Maclay Gardens State Park -Day 3

April 23, 2010 Day 3

 

Today we get to sleep in and relax. As soon as we have breakfast we call CC and find out where he is. He left home at 7 am so he’s near Ocala by the time we call. So we hurry up and finish cleaning up and packing so we can check out and get the stuff in the car. As soon as we do that we get on the road to go to Alfred B Maclay Gardens State Park for LCC’s last stamp for in the passport and to enjoy the gardens too. Once again Nuvi leads me wrong. It makes me go in a circle when I could see the park to the left. If Nuvi survives this trip it will be a miracle if I don’t throw it out the window. So PTCC and LCC finally arrive at Maclay Gardens and we take a stroll through the park. We are about 1.5 weeks too late for the best flower show but there is still some color left on a few trees. Mostly there are camellias, azealas, rhododenrons, and daylilies with a few irises thrown in. We walk the brick path all the way to the Maclay house at the end of the path. We go in and take a tour of the place. It was only used by the family from January thru April of each year from 1934 to about 1956, when it was deeded over to the state of FL. The rangers told us they host several weddings each season there when all the flowers are in bloom. After watching a video in the ranger’s house we move on to the day use area where people can rent kayaks, swim, BBQ, and play. They also had several shells from local rowing teams stored there. We walked out on the floating docks and took a few pics and then left. We called CC again to determine where he was and found out that he was pretty close by. So we got on I-10 and went to the rest stop he had picked to hook up at. We got there first and waited a few minutes for him to catch up then hooked up the car and had lunch before finishing our boring trip on I-10 to Pensacola.(Photos here)

Next stop is Pensacola RV Park where we will stay 2 nights while attending a few family reunions. Tonight’s will be to see CC’s dad’s side of the family and his grandmother. PTCC liked it because pizza was ordered and who doesn’t like that? Followed by cookies and ice cream all you could eat. The gathering started winding down when a thunderstorm rolled through town so people wanted to get back home again. It was good to see everyone again. Tomorrow we have a reunion on CC’s mom’s side. More on that tomorrow.


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