It's 80 degrees at Tomoka State Park!

 Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - It was a 2 hour drive to Tomoka State Park, which is in Ormand Beach, just north of Daytona.  This park has about 100 campsites, which are nicely spaced and quite private.  The campground has a great camp store, called the Outpost, where you can rent kayaks/canoes, and buy camp supplies.  The store is a wonderful spot to watch the sunset over the river and even sells beer, which we've never seen at a state park before.  

The dock at the Outpost

There is a 45 foot statue in the park, of Chief Tomokie, who was a Timucuan chief

The plaque in front of the statue says he was "slain by Oleeta in defense of the golden cup" (whatever that means).  The statue was erected in 1957.

Enjoying the sun

All settled into site #39

A game of Cosmic Wimpout before dinner

Thursday, February 3, 2022 -  We packed a picnic lunch and road our bikes all over the park.  We found a nice bench on the river's edge where we had lunch and did a crossword puzzle.  We then took the Benny Woodham Trail that winds through the woods, right outside the camp entrance.  This trail parallels North Beach St, (Old Dixie Highway), which going north, is a beautiful canopy road.  We headed south on Beach and found a Dairy Queen (sidewalk the whole way there), which was about 6 miles from the park.  We then did a bit of exploring and found a seafood market and bought 2 crab cakes for dinner.  It was a 15 mile bike ride day!  

Nice spot for lunch

lunch on the river

Benny Woodham Trail

Crabcake dinner

Chef Kev

Crabcakes, potatoes and green beans

Friday, February 4, 2022 - Friday was another beautiful 80 degree day.  Our friends Jim and Jeanene came to visit for the weekend.  It was the perfect evening to hang at the campsite.  We went to the Outpost for the sunset and then grilled burgers/brats for dinner and enjoyed catching up around the fire. 

 

Jim and Jeanene came to spend the weekend with us!

We enjoyed the sunset from the dock

Saturday February 5, 2022 - It was a windy cold day (only 57 degrees, quite a difference from yesterday!).  We went to Daytona Beach and walked the boardwalk and found some skeeball to play.  We then spent the afternoon at the Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS).  It was a bizarre museum, but was a nice spot to explore on a rainy afternoon.  There was a whole hall with Coke memorabilia, a coke delivery truck, lots of old coke machines, and signs.  There were 2 old luxury train cars, there was Cuban art, African art and a Chinese art.  Admission came with a Planetarium show, where they talked about the Hubble Space Telescope and showed pictures from it.  It was a fun afternoon.  We then played games at Jim and Jeanene's hotel in Ormand Beach and had dinner across the street at the Stonewood Grill.

Welcome to Daytona Beach

Making music in front of MOAS

Lots of cool Coke stuff

A Coke bench for my bench collection

We found a Monon sign (the old Indiana railway line, now a bike trail behind our house in Indy) 

Sunday, February 6, 2022 - Yet another rainy cold day, so we played some games in the RV and then picnicked in one of the park's pavilions.   Jim & Jeanene had to head home, but we're looking forward to seeing them soon at their new Florida house (near Orlando).