First Christmas in Florida & a Side Trip to Cozumel

Our campsite from mid-December through the first of the year was in the horse capital of the world, in Marion County Florida. We stayed in a quiet and very economical campground in Reddick, FL surrounded by beautiful horse farms, located between Ocala & Gainesville. The area has so many state parks, nature preserves,the Ocala National Forest, road and mountain biking trails, that we definitely were not bored. We also lucked out and were able to watch the Starliner launch from an observation area, which was pretty cool, even though the mission was not successful.

My sisters and I planned a trip to Cozumel, Mexico in December to celebrate a milestone birthday. We had a fantastic time and it gave Mike and I a chance to have some time apart. It has been a tradition of ours to take a trip alone once a year, and we have found that it is very beneficial to our relationship and plan to continue to do this while we are full-time RVing.

Mike got a new Nikon D7500 camera as an early Christmas present and spent a lot of time in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and Sweetwater Wetlands Park taking beautiful pictures, biking and hiking while I was in Mexico. When I returned, he took me to his favorite areas to hike and see some birds I had not seen previously: Snail Kite, Purple Gallinule and Limpkins.

We got some mountain and road biking in at the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway and Santos Trailhead in Ocala. The Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail is a rail trail in Florida. It is protected as a 16-mile long Florida State Park and runs from the City of Gainesville’s Boulware Springs Water Works to the town of Hawthorne. This trail went through several nature preserves and hiking trails and was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. Silver Springs State Park was also a good place to visit with its glass bottom boats and beautiful clear springs.

Christmas was quiet, as we are meeting our children to celebrate together in Orlando in early January. We did enjoy a lovely dinner in downtown Ocala and loved their festive lights and trees. We are very excited for 2020 and wish you a very Happy New Year!