Friday, March 12, through Tuesday, March 16, 2010: At Wildwood, Florida
The trip here from Fountain was almost 300 miles, and we were to lose an hour when we hit the Eastern Time Zone, so we got an early start. There were storm warnings all over Florida, but, fortunately, it only drizzled for a short time until we were almost here, then it rained a little harder. But the rain stopped before we got here, and we had no trouble getting into one of the few almost-dry sites left in this very large RV park. Wildwood is 20 miles south of Ocala. The first night we had dinner at Beef O'Brady's, a chain of Irish pubs. The food was very good and the atmosphere fun.

Friday night we watched Up In The Air and enjoyed it a lot---more than we thought we would.

On Saturday, we took a field trip to Rainbow Springs State Park, 40 miles north and west of here. It's a very large nature park that was created nearly a century ago as an amusement park. Not one in the Disneyland mode, but with waterfalls, a zoo, canoe rides, etc. It fell on hard times and was closed for many years until the state acquired it. It's really a very pleasant place.


I never imagined Florida as horse country, but around Ocala there are some beautiful ranches, and a sign at the city enrance proclaims it to be The Horse Capital Of The World. Ocala itself is not impressive---it looks a little depressed.

On Sunday we visited Inverness---about 20 miles from Wildwood. They were having an antique car show and the town center was blocked off. The event was very well-attended. Inverness is a very nice town; quite upscale. On the way back from Inverness, we passed through The Villages. You must have seen the ads on TV. It’s a huge retirement community between Ocala and Wildwood. Besides being huge, it’s also very nice---with all levels of residential properties, massive shopping centers, many golf courses, etc. We learned that there are 104 pickle ball courts (with six more under construction) and at least 4,500 serious players there. Wow!


On Monday, we returned to Inverness to meet Linda Beaudoin, a former co-worker at the North Rim, and her current beau, Rod Carlson, and had a great dinner at a seafood restaurant ("Crackers") in nearby Crystal Lake.


The rest of the time in Wildwood was spent relaxing.