We start out December at Thousand Trails Three flags in Wildwood. We spent the last two weeks of November here and the first week in December. We really like this park and plan to return when we come to Florida next.

Our net move brings us to a Harvest Host in Sarasota, Florida for an overnight. This Harvest Host is called the “Dog Bar” it is an indoor dog park combined with a bar/restaurant. We brought the dogs in and they had a lot of fun making new friends and playing with a puppy. We had some dinner here as well. Food was good and the dogs had a blast, what’s not to like about that? We had a quiet overnight and a short drive to our next stop.

Our next stop is Bradenton, FL at Encore Winter Quarters Manatee. This park is pretty nice. They do a good job keeping the grounds manicured and all of the RV’s and the permanent units look well kept. This park seems to be more of a long term stay kind of place but there were also some travelers. The only part of this place we found odd was the amount of park models for sale and lots where you can tell a long term tenant had vacated. We also found it odd that the clubhouse which looked almost new was virtually unused the entire three weeks we were there. A person that lives there told us that they had all kinds of activities but it all stopped when a new manager arrived. We were here for the Christmas holiday and unlike the last park they did not really have any events. They did end up having a pot luck lunch but it seemed like it was put together at the last minute and we could not attend because we were working.

Jenn’s parents came down from Maine to visit for Christmas and stayed in St Petersburg in the same complex where her aunt lives. We ended up making dinner for Christmas eve here in the RV and then went to her aunts house on Christmas day. We also took a ride to the Freedom Factory race track to see the light display they have setup. Its pretty impressive the amount of stuff they have as well as food trucks and fun things for kids to do.

We also had a surprise visit from some friends from New Hampshire. They happened to be in Tampa while we were in Bradenton so we took a ride to go meet up with them for dinner. We were not able to get together when we were in New England over the summer so it was nice to catch up.

After Christmas we move again, this time more south to another Encore park. Encore Harbor Lakes in Port Charlotte, Florida. We only stayed here for a few days to wrap up 2025 but this is another park that have to visit again someday. The site we stayed on was massive as were the roads coming in. They were possibly the widest roads we have ever seen in a park, they were like a 3 lane freeway. There is a mix of small homes and RV’s in this park. It was pretty quiet and everyone was friendly. We did not do a whole lot while we were here, just worked, we never even unpacked the garage since our stay was so short.

That brings us to the end of 2025.