last night washing clothes. Its surprising how fast two weeks goes by and we're only in Louisiana. Need to look to see what there is to do down here Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.Read more
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Day 14
Friday, February 12, 2016 at 8:25 AM
⛅ 15 °C
Altitude: 33 ft
United States McDonogh Monument 29.947376, -90.07312429°56’51” N 90°4’23” W
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New Orleans
February 12, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Arrived around noon yesterday and checked into a hotel. Walked around the French Quarter heading towards the Mississippi River and looked at the architecture. Once bythe Mississippi River we bought tickets for a steam boat ride down the river, including dinner. It was a two hour narrated tour giving us the history of New Orleans. Nice boat ride. Of course there was a casino nearby, so Kim had to go in and win $100. (She's almost covered my losses by now.) Heading back to the hotel in the French Quarter we stopped by Pat O'Brien's to get a hurricane (for me anyway.) Walked down Bourbon St for awhile while I drank my hurricane. Then headed back to the hotel and sat by the pool for the night. It was warm here, about 75 when we arrived and still in the 60's that evening when we were by the pool.Read more
Trying to pose like that girl behind you?
2/12/16Reply
<3
2/12/16Reply
So many cool buildings
2/12/16Reply
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Day 20
Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 6:55 PM
🌙 11 °C
Altitude: 75 ft
United States Bridge Creek 30.724206, -85.18544230°43’27” N 85°11’8” W
Marianna
February 18, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
Left New Orleans this morning heading towards Fort Myers, Florida. Drove through the southern part of Mississippi and Alabama then into Florida. After getting through Pensacola, we headed south towards the gulf of Mexico into Fort Walton Beach. Drove along the coast for about an hour then headed back up to I-10 and stopped in Marianna for the night.Read more
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Day 20
Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 8:16 PM
🌙 19 °C
Altitude: 20 ft
United States Bimini Basin 26.557969, -81.97318926°33’29” N 81°58’23” W
Cape Coral
February 18, 2016 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
Stopped to visit Jackie for four days at Cape Coral. Didn't get to do much here because we couldn't park our truck in the subdivision "No Trucks" is posted on the main gate and the neighbor told us we couldn't leave the truck there overnight. Ended up taking the truck to a hotel every night. Also got an oil change while we were sitting around Cape Coral. Headed to Miami one day to the horse track and casino. Lost $60 dollars there.Read more
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Day 21
Friday, February 19, 2016 at 7:36 AM
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: Sea level
United States Marathon, Marathon Airport 24.722035, -81.03935124°43’19” N 81°2’22” W
Marathon Key
February 19, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Spent two nights at Glunz hotel at Key Colony Beach on Marathon Key. This is the most we've paid for a hotel since we started our trip, just over $300/night. We needed to stay here a couple of nights because Kim's passport had to be UPS'd to use overnight. (Hotels were over $350/night in Key West.) This is a nice place though. If you just wanted to get away from everything and relax, this would be a good place to go. Everyone else must think the same thing, we got the last room available when we checked in.

Key West was nice and warm yesterday. We finally made it down to the old part of town on this trip. Walked around town then over to the southern most point in the continental US. Walking back, we stopped to have lunch (mainly to give our feet a rest, we were getting blisters from our sandals.) Ended up spending about four hours walking around Key West before heading back to our hotel.Read more
Al AdamsNo Margarita's?
2/19/16Reply
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Day 21
Friday, February 19, 2016 at 7:29 PM
⛅ 16 °C
Altitude: 26 ft
United States Mango Manor Mobile Home Park 28.392978, -80.60430928°23’35” N 80°36’16” W
Cape Canaveral
February 19, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Drove up to Cape Canaveral from Marathon Key today. Nothing exciting today, all driving up north. A couple of beers and a walk on the pier. Tomorrow we plan to go to Kennedy Space Center and then head west some towards Orlando.Read more
Al AdamsThe space center is pretty cool. There was a shuttle positioned to blast off while I was there several years ago. Would have loved to see the take-off.
2/21/16Reply
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Day 24
Monday, February 22, 2016 at 10:36 AM
☀️ 23 °C
Altitude: 39 ft
United States Blue Springs 28.946429, -81.33083328°56’47” N 81°19’51” W
Dorseys Blue Springs Park
February 22, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Spent the day at Blue Springs. Went on a St Johns River boat ride, saw lots of birds and alligators. After the boat ride, we walked around the springs and saw manatees swimming around the spring. The spring water was nice and clear, the river water looked like black tea. There is no way to see anything in the river. After walking around Blue Springs, we headed towards Tavares to spend the night and decide where to go next.Read more
Al AdamsLooks like fun. When do you go on your cruise?
2/22/16Reply
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Day 27
Thursday, February 25, 2016 at 9:08 AM
☀️ 10 °C
Altitude: 39 ft
United States Daytona Marina 29.204423, -81.00840529°12’16” N 81°0’30” W
Daytona Beach
February 25, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
Still killing time waiting for Katie to get here in a couple of days. So we decided to stay on the beach in Daytona Beach, nice view overlooking the ocean from our balcony. Walked the beach, caught up on laundry and went on a tour of the local chocolate factory. We're heading to Orlando today to start our week there.Read more
Al AdamsLooks nice out there. Hopefully you'll have calm waters for the cruise. Rainy and windy here. Lots of power outages yesterday. Not here fortunately. Headed for Lincoln City, OR for a little crabbing tomorrow - hopefully the wind and rain will cooperate. Would rather be down there where the weather is nice and warm!! Any word on Harvey's hunting tags for August?
3/2/16Reply
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Day 34
Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 7:42 PM
⛅ 21 °C
Altitude: 26 ft
United States Lake Lucerne 28.537247, -81.37987528°32’14” N 81°22’48” W
Orlando
March 3, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Too busy and tired to update this over the past week. We had a great time with Katie this week while she was here. Visited Universal Studios over the weekend for two days. Lots of fun there, more to do for us older kids (older than 8.) Got soaked on all the water rides but had a nice 80 degree day to dry out. Spent the next four days at Disney World. Fun, but Universal Studios was more fun. Spent about seven hours each day at the park. That's a long day walking around and standing in line. But we slept well each night. Visited Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. On our last day, we decided to go back to Magic Kingdom for a few more rides before leaving. Dropped Katie off at the airport today at 4:30 this evening and headed over to Cape Canaveral to spend the night. We board our cruise ship tomorrow morning for three nights. No updates until we get back Monday.Read more
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Day 40
Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 2:49 PM
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: Sea level
United States Long Point 28.385365, -80.61348628°23’7” N 80°36’49” W
Cape Canaveral
March 9, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Got back from a three night cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas through Royal Caribbean. It wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped, they had too much to do over the time we were out. The first day we docked in Nassau, Bahamas. It poured during our time there. There was so much water coming down that the rats were coming out of the storm drain up into the stores and sidewalks. We were able to walk around town and down to the beach between rain squalls. The next day we dropped anchor at Coco Key, an island owned by Royal Caribbean. It was beautiful when we arrived but the wind kicked up and we had to leave a couple of hours early. Then we had a rough night back to Cape Canaveral. Overall, I think I'd go on another cruise. Next time a little longer so we could relax more. We did end up with more money from the casino on the ship than we started with.Read more
Al AdamsI think a longer cruise - with days at sea, is the way to go. Looks like a nice ship though. I went to the Muckleshoot casino last night with Scott, my neighbor. Lost $50 at blackjack but won $90 on the slots (one machine). Are you headed back this way yet?
3/13/16Reply
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Day 47
Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 10:49 AM
⛅ 24 °C
Altitude: 20 ft
United States Hunter Spring Run 28.893435, -82.58868428°53’36” N 82°35’19” W
Crystal River
March 16, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Stayed at Crystal River and visited Jackie and Harvey for a couple of days. It was nice to just lay around and relax for awhile.
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