The Easter Bunny was here last night! We left him some celery and carrots, and he left us a nice basket of candies. (The basket strongly resembles one we were given by a couple we met in Mystic Springs. I wonder if they supply the Easter Bunny too.)

Emma & Eleanor’s eggs

Emma and Eleanor spent the morning boiling up eggs and coloring them, while I wrestled with our trip plans for the next few months. We’re leaving Tampa tomorrow. After several hours with a road atlas and browsing dozens of websites, we have a plan … sort of. It’s as much of a plan as we ever have.

Our intermediate goal is Myrtle Beach for the Region 3 Rally. But we don’t need to be there until the 25th, so our intention is to break it up into several short drives of about 150-200 miles each. So we are going to try to make a few scenic and fun stops along the way.

First stop will be Kissimmee. We promised Emma she’d see Sea World back in San Diego and we forgot to go. We used to spend winters nearby in Haines City, so we have a few other old haunts we plan to visit as well.

Next stop would have been St Augustine but unfortunately with the weekend we couldn’t get a reservation. Instead, we booked one weeknight at Little Talbot Island State Park near Jacksonville, and we’ll see if we can convince the rangers to let us stay longer even though the reservation system says the park will be full.

After that, we’ll wing it. I see a nice county park in South Carolina we might want to head to, and I’ve researched some other possibilities as well. There’s not much to do along I-95 in Georgia or South Carolina, so if we want to have some fun we’ll need to bail out to Rt 17. (Blog reader Brad Arrowood suggested that, and he’s right.)

Even still, I had to pull out all the stops to find a few ideas. There was nothing along our route in our “Watch It Made In the USA” book of factory tours. Nothing in “Howstuffworks.com”. No festivals along our route during that period. Nothing going on in the state parks, except for the interesting state parks (Hunting Island, Edisto Beach, etc.) along the coast, and of course they were booked solid.

Commercial campgrounds were unhelpful as well. They were either outrageously expensive or incredibly dull. I spent an hour today reading online reviews only to conclude there wasn’t any place I’d be happy to pay for, in a place we could use. I finally concluded I’m happier NOT planning sometimes … and instead just picking up what appears interesting along the way.

No, the kitchen isn’t in danger. That’s the rum burning off!

Tonight, Barry dropped by for dinner and dessert. Eleanor decided to make her famous Bananas Foster dessert, which is a favorite of mine. A nice sweet ending to our three weeks in Tampa!