Read time: 25 minutes
35 days long trip with many adventures-
Come along for the detailed adventure below or click on the trip outline button for the condensed version of this trip. Here we go!
2023 was the year we took the trip we like to call “Trip of a lifetime”. For the first time both J and I took on coaching at our High School for two different sport seasons which allotted us to add a few extra bucks to our vacation fund so we included some splurges this time. Since we headed out across the country again, we assumed this may be our last time there so we jam packed our calendar like never before. This is also by far the most costly trip we’ve taken so we learned to scale down going forward but this truly was a trip of a lifetime and we loved it.
J and I have always been roller coaster fanatics so naturally that love has poured over to our kiddos. Jessica loved it just as much as us from the start but Jacob took a little more time to enjoy them until just before this trip; this is the year that it finally “clicked” for him so now all four of us cannot wait until we can try a new roller coaster or a new theme park. This trip we added a few theme parks in the mix so buckle up, here we go.
Off we went again on a full driving day to start off. After a nice fried chicken dinner, we spent the night in our first Cracker Barrel of the trip in Tucson, Arizona. Around our next 500 miles driving mark, we rolled into a little town called Tatum in New Mexico. We were so excited to come here because doing some research, I found a spot where they offer free overnight stay with power! We were the first to arrive so we didn’t believe it at first even though the signs stated that. Soon others pulled up too so it put our minds at ease until we started checking the weather app and Tatum was right in a tornado watch zone! (*freaked out emoji*) The wind picked up and so did our prayers. Thankfully we were in the clear and we didn’t have a heart attack on our second day of this trip. (*happy face emoji*) After another all day drive and a Cracker Barrel night, we arrived at our first destination of this trip: Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas.
We entered the park using our season passes to catch a few rides before the night was over. This park has a few good rides so we were excited to come back. Made our way to Cracker Barrel number three. The next day, we met up with some friends originally from California and we had a great time together in the park. We were originally scheduled to go back to the same Cracker Barrel to sleep again but we didn’t like the vibe there so we ended up at the Walmart right across from the Cowboys Stadium. What a great find! And the view of the stadium was really cool.
Now heading to San Antonio next, we first stopped in Waco so I can see The silos at Magnolia in person. Sadly the shops were closed but the grounds were beautiful. We also passed by Baylor University and that was pretty cool to see too. Jimmy was really into the Food Network around this time and he discovered this amazing BBQ spot in Austin where people wake up super early to get in line as they only cook a certain amount per day. Thankfully, knowing what day we would be passing through, I placed an online order months in advance so we could experience Franklin BBQ while in Texas. It. Was. Delicious.
Arriving in San Antonio, we could not believe the road rage! We thought Los Angeles was bad, they showed us! We drove directly to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and were blown away by how clean this park is. What a nicely themed park this is, and it is home to one of our favorite rides to this day, Iron Rattler. Early evening we drove home for the night to Admiralty RV Resort which happens to be very close to Sea World. This RV park was very nice and quiet so we were finally able to have a good night’s sleep but we learned that this RV spot is quite a drive away from the park so best to stay here if you will be going to Sea World. We returned the next day and had a wonderful time in the park and water park. Bonus part: free entry and free parking with our season pass.
Day 7
A week into our trip, we drove through the city of San Antonio, then through Huston, and continued on the 10 freeway all the way to Lafayette, LA. This stretch we stopped at several Bucee’s where we filled up and grabbed some yummy treats! This place is an adventure all on its own, do stop and check it out if you ever see it. Since we were in Louisiana, we were told we just HAVE to try alligator… by recommendation, we pulled up to a restaurant called Dupree’s and we eat oysters, crawfish, and alligator for the very first time. Can’t say we liked it, but we can cross that off the list of foods we tried. After this interesting experience, we pulled up to yet another Cracker Barrel for the night.
After a lovely yummy breakfast, we proceeded to our private Swamp Tour on beautiful Lake Martin in Breaux Bridge Louisiana. We saw beautiful trees, a huge Blue Herron, and many baby alligators! After this cool experience, we headed to the much anticipate: New Orleans.
We pulled into the French Quarter RV Resort and hopped on our bikes for a cruise down Bourbon Street and surroundings. This place reminded me of Venice Beach but the buildings were prettier. We were told that we arrived at a good time because they just “cleaned up” the city in preparation for their huge Essence Festival happening the following week so we lucked out on that apparently. There are slim to none places to park in this city so this place was pricey but very necesary being just a mile down the road to all the action. The RV resort itself is very nice, clean, and secure. The pool was also warm and the ice machine was unlimited so definitely worth it if you plan to come visit this culture rich city. Do not forget to stop at Cafe du Monde for some beyond amazing beignets; I believe we stopped there three times!
Now heading to the beach! I’ve always wanted to experience the Florida coast along the gulf as I saw online that they have white sand and warm clear water, unlike the California freezing ocean so I was extremely excited for this part of our trip. We stopped to stock up and to do laundry before entering Fort Pickens campground where all four of us were completely stunned at how beautiful this beach is. The campground itself was very impressive as a recreation.gov spot with large sites and plug-ins. We caught a beautiful sunset before heading in for the night.
We hung out on the beach for the next two days, riding our bikes to the end and visiting the many military buildings still standing along Pensacola Bay. The only regret was not timing this trip with a Blue Angels practice session; they fly right above this campground so next time, I will make sure they are in town when we come back. This place is too beautiful not to.
Knowing that you just cannot get enough of Florida beaches, especially up here where it is absolutely stunning, I was lucky enough to be able to book a spot at Henderson State Park/Beach in Destin. I would make this drive all the way to Florida again just to stay here again; this is the most beautiful beach I’ve even been to. The fact that we were in a state park campground, it was mind blowing that we felt like we were in a private, five stars secluded resort at just $30 a night, how can you beat that! We will be back, this place is amazing. Full hook ups, long but beautiful path to the beach, and you completely soak up the prestige coast line. Do know that this place IS loud; there is a helicopter tour company just on the other side of the road so you hear them passing by frequently.
Up next, we are headed to Tampa. We made it to our home for the night at Happy Traveler RV Park and enjoyed the pool and their laundry facilities. We picked this place as it is the closest spot I found near Bush Garden, our next theme park adventure.
DAY 14
Two weeks into our trip, we spent the 4th of July at the park and enjoyed some rides and a nice firework show. We decided to uber in and out of the park instead of drive so we were happy to have that option without a car.
Finally! We are heading to the Keys! First we just had to stop at the Freedom Factory in Bradenton for our Cletus fan in the car, he saw them testing a car so he was in heaven. I wanted my mom to experience this part of the trip with us so she landed in Miami International Airport and I had her uber over to the local Walmart where we were parked waiting for her. We didn’t want to risk driving an RV in the airport so we figured this was a better option. We stocked up on food and merch before making the beautiful scenic drive with miles and miles of ocean on both sides. We arrived at our site for the night, Key Largo Kampground. This place was very nice, I booked a water front thinking we could go swimming but I was wrong, it’s more of a marina so it’s deep water but still a nice place with a nice view.
Happy anniversary to us! The day I’ve been anticipating since I was 10 years old is here; the day we went swimming with the dolphins! My mom did the standing session and the four of us did the fully swimming signature sessions at Dolphin Plus Bayside. This was an exceptional experience and it’s one of the many reasons we named this trip: trip of a lifetime.
After this, we headed south, mesmerized by the 100 miles of clear water around us until making our way to Key West. We made it to Leo’s Campground to drop the RV off and we hopped on our Golf cart rental to check this place out! It was a crazy experience to be able to ride on the road with cars all around us as we made our way to the Southernmost Point Buoy, Duval Street, shop, and eat some Key Lime Pie. We drove back to drop the clan off before going back out for our anniversary dinner at Latitudes, a beautiful fancy restaurant on a private island with amazing views and majestic sunsets.
Heading back north, we made our way to Sugarloaf KOA, passing through many sand banks and just enjoying the mesmerizing eye level water views. Knowing we only had a short time here, I wanted to make the best of our time so I booked a private tour with a local captain to take us snorkeling and the sand banks. As a bonus, we got to see many dolphins, sting rays, and a baby shark too. I booked this specific KOA because they have a boat dock on site so Captain Clint was able to come pick us up directly from the campground and took us on our 4.5 hour tour of beyond beautiful sightseeing and snorkeling. This was such a wonderful and beautiful experience, completely living up to the trip of a lifetime name.
The campground itself was very nice too, we would have loved to stay longer if we could. I was really impressed with the beautifully landscaped this place has, they really did a great job. Next day we continued north landing at a Recreational park near Hollywood to visit family. We stayed the night at TY(Topeekeegee Yugnee) Park just off the 95 and in the middle of the city so it is very accessible if you are visiting friends or family. This park also has a Water Park on site but we did not attend; we did ride our bikes around and it was very nice and provided a long ride so A+.
Here it is, the next of the trip we’ve been super excited to partake in: We headed to Disney World! After a Walmart stop to stock up on food and on Disney gear, (yes, I purchased all our daily Disney shirts and head pieces at the local Walmart) we checked into the Disney Fort Camp Wilderness Resort for the next six nights. This place is HUGE! And so beautifully groomed. Kids enjoyed some pool time before we hit the sack to get up bright and early so we can take advantage of the Magic Hour for staying in their park. I ordered out bands before we left so we made sure all bands were charged up so we can use our magic hour entry and more.
On our first Disney day, we took the boat taxi from the campground to Magic Kingdom, still in disbelief that we are really there. This park is very similar to our Disney back home in Anaheim so it was nice to be there and be able to compare. We enjoyed the park, specially the new ride TRON. We enjoyed shows, other rides, and we enjoyed the food! During the planning stages, I checked reviews on best places to each in each park. We stuck with our “only one big meal” inside the park so we had a nice breakfast and we had had our dry snack tray to hold us over until we had our one meal to save money and time. For this park, we made our reservations ahead of time and we chose to eat at Liberty Tree Tavern for the most bang for our buck.
Day two we hopped on the bus to the main hub (main bus station for the campground) and took the bus heading to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the day. This park is small but so beautifully detailed; they really know how to make you feel you are transported to that land (Toy Story Land, Star Wars, etc.) We loved the Tower of Terror and the Rockin’ Roller Coaster rides, this ride was based in L.A. so it was fun to see the familiar props along the ride itself. The Beauty and the Beast live Show help in their version of the Hollywood Bowl was SPECTACULAR! I added just a little glimpse of it here so you can see how wonderful it is. For our one meal in this park, we made reservations at a Italian Restaurant that it’s no longer there. It was good but not great so that may be why it’s no longer listed as an option in this park. After a fun filled day, we headed back via their bus system; the first one that took us back to the campground itself was great. After arriving at the main station, the bus to take us to our side of the campground took a little longer than we would have liked but, it is what it is.
Day three we utilized the bus system again and we waited a very long time for our bus to arrive. We were thankful that this was an option and that we didn’t have to drive but I did not anticipate how long we would have to wait. It was all in perfect timing because we went to Typhoon Lagoon Waterpark and it was raining. Just before we arrived, they cleared the rides due to lightning so many people left and all rides reopened just as we entered the park so there were almost no lines for all the cool water rides! Thank you Lord. My favorite part, that humongous lazy river! That was so much fun, we went around it A LOT! The wave pool was the strongest one we’ve experienced so that was a treat. We enjoyed some fish tacos before taking the bus back to camp. The wait time this time was decent so it a win for the day.
Day four was Epcot day. I did a lot of research before we left and I learned that there’s a better entrance we can use entering through the International side so that’s what we did and it worked! We went right in with no lines and used our extra hour so we went straight to Remy’s Ratatouille ride with no lines! I also learned that you can access this entry side via the Skyliner so we rode the bus to the Hollywood Park first then from there, we hopped on the Skyliner, and we exited right in front of the International entrance at Epcot. Entering this part of the park also allowed us to see that whole side of the park with minimal people around until midday AND we enjoyed a cool sky ride too. We met up with our family who joined us for the day and it was great. For our “one meal” I made reservations very far in advance so we could experience a wonderful lunch at Space 220. This place makes you feel you dining in space with the themed elevator and surroundings. Inside the restaurant, there are big windows with astronauts floating around and a huge image of earth so it makes you feel like you are in space looking down at earth. The food was costly but delicious. We made reservations for lunch so we could get the same experience and the lunch specials. Epcot has our favorite ride out of all four parks, Guardian of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. What a wonderfully made ride! You have it all, speed, spins. visuals , sounds, all in one greatness. We loved it so much we actually paid to ride it again (it was a ticketed entry at the time). Everything else in this park was also amazing. This one was our favorite park out of the four main ones. Heading back home, we took the bus and we made it back to the campground station quickly but then we waited almost 40 minutes for the next bus to arrive that needed to take us to our side of the campground. This is when we learned why so many people had their golf carts parked right off the bus station; after they arrive from the parks, they hop on their own ride back to their site. We didn’t know this so we were stuck waiting 40 minutes for our bus to arrive, we probably could have arrived sooner then we did if we just walked. Lesson learned.
By Day five we were just about all Disneyed out! Not really.. But we were exhausted. Up bright and early again we learned our lesson so we hopped on our bikes and rode to the main bus station instead of taking the bus. We locked the bikes up and we hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom. This park is beautiful. I think the fact that it was extremely hot and all the lines are outside, we were not feelin’ it as much as the other parks. It was extremely hot that day and the park layout was also very challenging, creative use of space but challenging. Our favorite part here was hands down the Avatar land Pandora; it is so well made and beautiful! The ride was pretty cool too. The heat started getting to us so we cut out a little sooner than the other parks. Heading back to the campground bus, we hopped on our bikes and happily rode all the way to our campsite before the bus we would have taken passed by. This Disney experience was definitely worth it to do once in your life. Being a family of roller coaster enthusiasts , we will gladly stick to Six Flags and Cedar Fairs from now on.
DAY 25
This is now day twenty five of this trip and what a trip it has been so far! Continuing along going north, we stopped in Ocala to visit friends for a bit before making our way to our spot for the night. Sweetwater Creek Campground turned out to be okay in the end but when we arrived, someone was pulling power and water from our site to their site. This place also appears to have a lot of long term residents so it’s definitely a not a vacation spot but it helped us get some rest as we travel along. Next day we headed to Six Flags over Georgia, back to the fast rides again. This was not our favorite park but we found a few good rides and it was free with our passes to enter so it was worth the stop. This is also the first time the kids got completely soaked on a water ride so that was fun to watch. We asked a police officer if the area we were in was safe for us to sleep at night and he suggested we drive up north a little more. I originally planned on staying at a Cracker Barrel just 18 miles away from the park. Instead, we drove up another 42 miles and stayed at a different one instead. This one did not have RV parking spots but we fit in the back corner. We slept well so I’m glad I asked.
After another stock up and laundry session, we arrived in Tennessee! We went straight to the campground Fox Fire River Campground and enjoyed a cool dip in the river. It is so beautiful and peaceful. We enjoyed just doing nothing after so many action packed days in a row. We had a campfire and just enjoyed the nature around us. The campground was nice, very quiet and green everywhere. The next day we headed over a few miles down the road to go river rafting for the first time. There are many companies around but we chose to go with Rafting in the Smokies because they offered a rafting and ziplining package at the time, looking them up right now, it appears they are no longer in business, sad to learn that, we had a great time doing both but there are many other companies providing rafting in this Pigeon Forge River region. After this fun, we made our way to Pigeon Forge KOA, hopped on the bikes again and we checked out this lovely town.
Pigeon Forge is totally a tourist town! Well… it is Dollywood’s home so I can see why. We hopped on our bikes and we cruised to the Old Mill Restaurant and Creamery area, enjoying nice ice cream and live music. Rode all the way to the island and back. This is a really nice town. The next day we originally planned on going to Dollywood but we decided to go visit Anakista in Gatlinburg instead. We read how the parking situation there is not great so we opted to take an uber instead. We could not believe that there are only a handful of uber drivers there! The guy who took us gave us his direct number just in case. Gatlinburg is only about twenty minutes away surrounded by the Smoky Mountains. We took the chairlift up and enjoyed the beautiful view. We headed back down to explored the town, grabbed some lunch, then headed back up at night to experience Astra Lumina, which was really cool before heading back to the campground. Next day we stayed in and enjoyed the campground amenities and we went to Dolly’s Stampede Show for dinner. Very nice show, best part: seeing our kids’ faces when they placed a whole little chicken on our kids plate! Oh how I wish I filmed it, they were traumatized and us parents couldn’t stop laughing.
Day thirty one began bright and early, we drove south and five hours later we were tasting Bourbon at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. The tour was great and the tasting was even better. Rain was coming down hard but we still enjoyed the tour very much. After this we drove and attempted to tour a cave I saw on Facebook. I had to get a permit, make a reservation, and have our helmet and head lamp ready to go explore Stephen’s Gap Callahan Cave in Alabama. We didn’t quite make it but it was a memorable attempt. After this experience, we began making our way home. We stayed the night at US Space and Rocket RV Park and this too says it’s permanently closed now; it was a nice spot so I’m a little surprised they are closed.
DAY 32
After another full driving day, we were scheduled to spend the night at a Cracker Barrel in Oklahoma. Arriving there, already late, we did not feel safe so we kept driving. I did not have a plan B at the time (it is why I now do) so we kept driving around looking for a safe place and it was very hard to find. We ended up sleeping at a gas station near an industrial area in town but we were out of there early just in case we were not supposed to be there. The next day we ended up going to Six Flags Frontier City. This was not in the original plan but we ended up driving up here to sleep so we decided to visit. If you are a roller coaster enthusiast, do not waste your time here, their best ride is smaller than our kiddy rides at Magic Mountain. We visited the water park next, literally right off the freeway for a bit before parking at another Cracker Barrel in Amarillo TX for the night. Another full day drive and another night at yet another CB before making our longest drive; 665 miles all the way home.
This trip was thirty five days long and it was full of adventures, theme parks, fun, and first timers together making it the most memorable, once in a lifetime experience that has shaped our understanding of life to this day. I hope this trip inspires you to hit the road too, there’s so much beauty to see and experience in this country. Your turn.
Thank you for reading.
Safe travels,
Brenda Fabbro
