Cedar Key

We drove to Low Key Hideaway in Cedar Key, Florida last Thursday, December 20^th for a six-night stay. We got set up in our campsite and put up our Christmas decorations.

The next day, we left our motorhome and drove our pickup 120-miles down to Palm Harbor near Tampa to attend our niece’s wedding on Friday night. The wedding was lots of fun. We got to see my three sisters and many of our nieces and nephews.

We drove back to Cedar Key on Saturday where our cat Shasta was waiting our return. My sister Marcia and brother-in-law Mike met us with their motorhome in Cedar Key as well as my sister Janet and her wife Nancy in their camping van.   

On Christmas Eve day, my sister Cathy, her son Benjamin, daughter Mickey, new son-in-law Andy and their children came up from the Tampa area to celebrate the holiday with us. Mike and Marcia hosted Christmas this year and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day, including a late-afternoon stop by the Tiki bar.

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Destin

We went to Destin, Florida to one of our favorite state parks, Henderson Beach State Park, on December 13^th where we stayed for six nights. It was a short walk from our campsite to the park’s pristine Gulf of Mexico beach, with white sand and emerald-colored water. 

My sister Janet and her wife Nancy joined us for our last two nights in the park. We especially enjoyed a boat trip from Destin Harbor to watch for dolphins.

We left Destin on December 19^th and drove to Eastpoint, Florida for an overnight stay. It was heartbreaking to drive through Panama City, past Tyndall Air Force Base, and through Mexico Beach and witness all the devastation from Hurricane Michael. The eye of the Category 4 hurricane hit Mexico Beach on October 10, 2018 with peak winds of 155 mph. The seaside town sustained major damage.

We arrived at Low Key Hideaway in Cedar Key, Florida last Thursday, December 20^th for a six-night stay through Christmas.

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Sweet Home Alabama

We left the San Antonio area on Sunday, December 2^nd and drove east through Houston to Beaumont. After overnighting there, we headed to Biloxi for a 3-night stay. We enjoyed walking along the beach across the highway from our RV park, on a new boardwalk that Biloxi had built.

We especially enjoyed meeting old friends Paul and Darlene for dinner in nearby Ocean Springs.

We departed Biloxi on Thursday, December 6^th and drove through Mobile on our way to the gulf coast area of southern Alabama. We had never been to this part of Alabama before. It was a good time to visit the area because it was “low-season” and we missed all the summer crowds and traffic congestion.

We stayed at Bella Terra, a beautiful RV resort in Foley, Alabama, just north of Gulf Shores for a week.    

We went to Lambert’s in Foley one night for dinner. We had gone to Lambert’s several years ago in Ozark, Missouri (between Springfield and Branson, Missouri) and were surprised to learn there are only three locations.

We head out tomorrow to Destin, Florida to one of our favorite state parks, Henderson Beach State Park, where we’ll stay for 6-nights.

Steve & Julie Cornelius

SAT - TPE - SAT

We left Las Vegas on Monday, November 5^th, and spent a couple of nights at one of our favorite state parks, Buckskin State Park, Arizona. It is located right on the Colorado River between Lake Havasu City and Parker.

Then we drove to Tucson and spent a couple of nights at the Davis-Monthan AFB Family Campground.

After spending Friday night in Las Cruces, New Mexico, we drove to El Paso where we spent all-day Saturday at the Freightliner shop. They resolved a “check-engine” light we had on our motorhome. It turned out to be a faulty manifold pressure sensor on our Cummins diesel engine. We spent 8-hours at the Freightliner dealer…not fun waiting.  

We arrived in San Antonio on Monday, November 12^th, for a nearly three-week stay. We spent time with Julie’s mom the first week of our stay.

Early on Saturday morning, November 17^th, we flew out of San Antonio to San Francisco. There we connected with our long flight to Taipei to see our son Paul, his wife Ying, and our grandson Connor. We left San Francisco on Saturday around 1:30PM, but lost a day crossing the International Dateline and arrived on Sunday night around 7:30PM.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Taipei visiting Paul, Ying and Connor and also Ying’s parents. We rode the MRT, Taipei’s subway system, every day as we explored the city.

We visited one of Taipei’s night markets, the Shilin Night Market, last Friday night, November 23^rd. Although it was crowded, it was fun to see all the food stands and various items for sale.

On Saturday we visited the Bitan Scenic Area on the edge of Taipei. It was a nice scenic spot with good mountain and lake views. "Bitan" literally means "green lake", referring to where the Xindian River widens to form the lake. There is a well-known suspension bridge that is used only by pedestrians. We walked across the bridge and I was surprised on how much it moved as you walked across.

We flew home on Monday, November 26^th. We departed Taipei at 10:30AM, but arrived in San Francisco at 6:00AM on Monday, the same day. We got back to San Antonio at 4PM, just in time for rush hour.

We’re finally starting to get over the jet lag, waking up in the middle of the night. We head out tomorrow, Sunday, the best day of the week to drive through Houston.

Steve & Julie Cornelius