Daytona Beach

 Dolphin Beach Club

We arrived at the Dolphin Beach Club in Daytona Beach and first impressions were not the best. It was hot and Duf was hot when he saw this place! This is an example of how first impressions are not always true because we would return to the Dolphin! Their sign is an historic landmark !

The rooms are on the ocean so we are able to be by the pool having our coffee each morning. The condo has a bedroom suite with a king bed, closet, bathroom, dressing room, and make up table. Outside the suite is another bathroom, kitchen and living room and eating area. It was advertised as sleeping 4 privately but two have a bathroom but must sleep on the fold out sofa. Luckily there are only two of us so it does not matter.

We really like riding our bikes on the beach! We walked the beach morning and night.

Duf wrote on the beach! We ate on the pier at Crabby Joe's!

Creatures on the beach here are different than what we found on Sanibel. We met a lady picking up these jelly fish to take home and eat!

There are hundreds of these leaf creatures on the beach daily. No idea what they are!

St Augustine

 St Augustine

We heard St Augustine, FL had a million Christmas lights so we decided to visit and maybe spend the night. After driving all around town we decided that a million lights means a million people in the area. We did not see a hotel that called our name and all the people around encouraged us to leave and not get into the crowds.

St Augustine is a cute town in a beautiful setting. 

Richland Rum

 We decided to make a stop in GA and tour Richland Rum. The tour is $30. per person so it took a lot for Duf to decide it might be interesting. The town of Richland was very small and rundown. The Richland Rum building was downtown and the only building that had been rejuvenated. 

Although tours were advertised they were not giving them because it was harvest time. The gentleman working there decided to give us the tour anyway and it was quite interesting. Their barrels are made with white oak from WI that has been aged for years and then the insides are burned to a specific degree. The barrels are only used once and then sold to wine and beer makers or crafters. They have perfected a specific way to make their rum and it takes years before it is ready to drink. This makes Richland Rum a premium rum and more expensive than the rum from liquor stores. He said cheaper rum is spiced because it is easier and faster to make and sell.

After the tour we had a tasting with our guide, the distiller, and the distiller helper. They instructed us on how sip the rum and then to savor the flavor and pick out the taste of each of the ingredients. This skill will take some practice. 

We purchased two bottles of the expensive Richland Rum but Duf figured they were discounted because they did not charge us for the tour!  HA

Here we met our first rare dog, a Dutch Pointer or Stabyhoun. She is one of the top five rarest dog breeds in the world and we saw her! She was quite friendly for a short time and then went back to her bed.

Hotel 2

 Hotel 2.   Drury Inn

We did something Duf hates-we drove until we wanted to stop and I walked into a Drury Inn, asked if they had any open rooms and they did! Duf likes to map out the trip, he usually insists on it but the map led us to a dud last night so he agreed we would try to just find a place tonight.

We had a very large, clean room that had an office attached. The chairs were clean but more importantly the worked properly and the bed was comfortable!

There was an Olive Garden Restaurant within walking distance and we planned to walk there for dinner. When we checked into the Inn the clerk gave us dinner tickets so we decided to check it out before we took our walk. The Drury Inn had a small eating area and had catered all you can eat Olive Garden food for dinner! The ticket also included 3 drinks each from their bar! All of this was included in the price of the room, which we didn’t think was that outrageous anyway. The dinner had may choices and there was more than enough for any guest that wanted to eat.

The clerk also gave us tickets for complimentary breakfast! Breakfast was an amazing array of food that was catered from a nearby restaurant. 

Amazing price, great service, great food, clean rooms means we will again stay at Drury Inn and hope it is also as great!

Here we saw our second set of rare dogs. A couple, on their way to a dog show, checked in with a set of twin Irish Wolfhounds.

First Trip Without the Motorhome

 Hotel #1

We drove from Roscoe, IL to Birmingham, AL in one long day. We had reservations at a 4.5 star hotel just South of Birmingham so we felt good about having a place to sleep the first night we traveled without the Motorhome.

The Good

The furnishings in the lobby were modern antique and looked clean and shiny. The lobby was clean but a bit messy with old newspapers and magazines laying around. Our room was on the second floor and upon opening the door we found a HUGE room with the largest bed we had ever seen.

The water pressure was amazing making for an amazing shower. Breakfast was included with the room and it was freshly made to order and delicious. The coffee was some of the best we have had and there was real cream.

The Bad

Getting to this hotel was a feat in itself. The hotel is located off a six lane busy highway and there is no direct way to get to the hotel. We had to turn off the highway and go down a winding street that needs holes fixed to find the hotel at the end of the street. We tried to turn off the highway at the stop light but all streets were dead ends and there weren’t any connecting streets. The hotel was the dead end on an off the highway small easy to miss street.

The lobby was clean but in disarray. The clerk was new and had no idea what he was doing and he had no help. Check in took quite some time. The room and bed were huge but the bed squeaked loudly whenever touched, sat on and with any movement. I was in bed trying not to move when Duf got into bed. The bed squeaked and Dufs side went down and mine when up about throwing me into the wall! Both sides were the same so I slept hanging on so I would not roll into Duf and both of us land on the floor. Luckily after a long day of driving Duf  was able to pass out for most of the night. 

Not only did I have to hang on but the windows only had sheers and just outside were two spot lights shinning right into the window and onto the bed pillows! Great!

Water pressure was great but the shower curtain was just a curtain and did not hold back the water from getting on the floor and there was no exhaust fan. The shower area, counter top, sink, stool and flooring tile were new but poorly installed and had paint spattered all over.

In the elevator we met a couple of fellas that told us they were doing all the remodeling. I hate to think I would relate the two things but these guys were in disarray with their hygiene and clothing and that is the way they treated their job. They thought they were doing a great job but …..

The room was large and there were two chairs. One chair looked really nice until Duf sat in it and his butt ended up on the floor, the seat had no support under it! I sat in the second chair and the back went all the way back! Luckily I had moved the chair by the wall so I did not go all the way over and get hurt! When we pulled this chair out from the wall we saw that the back was all torn.

Roseate Spoonbill

Natalie got amazing pictures right in front of our RV!
 

Friends from Home