Hi all, Dianne here. I will let Roger describe the awesome nature walk we took while staying two nights at The Great Outdoors RV resort in Titusville, FL.
On our last night here, we took the advice of our good friends, Jay & Nancy, and ate dinner at Dixie Crossroads. This place is well known locally for their rock shrimp. It was delicious! I had mine broiled, and Roger had his fried. My good intentions of having broiled instead of fried were totally negated by the basket of corn fritters dusted with confectioner's sugar. They were the BEST!! My sweet tooth let me down again. It's an interesting place, the service was exceptional, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Great Outdoors is a unique development which features RV lots, RV lots with small Florida rooms, and even homes designed with large RV ports attached, in which to park and connect large motorhomes while at "home." It's a nifty design, and while very nice, we had the feeling of being back in a neighborhood. A lot of the homes surrounded a large golf course. Since we don't play golf (Roger did as a child, but hates it) we were mostly interested in the nature preserve area of the development. For those of you fellow Seinfeld fans, the "Del Boca Vista" episodes kept coming to mind....
Everyone was very friendly. The older folks we saw looked fit and trim and in great health. There were a LOT of folks riding the reclining tricycle type bikes with orange safety flags on poles. I kept remembering our neighborhood in the early 1980s, Lynwood Hills in Fishers, Indiana, and all the tykes on their big wheels with those same orange flags!! That mental image never left my mind. Please do not think that I'm bashing old folks on tricycles; I never rode a bike much as a child, so I'm very shaky on a 2-wheel bike now, and would really benefit from a tricycle.
If we were golfers or country club types, this would be a great place to retire. Since we are neither, I guess we'll keep looking. I can't speak for Roger, but I'm already hooked on the nomad life and have no desire to settle back down. I just pray someone will buy our house!
Roger here... I need to say that there were some really nice things about this place. I liked the fact that with the very large concrete pads, we did not need to constantly clean our shoes before entering the motorhome. Also, though we were close to our neighbors, the landscaping was great to look at getting up every morning. Our site backed up to a nature area and the sunset was spectacular.
However, I do agree that this is probably not for us. Our experience at the too-small dog park was not great, as Jasper was attacked by a pit bull. (He is OK.)
Now for the very good part... We had one of the best nature hikes that we have ever experienced.
Our dogs were not allowed, which was a little upsetting since they love to walk on trails so much, but I now know why. The nature trail behind the RV sites was amazing (allowing dogs on the trail would detract and encourage the wildlife to leave - it also could be dangerous for them). Early in the 4.5 mile hike we saw a huge orange spider and web, far above our heads.
I joked about hearing the theme song from Jurassic Park. We then came to a bridge over a marsh area where we saw what we thought to be "pink' birds.
They were - roseate spoonbills according to our bird book. At the same spot we also saw an Anhinga (not pictured), several Ibises, several foot-long turtles,
wood storks, and herons.
We also saw a snake in the water, but didn't photograph it in case our friend, Nancy, reads this! We lingered at the bridge for about an hour. Shortly, after we left, Dianne said OMG look! In a small drainage ditch we spotted a small (four - foot) alligator. He did not look amused, but then alligators seldom do.
It was a good and fulfilling morning - well worth the slothful afternoon that Dianne documented yesterday.
By the way.... We are now in Fort Lauderdale for a month and we happened to arrive just before the BCS championship game. We are currently surrounded by many, many, many other Gators - all wearing orange and blue , what fun! I think I will wear my royal blue HSE shorts tomorrow (maybe with an orange shirt), just to fit in.
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