ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA / MADEIRA BEACH KOA HOLIDAY

Spent the very first weekend of April in the area of St. Petersburg, Florida to attend a very tightly scheduled wedding for Deb's nephew and his Fiancé. During this time frame Deb's Family stayed at a local hotel, but I drove the Motorhome from Wilmington, NC to St. Petersburg with our three dogs in tow so we would have a place for them to stay.  We did lodge them for the weekend at a local pet shelter where they were taken care of very well. We got there a day before the rest of the Family did and we left after the rest of the Family flew back home to Ohio and Georgia.  On the way down we stayed at another KOA and on the way back we also stayed at even a different KOA.  There will be separate postings for each of them.

Below are pics of the St. Petersburg Madeira Beach KOA.

  

Battleship North Carolina

We visited the Battleship North Carolina sitting in the Wilmington Harbor. It was Deb's first time on board a ship this size, let alone a military ship.  She was amazed by the narrow steep steps, small quarters, bunks, coolers, and all of the onboard shops, kitchen, dining area, and overall little town inside the hull of this magnificent ship. I tried to get her up in to one of the turrets but she is claustrophobic and couldn't handle the very tight enclosed space.

Below are some of the pics we took while visiting this vessel.

Restaurants in/around Wilmington North Carolina

There are many restaurants in around Wilmington, North Carolina and we tried to get to as many as we could during Deb's days off.  I would get out to the ones I wanted to visit on my own though, since I know she wouldn't want to go to places like Hooter's, but she did go with me once while we were there.  She also went with me on a regular basis to Buffalo Wild Wings that was very close to us in the Porter's Neck shopping area. We like to try out restaurants that aren't chains even though we will still frequent our favorite chain restaurants. If you plan on taking any trips to Wilmington, North Carolina and see any restaurants you would like for us to try out please let us know.  We will be trying out many more once we return to Wilmington, North Carolina in the fall.

Restaurants we have went to are listed below, not necessarily in the order of preference, just listed as I thought of them.

1.  Carolina Crab House - We really enjoyed this place.  They steam up a variety of combo plates of various seafoods along with small red potatoes and serve it up to you in a plate surrounded by a plastic bag. We definitely will go back. This was the first restaurant we went to in Wilmington, North Carolina.

2.  Cape Fear Seafood Company - Great seafood served here as well and the waiters/waitresses are very friendly making sure you have everything you need to enjoy your meal.

3.  KM38 Baja Grill - Mexican cuisine with great margaritas and atmosphere.

4.  Brunches - Wonderful brunch place that serves up Mimosas and various coffee liquor drinks along with a variety of breakfast concoctions. This was Deb's and her coworkers favorite place to meet after a long night of work to wind down and relax before going home to sleep.

5.  Ogden Tap Room - Huge line of IPBs and other popular beers on tap along with a great menu.  I enjoyed a couple of their menu items that come in pairs.  At first I was like who could eat two of those huge beef hot dogs or pretzels but then I found out it wasn't so hard to do and I enjoyed them with my beer.  This place was right across from the Wilmington KOA where we stayed.

I may add more to this post later but for now I want to get it posted so everyone can see where we went to eat besides McDonald's and BW3s(Buffalo Wild Wings).

Wilmington North Carolina KOA

Our stay at Wilmington North Carolina KOA was one of the most pleasant experiences we have had at any campground we have stayed at. The staff were all very kind, helpful, and would do almost anything to keep their guests happy and enjoy their camping experience. We stayed at this campground from December 2021 through April 2022 and plan on going back to stay again in October through March of next year. We saw constant improvements of the campground during our stay.  Cabins were renovated, new concrete sidewalks and site pads were installed, new mulch applied around the campground, and gravel applied to sites to keep them level. Three sites that had new concrete poured also had fireplaces built onto them in addition to the grills, lamp posts, and patio sets that are normally on the high-end sites that make a KOA campground a "Holiday" KOA. On a rating of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best possible rating, I would give this campground a 10 plus. Below are pictures that I had taken around the campground during our stay there.