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02 - August - 2016 RV Park Reviews News Thousands of RVers depend on honest reviews to help them find their next great camping spot. We would like to encourage you to leave a review for every stay at a campground. You may leave reviews for the campgrounds you've visited in the last 6 months (even if it is a campground you have reviewed in previous years). Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences. To submit a review please visit this link.

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	Have You Reviewed Any RV Parks Lately? RV Park Reviews is such a valuable resource to RVers because so many members like you contribute. Please consider posting reviews for every stay at a campground, together we can continue to build this wonderful research tool.
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	Free E-Book of 5-Star RV Parks Take RV Trip Wizard for a test drive to see how easy it is to plan your route and download your free e-book now!
	Prevent Blowouts by Monitoring Your RV Tires For long distant travelers or those seeking weekend refuge, a pressure monitoring system for RV tires ensures safety from devastating blowouts.

BEST Destination in Florida....so far....

Bob at The Orlando LDS Temple

The RV took us on a sacred path to our Florida Temple.  We have been here many times...with the most special (and exciting!) trips being to see our two youngest sons married and sealed to their Karens.  Yes, their wives are both named Karen and have been good friends for a long time.  It was good to be back and to participate in sacred ordinances for deceased family members.  To read an explanation of marriage in a temple, click here.  If you want to read the rest of this story click here.  

If you want to drive to this temple get directions here. 

One of the first things we saw on this trip was a security man in a John Deere Gator like the one we use in our campground work.  You can see where it is parked in the bottom of the above photo.  The best-ever security person is pictured here, Wilber Alfaro, de El Salvador.  He was sealed in this temple to his wife, who is de Puerto Rico.  He will visit his mother in his homeland so she will soon have the blessings of the temple as well.  Joy!

The crèche....It's only 5 days to Christmas~!

No overnight parking at the Orlando Temple....sorry....but....
There's a campground just a few miles away that will astound, amaze and alter your mind!

Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake is the formal name of this Orlando city park.  It's beautifully maintained with the best 18-hole Disc Golf Course I've ever seen.  The farm is darling, with activities galore for kids...and the impressive pool overlooks the lake.  We had to stay in overflow but it's the best value we ever had for $15.  It's only $19 for shaded camp sites with electric and fine showers.

Pie, a retired race horse at the park's Farm.



Overflow RV site with view of Turkey Lake

Miss Becky has fed the livestock at Turkey Lake for 12 years!  You can rent her (and the farm) by the hour for kid parties. Trails leave the farm to outdoor musical instruments, paved bike trails and playgrounds. 

It doesn't get any better than this!

Getting a Job at a County Park Campground

We re-visited E. G. Simmons County Park...where we had lived with our 6 children when we first came to Florida in 1984.  We had a tiny old trailer then that had only one small bed, one canvas tent and no money, but it was the happiest time of our lives.  I had just finished painting our 100-year-old home in Pennsylvania inside/outside (after burning off all of the paint and almost burning the house down).  I crocheted curtains (including the two below) refinished all of the honey-colored interior oak trim and mantle, and stripped the ancient archival layers of wall paper (the toughest job of all).  We were forced to sell this architectural wonder due to no income and no way to heat the enormous 3-story structure....other than gathering sticks in the street (for real).   The kids had croup, so we just drove south and found refuge in Florida parks.  

I tried to take a photo of each of the places where our children played long ago...as I could still seem to hear their giggles in the breeze.  I was clicking away when I was surprised by a flock of "pterodactyls" flying overhead.  Memory jog!  Our son, Nathan, had hit the ground as soon as he first left the safety of our old station wagon upon our arrival in 1984.  Why?  Bob had yelled "Pterodactyls!" as a flock of giant blue herons flew closely overhead!  Below is the much-changed 2011 beach and playground, but the picnic pavilion where our youngest was "married" (at age 3) to another young camper is much the same.

 The sites look the same as back then (new RV, excepted) and we still get around by bike, and coon tracks are everywhere, and the rangers are still extra friendly. 

E.G. Simmons Park Marina

We found out that Volunteer camphosting in county RV parks is an excellent way to live in some of the most beautiful places in the United States with a free site and utilities in exchange for a few hours of work.   Not only are you providing a valuable community service, you benefit financially as well.  The rangers treat the hosts like "they walk on water"...and their only duty is usually just to clean their assigned restroom.  At E.G. Simmons there were 5 hosting couples.  As always, the best way to find a job is to actually camp where you'd like to work, talk with the hosts and the volunteer coordinator to see if you like what you hear about the job, and then if you are interested....ask if they need help.  If they are "full up" then still leave a card or an application in case something comes open...and it often does.  Hosts usually commit so far in advance to a job, that there is enough time for life circumstances to change their ability to host at an agreed on time.

So what are the general requirements for county camp hosts?  Hosts need to be outgoing and love meeting new people..... able to deal positively with different kinds of people and understand the limits of their authority and responsibility. (You are only supposed to inform the public, not enforce rules.)  They should have strong camping experience, familiarity with the county parks and a knowledge of the area surrounding the campgrounds (or are willing to do what it takes to gain such knowledge).  Hosts provide their own camping unit, which can even be a tent...if you are that tough.    Go for it!

Camp Hosting isn't All Work

The job of camp hosting in state parks usually only requires 3 or 4  days of duty....for a total of 20 hours a week...maybe 24 max.  So the obviously nice benefit is your freedom to roam.  We took advantage and explored Juniper Springs for a day.   The Chateau has claimed site #9 in the "Tropical Loop".  It's a mystical and foggy morning.  We can't remember Florida being more humid or more still.

A wondrous trail starts at our site.

There are small springs everywhere, so this jungly path soon crosses a bridge.

The signs warn that you are about to become gator bait, and you'd better not fight back...because this is a national reserve and everything in it is protected.

Who can resist a boardwalk into the wilds?  Just ahead, under the bridge, is a large pool of green water.  What's that about?

A peek into the pool from the bridge shows "boiling" sand that looks very much like the mud pots that bubble away in Yellowstone Park. 

I turned around and about lost my breath....  What an unusual series of dreamy pools.  They were riddled with sand boils.  How fascinating! 

 The oak branches growing over one pool were almost too tempting.  They were plenty big enough to walk on...and perfect as a platform to jump from into the warm water.  How exotic! 

I just kept taking pictures because it was so surreal...isolated...peaceful.  There was no one else around...no sound but that of moving water and wildlife.

I decided to follow the boardwalk along the spring run to its source.

And here it is...Juniper Springs!  Bob jumped in with his clothes on.  That's how irresistable it was.  He was floating face down looking into the spring just like he was a glass-bottomed boat.  I knew he was harkening back to his childhood, which was filled with joyful days splashing, diving, and exploring in the stream behind his home in State College, Pennsylvania. 

Bob swam around and around, so I went to explore the rest of the area.  He was totally alone in his own "Blue Lagoon".  I returned after the sun had set...and he was still paddling around, marveling at his "best experience of the year so far".  So what's so special about perfectly clear, warm water surrounded by bright green ferns and well-done CCC rock work?  Come see for yourself!

Fall Exploration of Antelope Island and the Bison Herd

Beatrix, Zoe & Ruth-E on Sep 23rd

Beatrix has decided what she wants to do for her birthday:  Go on a buffalo hunt!  Sounds great, but where does one find a herd of American Bison near a big city like Salt Lake?  Well...Beatrix' Daddy seemed to know where to head...and the 5 sisters strapped themselves in the adventure-mobile and headed toward the mysterious Great Salt Lake and it's largest island.  As unlikely as it seems...the very first thing to be seen on Antelope Island was a large bison bull.  Everyone in the van was bouncing up and down exclaiming:  "Beatrix found her buffalo!" ...and he was right by the van!

How convenient...especially since Beatrix' newest sister was a tiny baby and not really hiking yet.  The van did the hiking...following the big bison about with a game warden nearby watching Beatrix' family to make sure they don't start something with the big one.

What else did Beatrix want to do?  Well, first a picnic and then some climbing on 2.5+ billion year old Precambrian basement rocks called Gneiss.  This is how granite looks if you bury it deep enough and torture it with enough heat and pressure.

These rocks are older than those found at the bottom of the Grand Canyon!  Climbing higher gave some great views of the lake and its nearby mountain ranges.

The trails are intriging and testify of how harsh life is on the island.

The highest UV radiation index reading in the west delivered these results:  A totally bleached out Bison!

The family hastens to the Visitor Center for liquid refreshment and protection from the sun's bleach-rays.
Then the Bison (Buffalo) Hunt continues.....


Could that be the herd?   This requires closer inspection.

Yes!...how and as icing on the birthday cake, there were 5 Antelope on the nearby slope.  A buck bounded across the road right in front of the van and somehow had the incredible energy to run right up the mountainside to join the females.  Oh, to run like a wild Antelope.  But that's a wish for another birthday.  Happy #8, Beatrix!