Wekiwa Springs, Florida, Winter 2010

As we pulled the camper into Wekiwa Springs State Park just north of Orlando, we said, “Now we are coming home.”  We love this park—the sand-hill long-needle pines, palmetto and wetlands; the bear, deer and turkeys; the river with its turtles, alligators and egrets; and of course, the springs to swim in and just gaze at.  We love to hike the trails and ride the tandem bike around.  Living here on the edge of 40,000 some acres of wilderness makes dealing with the city of Orlando bearable.

We are one of three host couples for 60 campsites.  This is our third year; Dan and Sue are back for their second year, and Norm and Sandy are hosting for the seventh year.   Hosts have to put in 20 hours a week for the free campsite, so 10 hours each.  We keep the place neat, rake campsites and clean fire-pits and talk with campers.  That part is outdoor fun and exercise.  The other part, cleaning the bathrooms, is not so much fun, but hey, you pull on the rubber gloves and just do it. 
 

We babysit three afternoons a week normally and have a ball with the grandsons.  We do need to double-team them, though.  Gramps and I love spending time with the boys and being part of their lives.  Levi at 6 months is smiling all the time now.  I love to just hold and cuddle him.  Basil at 2 ½ is the joy of our lives; he is so much fun to play with. 

Florida had record cold this year.  It froze a week and a half straight, down to 22 degrees a couple times.  Back home in Wisconsin that would be warm, but here it caused a lot of damage.  Crops suffered, plants were killed, and manatees and coral died in the colder water.

February continues cold.  Don says he is going to stop at the tourism department on the way out of Florida and ask for our money back.

Wekiwa Springs campground will be closed next winter to put in mandated sewers for water quality. So we are out of a winter home and job.  Our son-in-law said there must be other campgrounds that need hosts.  I said, “Yes, and some of those might be in Arizona.”  Their jaws dropped.  We will take advantage of this to go west once and see the canyons and desert. 

The Wekiwa Paintout invites landscape painters to stay for a week in the park and paint.  Then they have a nature and art fest.  I would love to buy a painting of the springs or Lake Prevatt, but the prices are a bit beyond us.  We also volunteered at the annual 5K trail run in the park.

Orlando has wonderful paved bike trails, many miles of them and plans to build more and connect them all.  We truck the tandem bike around to the various trails and ride.  It seems strange to finish up camp hosting knowing that it will be two years before we are back to Wekiwa Springs.  We do love this park.