Chily Expeditions: Lake Worth 2015

We arrived in Lake Worth, FL on 10/8 at John Prince Campground. We reserved site 272 till November 24th. My contract was for 13 weeks which would take us to January 8th, 2016, however, none of the campgrounds near my job had anything for that long. We took what we could get, and decided we would drive around to all the RV parks and talk face to face with them in hopes of finding something that could accommodate us till the end of my contract. John Prince is a huge park with a huge campground. It is built around the Lake Osborne, and is managed by the Palms Beach County Parks and Recreation Department. The park has basketball, tennis, and volleyball courts. You can canoe, kayak, boat, ski, etc on the lake. The have a dog hike trail, an exercise course, bicycle path, a Fitness Zone exercise area, and a golf learning course complete with three par 3 holes, and a driving range. There are many more amenities. You name it, you can do it at this park. They even have a 14 foot alligator, so we're told, but we didn't see it. I surely wouldn't leave my dog outside alone though.

Site 272 at John Prince Campground.

On Columbus Day (10/12) we drove up the coast to Jupiter and went to the Blowing Rock Preserve. It contains the largest Anastasia limestone outcropping on the states east coast. The breaking waves spray plumes of water through the erosion holes. These can get to as high as 50 feet at times. These outcroppings also contain coquina shells, crustaceans, and sand. If you are ever near there, you have to see this amazing site.

If you look closely, you can see the shells, etc embedded in the outcroppings.

This was about as high as it blew when we were there. We were told it's absolutely beautiful to see during hurricane season when the winds and waves are up.

Nice white caps at Blowing Rock.

More of the outcroppings at Blowing Rock.

Lots of draw bridges in Florida. You just get used to them.

One of our favorite places to go in Lantana, Fl not too far from where we were staying.

Backside of Key Lime House. Fun place. And yes, the Key Lime Pie is wonderful!

After driving around to many RV parks one day, Kirk and I did find a place that could accommodate us until my assignment in Boynton Beach ended. The Palm Beach Traveler Park in Lake Worth. This park is an old park, yet clean. We weren't going to go there until our month was up at Prince Park though. Travelers had Kirk put a $500 non-refundable deposit down. Well, wouldn't you know it, after only 5 days of work, I was given my 2 week notice as they hired a permanent SLP. i was not very happy. We explained this to the park where we had placed a deposit and they absolutely refused to refund our deposit. We even called the owners who were very, very rude. I would not recommend staying at this park, unless you are desperate. i can not tell you what it's like to stay there as we never got there. However, had I looked at the reviews on Yelp we would have steered clear of this place. Lesson learned!

So, with only two weeks left in Lake Worth, Kirk and i had a few things we wanted to see and do. First, a little bit about my job in Boynton Beach. Heartland Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center is only one of two facilities in the state of Florida that only admit patients if they have a diagnosis of dementia/Alzheimer's. It is a locked facility, allowing the residents to walk around if able. I arrived and was given a 5 minute tour (ugh!) and expected to go right to work. I was kinda excited when I accepted the job, as my boss was also a Speech Pathologist and I figured there would be all kinds of therapy materials/equipment available for Speech therapy. No therapy materials whatsoever. They did have a Synchrony machine which I was excited to learn about as it seemed to be a great tool for dysphagia. My SLP boss had no idea how to use it. UGH again! I soon found out that this lady must not have worked as a practicing SLP in a very long time, as she was unable to answer any of my clinical and/or technical questions. She was fairly worthless. I really hate to say that, but it's true. She was not able to cover my caseload in any circumstances, as she just didn't know what to do. I felt sorry for her in a way. Thank God, the OT and the PT were able to assist me with anything I could not figure out on my own. Being a traveling SLP, you just never know what kind of situations you will get into, but knowing that, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, because the job is only temporary. That being said, I met some great gals, Erika, Lorraine, Janet, and Abby. They made the job tolerable.

Okay, now for the places we visited and the things we did with the little time we had left in Florida. We saw the Jupiter Lighthouse from afar, as the day we went (Monday), it was closed. We drove down the coast to the Deerfield Beach area. We ate a few times at the Old Key Lime House in Lantana, just a few miles from where we were staying. We really liked the atmosphere of this place. It has 3 separate bar areas, dining inside and on the deck, and a big movie screen outside one of the bars for when the Gators (or any other Florida team) play. The key lime pie is excellent. I have to mention, that COSTCO was only a couple of miles from our park :). You all know how we love Costco. We ate at Two George's on the intercostal. Another fun place. On 11/1 we picked up Dan and Amy at the Ft Lauderdale airport and spent the evening with them. They were going on a cruise out of there the next morning. We had a fun evening, as always. On my last day of work (11/3), I left work at noon, met Kirk at the campground, hooked up the truck, and took off for our next adventure to Lake Havasu City, AZ. We have 5 days to drive 2500 miles in the RV.