FATHER'S DAY weekend CAMPING at Lake Kissimmee

Well...it did not go exactly as hoped, but we had a camping out weekend at Lake Kissimmee State Park for Father's Day Weekend!  Our youngest son, Russ and his wife Dianna were not able to join us as Russ is sick...prayers please...that the Drs. find a quick solution to fever, chills and aches all over...very similar to what was diagnosed back in 2011 as "Fever of Unknown Origin"...they never found the answer!!!

Randy, and wife Maddie had an adjoining site to ours (we were not able to get our favorite sites...but there are very few "bad" sites at Lake Kissimmee State Park!)...this time we were over a few sites from our favorite sites!  We had frequent visitors of deer walking casually through the back part of our sites...we just love this park!!!!

Friday night we all ate together with hamburgers, yellow squash casserole, three bean salad and pickled onions and Saturday night Randy made a delicious super of Venison tenderloin cubes wrapped in bacon, baked pototoes, and corn on the cob (all cooked on the grill)...the afternoon/evening RAIN held off just long enough to get the food cooked and we all piled into our van motorhome to eat...it was cozy...but VERY DELICIOUS! For breakfast I cooked a fairly simple breakfast both mornings with eggs, link sausages and homemade bread toasted and Randy and Maddie brought Corned Beef Hash...good eats and lots of FRESH AIR!!!

It was a SUPER weekend (it could only have been better if Russ and Dianna could have been with us!)...we are so thankful for our family!

THIRD OUTING with our COACH HOUSE VAN MOTORHOME---HILLSBOROUGH RIVER STATE PARK

Here we are...we have just returned from two nights camping at Hillsborough River State Park...just a little North of Tampa and South of Zephyrhills...and about 45 miles Northwest of where we live! Way back in the 1960's we used to picnic there with all our family and the last time we were there was in 1986 when we got our first Class C motorhome...whew, that was a long time ago!  Of course, some of it looked familiar...but they have done a lot of updating over the years!  It was lovely even tho it rained from late yesterday afternoon throughout the night!  We got to see what a "rainy day" would be like in the Class B motorhome...we ate and played games inside rather than at the picnic table!  According to the news this morning we were lucky as they were reporting that some areas got over six inches of rain with flooding and we did not get that much at Hillsborough!  Here are a few pictures of things that we enjoyed!  This park is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT from Lake Kissimmee State Park where we have camped so far...although very wooded...we did not have the feeling of being in the "woods" and there were lots of CAMPERS all within our view...not much opportunity to see any wildlife right in the campsite!  We had a nicely wooded site that backed up to the backwaters of the river...but there was a trail to the back of our campsite (which we were not aware of until folks started walking to the back of our campsite).  

Entering the Park

Our campsite #28 backed up to the backwaters of the Hillsborough River!  When we arrived on Tuesday there was no water in the backwater area...but after the rains yesterday afternoon and last night there was water again!

Relaxing at our campsite!

There is a beautiful HUGE man-made swimming pool...that we did not get to use but it looked lovely and there were lots of folks enjoying it yesterday before the rain started!

Camp Store and rental post as well as where everyone checked in to go to the swimming pool...a busy place!

There were all kinds of camping rigs...and it really did not matter...everyone had a good time...but those Air conditioning units were important to everyone on a HOT and HUMID day at the park!

This little "SCAMP" had two adults and a child enjoying the camping experience!

The folks in this DELUXE COACH could not have been ejoying being out in nature anymore than those of us in the smaller units!!!

Picnic Area looks pretty much like it did back in the 1960's...we would go to the park early on a Sunday in hopes of securing a couple of tables!  At that time my Mom, Dad and Kathy (she was still in school) as well as ourselves lived in Zephyrhills and my sister's family, Dick, Phyllis, Steve, April Sue and Amy Place lived in Bradenton and they would meet all of us at the park for a picnic...great family memories here!  This park has several buildings as well as picnic tables that were built by the Civil Conversation Corps way back in the 1930-40's!

This is where we used to swim in the River back in the 1960's...now there are signs:  "Beware of Gators" and all swimming is done at the manmade pool!!  The bridge below is new since the 1960's and there is also a CCC suspension bridge across the river to the north of the old swimming hole and many trails that we did not tackle!

Beautiful morning on the Hillsborough River!

Our only "Wildlife" photo...not real clear...but this is a young HAWK with his catch of a FROG!!!