Florida Camping

Mom, Dad, and I spent the New Year's week in Florida, near Tampa, visiting with friends and family.  We took my parents' new living quarters horse trailer and camped on a friend's property.  We brought two horses but left the rest of the animals home with Matthew.  It was a great trial run for the new rig!

 

Here is the new trailer all set up.  Inside it has a small kitchenette that contains a sink, microwave, stove, and fridge as well as a couch, bed (in the goose), and full bathroom.  I ended up sleeping on a cot in the horse area though since it was a little tight with three people in the camper area.  

 

 

The place we stayed had stalls for the horses and a fence around the perimeter so we could let the horses out to wander for a few hours a day.

 

My mom lost her wonderful old horse, Doni, in October and some of the Florida horse friends and I went in on a watercolor portrait of him as a gift for my mom.  Here we are with the painting after she opened it at our friend Louise's house (that's a flash on the painting, I'll have to get a better photo of it).

 

Our five days in Florida were split between horseback riding with friends and visiting with my mom's family.  My dad was also able to golf just about every day.

 

A cypress swamp we rode to.

 

On one of the days we visited with family we went to a local citrus grove for a guided You Pick tour.  They were picking Honeybells that day (a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit) and we picked about seven pounds of fruit to bring home.

 

Here we are with our harvest. My Grandma Sharon, Aunt Cindy, Mom and I all enjoyed the experience!

 

We also got to visit a lot with my Grandpa who is now 84.  Our only regret - not picking better travel days! The traffic was pretty thick both on the way down and back.  Next year we will try to avoid those days.