Daytona Beach

Some of you may not know but Gary plans our routes every year and he is a wizard at it.  He researches, plans it and executes it.  I throw in places I for sure want to visit and he just makes it work.  He's just that awesome.  ;) 
Unbeknownst to me until this stop he has been fretting because we are spending so much time in Florida so I could get a lot of "beach days".  He knows I love sand and water and sun so what a great place to get all 3, right?  Well, turns out this year in Florida, the month of May you get more water from the sky than you do from the ocean.  ;)  There is a lot of sand to visit but no sun.  You can try to visit the sand in between the rain storms but you usually end up running for cover either to your car or the nearest awning.  Haha!  What else do you do but roll with it?
Anyway, since we visited Daytona for some beach days but couldn't go to the beach we decided to tour the Daytona 500 Speedway.  We did an "all access" tour of the stadium, the inner circle grounds and the stands.  We got to see the car of this year's winner and we got to take as many pictures as we wanted.  It was a tour well worth the money and I highly recommend it! 
Unfortunately we didn't do anything else.  It took us 2 days to get the tour done since the first day we tried to do it we had to get a rain check due to lightning storms in the area.  It has been raining on us every day since May 12th, it is now May 31st.  Kind of sick of the rain.  Good news is, next week it's supposed to clear up!  Keep you fingers crossed!!  Maybe we'll just turn the rig into an ark and see what happens.  ;) 

Miami

What can I say about Miami?  Well, for us it rained A LOT.  We endured the rains from Tropical Storm Alberto, a tornado warning and just general "weather".
We pulled into Miami hoping to see Everglades National Park, Biscayne Bay National Park and a Miami Marlins game.  2 out of 3 ain't bad.  ;)  Because of the poor weather we had to skip Biscayne Bay and were scrambling for things to do and when we could actually do them.  While keeping a constant eye on Alberto we did manage to see a few things.
While driving from the Keys to Miami our "check engine" light came on so we took our rig into the Cummins shop the first full day after arriving.  Good news- nothing was wrong with it, bad news- we wasted a day of sight seeing but this is what happens when traveling via a home on wheels.  We were determined to make the best of  it so the next day we set out to see Everglades National Park.  With our Disney rain capes, windbreakers, umbrellas and "water shoes" in the back of the car we were prepared.  We knew that since we weren't willing to risk the skies opening up on us on a jet boat ride, our viewing would be limited but we still managed to see a few crocodiles, (one on the side of the road) an American Alligator and a Manatee!  It was worth braving the rain and it was something that few people ever get to see since Alligators and Crocodiles rarely coexist in such close proximity to each other.
The rest of our time was kind of hit and miss.  We did go into the city a couple of days, once to see a Marlins game.  They fought a tough 8 innings against the Nationals but in the end, their bull pen stinks and the relievers just couldn't win it for them.
The other day we went into the city was to take a bus tour (yay for inside so we don't get rained on!) to get a feel for the different areas of Miami.  We saw Little Havana, Wynwood Walls and the Art Deco District where Versace had his mansion and unfortunately, met his demise.  :(  After the tour we drove to the University of Miami.  This was also a consideration of Taylor's when she was trying to pick a school and Gary missed this tour as well so I wanted him to see the beautiful campus.  That evening we stayed in town to try to have dinner on South Beach.  To anyone who thinks going to Miami for Memorial Day weekend would be fun, DON'T GO.  It is referred to as "Urban Beach Week" and it is about as chaotic as a warzone.  Save your money, time and energy and go either the week before or the week after. Edit: Added some pictures of Vizcaya, which is a ridiculous house and property that is now a museum. It is a must see when in Miami.   ;)

Larry and Penny Thompson Park

Very surprising park. The cost was extremely low, so we were worried about the quality of the amenities, the sites and the safety of the location. We found all of to be very good. The park is south of Miami in the Homestead area. We picked it to be close to the two National Parks in the area, Everglades and Biscayne Bay as well as the key spots in Miami. The park is right off the turnpike, so getting around is very convenient. The park is organized into circular pods. Each pod has ~15 sites with 10 around the outside and 5 on the inside of the road. The sites are asphalt with grass all around the sites and a lot of mature trees. We asked for a satellite friendly site that gave clear views to the S and had no problems with the trees. Parking of your toad was a bit tight as you had to park next to your site between your rig and the water/power poles for the adjacent site. Our Jeep fit with a foot or less to spare on each side. The park had several bathrooms, showers and laundry rooms that were all reasonable. The wifi worked most of the time and was fine to look at email. For the low $32/night cost, nice park settings, convenient location and helpful office staff, we rate the park a 4 out of 5 and would recommend it to anyone staying in the area. If we come back to Miami, this will be our park.

Key West, FL

Key West is one of those locations in the US that most everyone has heard about and wants to visit. Unfortunately for us, we have been stuck in a constant thunderstorm since we entered Florida and Key West was no exception. Tropical storm Alberto fully formed over Cuba and brought even more wind and rain to the keys while we there. However, we were able to get out to do a little sightseeing and hit some of the hot spots. We were able to visit the Dry Tortugas National Park by seaplane during a rare break in the weather. The park is a small series of island 70 miles west of Key West. It is the home of Fort Jefferson, which was an old Civil War era fort protecting the shipping lanes in the area. The plane ride out gave us amazing views of Key West and the smaller keys to the west. We flew at 500 feet and saw countless sea turtles, sharks and rays in the crystal clear waters of the keys. The key draw for us at Dry Tortugas was the snorkeling, but the water was rough and cloudy, so we only had 10-20 feet of good visibility. We snorkeled for an hour before touring the fort and the rest of the island. This is one of the least visited national park in the lower 48, but I would still highly recommend it to anyone staying in the Key West area. Our second day in the Key West area was spent walking around the southernmost point of US and touring the Ernest Hemingway home. The house tour was very interesting and they gave a lot of information about "Papa" and his love for the Key West area and Cuba. Our last day out and about was spent doing a bus tour of Key West. As sadly touristy as they sound, we learned a lot about the area, their history and the landmarks around the island.

Bluewater Key RV Resort, Key West, FL

We were very disappointed with our stay at the Bluewater Key RV Resort. We have stayed at several parks that each site is privately owned, so we were expecting to have the same high levels of service and amenities that we experienced at the other parks. Starting with checkin, the office will call you the day before your arrival, the day of your arrival and then expect you to call them when you are about 15 minutes out all so they can be "prepared" to check you in. In each case, they will tell you that the rule allows only one person to enter the office for check in. Also, don't get caught in traffic or have mechanical issues along the way as they refuse to let you in after 5pm. Odd, given the ridiculously high price for a site. While waiting in the rig while my wife checked us in, the assistant that was going to lead us to our site stood outside the rig and became very agitated with the 3 minutes it took for check in. He started rushing us to hurry up and disconnect, then when we started wanted us to stop, so they could move us away from the front of the office. This was the point where I had enough and told him that I was finishing. He led us to our site and tried to "help" us back in. After trying to guide us directly into a retaining wall, which we narrowly avoided thanks to my wife, he snapped at me about listening to him and not my wife. Two thumbs way down on the customer service. Now for the amenities. The park has a small pool, that looked nice, marginal showers and bathroom and a laundry room. Each site has a tiki hut that has varying degrees of comforts depending on what the owners have installed. Our tiki had TV, refrigerator, a bar area, couch and table. The park has a center park area split between the room for the dogs and the humans. Most sites have a dock on either the bay side or the canal side. Our site backed up to the common area adjacent to the canal. The bay and canal sites offer direct access to the water that would be useful if you had a boat. The park is a 15-20 minute drive away from Key West. The wifi worked decent during our stay. For the $135/night, this park rates as one of our worst values we have experienced over the last two years. There is no chance we will ever stay here again. Taking the price out of the equation, we would rate this park a 4, but an overall 3 out of 5.

Orlando/Kissimmee KOA, Kissimmee, FL

Nice KOA with a great location to visit the parks in Orlando. The park has the standard KOA amenities like showers, bathrooms, laundry room, etc. The pool area was nice, even though we did not use it due to the thunderstorms. We stayed in one of the pull through sites which are over 100' long. They are narrow, but your neighbors will be parked and set up at the front of their site, which is the end of your site. The wifi worked great and the sites are all open and great for satellites. As with most KOA parks, the price is higher than it should be for the area, but you get a good park with good sites. We will stay in this park when we return to the Orlando area. We rate this park a 4 out of 5.

Orlando/Disney World