Life at a Florida RV Park

My parents have been living in Sarasota over the past few months while working for the Baltimore Orioles during spring training. They have been staying in their RV in a nearby RV park, which the kids and I had the chance to visit when we were in town a few weeks ago. While my parents' RV is big (by RV standards), the kids and I could not stay there so we stayed at a nearby hotel. But the kids and I were able to enjoy plenty of time in the RV park, which was quite an education in the multifaceted components of an RV campground. Who could have known that the features that make up an RV campground are so complex? Look at this idyllic photo, taken just inside the entrance to the park (this is not my parents' RV). Love the picnic tables, huge trees with the Spanish moss hanging from the limbs, sunshine peeking through the trees. This park was very peaceful and relazing, to say the least. Another very important feature for the RV park - an enormous pool! Amelia and John started salivating as soon as they laid eyes on this great pool facility. This is the main pool... ...and this is the HUGE water slide adjacent to the pool. Grandma and grandpop had left $$ for the kids to buy slide passes on our first day in Sarasota, and Amelia and John were in heaven. Up and down the slide they went, over and over. I had a blast watching them, and I was even happier that the pool area was nicely enclosed so that the kids could wander on their own without my having to follow them everywhere at all times. John loved sliding down the slide on his belly, feet first. (Love the zoom lens on my camera! Thanks, Scott!)

Amelia went down the slide on her back and belly, laughing and squealing each time with delight. This was probably her tenth time down the slide, yet the huge smile was still present.

Back to the huge pool. What struck me as most amazing about the large pool was that it was filled to the brim with adults. There were a few kids splashing here and there (grandchildren of the mostly retired population staying in the RV park, based on my assessment of the clientele there), but mainly there were adults in the pool. And they were all (seriously) using pool noodles to sit afloat in the water. You know those long, neon-colored pool noodles that you can buy at the dollar store or Target for a couple of bucks? Nearly every single adult was using a noodle to sit on/stay afloat while lounging in small conversational groups in the large pool. It's hard to describe, but it was bizarre how the adults were al bobbing peacefully in the water of this very large pool, barely moving a bit.

Amelia and John went between the large pool and the slide (and also to the children's splash area with fountains and a shallow pool) all afternoon long, for three hours before I pulled them out to go back to our hotel to rest. We had a great, sunshine-filled afternoon at the pool.

Other activities at the RV park included shuffleboard...

...and mini golf! When I was a kid growing up, my mom and dad (mainly my dad) took my sister and I mini-golfing in most of the locations where we vacationed. I have many fond memories of friendly competition between my sister, dad, and I as to who would win the mini golf game, and I am sure an ice cream cone or some such reward was at the end of our mini tournaments.

Surprisingly, Amelia and John have never been exposed to mini golf before. We just have not fit this fun activity into any of our family vacations to date. However, both kids were eager to try it, and this made the cute mini golf course at the RV park the perfect activity for our last morning in Sarasota.

I ended up with the lowest score for the group that morning, but Amelia, John, and my dad all got an awesome hole in one on one of the holes (I did not!). The kids were THRILLED with their hole in one and they kept talking about how they couldn't wait to try golfing again.

The last part about the RV park worth mentioning was the ambience and culture of the place. Beside the recreational facilities I have mentioned so far there were many others, including a fitness room, sauna, wood-working room, craft room, etc. The RV park contained hundreds of campsites, most of which are occupied by retirees from the north settling down in Florida for months during the winter. Many people seemed to use golf carts or bicycles to get around the property. My parents appeared to be on the younger end of the age spectrum of the residents.

In terms of decor, the thing that struck me as most odd were the plastic palm trees. To put this in some perspective, there were hundreds of real, beautiful palm trees all over the camprgound. So I couldn't help but wonder why the need for fake palm trees (see photo below)?

Well, it turns out that these fake palm trees are equipped with small decorative lights so that at night the trees are lit in a pretty way. Think of it as landscaping for the RV lawn. Or as like Christmas lights, lit up to be decorative as Christmas lights are on a house in December. And see that fence above - that is likely a dog cage. People are seriously somewhat crazy in that they travel with dogs (in a small RV that is in the hundreds of square feet size) and then have to take care of the dogs in this small space (hence, the outdoor playpen for dogs!). Also notice the golf cart parked next to this RV. A very common site within the park. I know the idea is to retire and travel and relax and make things simple - but phew! Who knew living in an RV could be so complicated?!?