Grayton Beach State Park

August 8, 2023April 14, 2018 by traveler

RV Campground Review: Grayton Beach State Park With its sugar sand beach being one of the most pristine and uncluttered along the Gulf Coast, Grayton Beach State Park is a very desirable campground along the Scenic Gulf Coast Highway. It is hard to top its beach for swimming, sunbathing and surf fishing. It also borders … Read more

St. Joseph’s Bay Golf Course

December 19, 2023April 13, 2018 by traveler

Review: St. Joseph’s Bay Golf Club

The St.Joe course is located in a wooded setting a few miles south of Port St. Joe Florida just off the Gulf Coast Scenic Drive (Highway 30A). Its fairways are tree-lined and water comes into play on fourteen of its eighteen holes. The terrain is mostly level, but grass mounds, water, and groves of trees add variety and challenge. It is a pretty course and for the season (early March) the fairways and greens were in good condition – and mostly green.

Positive Comments on St. Joseph Bay Course

Variety of Tee boxes. There are four sets of tees ranging from 6665 yards to 5039 providing challenge for the lower handicap golfer but some relief for those who aren’t long hitters. My wife Jo is a fairly new golfer (and a senior) so we like courses where the Red (Ladies) tees are less than 5000 yards, so St. Joe’s course was close to that. The Red tee boxes were also in good condition (some courses we’ve played neglect their shortest tee boxes).

The greens. The greens had some slope to them and were in good condition. We also found they putted true; there were no gimmicky pin placements or crazy undulations to add challenge.

Grass mounds add some challenge and variety to the mostly level course.

The course layout. The cart paths are paved and the layout of the holes make it easy to navigate from the greens to the next set of tee boxes. Some courses have a layout that has golfers new to the course wandering around trying to find the next tee boxes. If you are walking, like we often do, it can be time-consuming and tiring when the course layout doesn’t have a logical and somewhat linear path from green to the tee boxes of the next hole.The clear layout and it being fairly level terrain also make it a very walk-able course.

While there are thick woods surrounding the course, the holes are laid out such that a slice (for a right hand golfer) puts the ball in the trees or rough between the holes where you can easily find it as the rough is pine straw (not long grass) under the trees. However, a slice on a few holes will risk losing some balls due to the location of the water hazard.

Course Fees. The golf course is at a Country Club so there are member and non-member green fees. The guest fees are reasonable; we paid $16 to walk 9 holes. The guest or non-member rate for green fees and cart for 18 holes is $43.25 (2018 prices); a fair price based upon our experience at other courses of similar quality.

A ball that lands in the pines between the holes is pretty easy to find.

The club house has a lounge, a snack bar that has a limited lunch menu, a full bar, and an outdoor patio off the snack bar. Friendly service and reasonable prices.

Hotel and motel lodging is a few miles away in Port St. Joe. There is a private RV Park and Marina about two miles away . . . but somewhat pricey in our estimation. Camping at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park is 13 miles away, but we prefer the Indian Pass RV park and campground which is about 10 miles from the course on the road to Apalachicola.

Overall St. Joseph’s Bay Golf Course Rating & Condition.

Since writing this article, I had an opportunity to read some course reviews on Google and many of them were unfavorable – particularly noting the condition of the fairways. As we were golfing early season when most courses at this time in more northern Florida weren’t fully greened out, we wouldn’t have focused on the quality of the fairway grass. If we play there in 2019, I should pay closer attention to the emerging grass and see if it looks poorly.

Florida Gulf Drive Travel Links:

Away from the World | Cedar Key

November 13, 2019April 4, 2018 by traveler

Away from the World Bar Cedar Key Florida

Restaurant Review: Away from the World Burger Bar, Cedar Key, Florida

Formerly named “Away from the World Cafe” Away from the World Beer and Burger Bar has expanded its menu and beverages. It is located on the top story of one of the commercial buildings along the Dock Street Pier looking out on the Gulf. Their expansive deck dining offers great views of the water and you can catch a decent breeze that is welcome on a hot day. If it is too cold or rains, there is plenty of dining room inside. Prior to arriving at Cedar Key we hadn’t done any research on best places to eat so we picked “Away from the World” simply because it looked like they had a decent dining deck with a terrific view of the water.

The weather was ideal, sunny and about 10 degrees above normal for a late February day. Almost too hot for our Wisconsin bodies tuned to winter temperatures. It was Tuesday afternoon mid-week and the town was only moderately busy. Yet apparently the staff at Away from the World wasn’t ready for several people descending upon them for lunch. We had to stand around for a while gawking at the bartender before we got a waitress to seat us. But then we did get profuse apologies, saying “sorry, we are really slammed today” which was a phrase we’d hear her repeat often to other customers. When our Mahi-Mahi Sandwiches did arrive, they were pretty good. I thought mine was a little dry, but Jo thought hers was excellent. The side salad was very good, a nice selection of fresh greens and veggies. The beer was decent and a good selection on tap. Our wait staff had only been working there for two weeks and was trying hard to keep up with her customers, but only partially succeeding.

Perhaps the manager of the operation was in the kitchen humping to get out the food. My impression was there wasn’t anyone taking charge of dealing with the chaos. So 3 stars for service and maybe too generous. But they did produce half-way decent food – 4.5 stars for that. 5 star view and atmosphere on the dining deck. Overall I’d give them a 3.5.

Travel and Restaurant Links:

Cedar Key Florida Beach — See our article on things to do and see in Cedar Key, Florida

Steamers Clam Bar & Grill | Cedar Key

August 13, 2023April 4, 2018 by traveler

Steamers Raw Bar and Grill Cedar Key Florida

Restaurant Review: Steamers Restaurant & Grill, Cedar Key, Florida

Steamers is a fun Clam Bar and Grill is on the second story of one of several buildings along the Dock Street pier overlooking Suwanne Sound on the Gulf of Mexico.

Steamers Cedar Key — Great views of the water from the upper deck, but you are lucky to get a seat out there.

While there is a small outside deck with great views of the water, there isn’t much seating available for dining there. So we dined inside but still had views of the water due to the open ceiling and expansive window walls. Even though it was a busy, beautiful Saturday afternoon we got very attentive service; the wait staff and bartenders must be well schooled in customer service. The afternoon we dined there a trio of older guys were picking guitars, playing and singing some Texas country classics – Waylon, Willie, Jimmy Buffet tunes – and doing a pretty good job of it.

One of our favorite stouts, Oatmeal Stout, was on tap so we ordered a pair of steins while we waited for a table to clear. Good beer, good tunes, good views of the water (Out on the water you could watch the porpoises jumping), beautiful day, great to be retired and enjoy the good life. The wait wasn’t too long til we got seated.

Jo stealing one of my sweet potato fries!

While Cedar Key is Florida’s Capital of Farm-raised Clams, we aren’t Raw Bar fans; if we have Clams or Oysters it will be in a soup! So Jo and I elected one of our Gulf Coast seafood staples – Mahi-Mahi Grilled and Blackened Sandwich Basket with a side of Cole Slaw and Sweet Potato Fries. The Mahi-Mahi fillets were a decent size and served on a square ciabatta bun, a nice upgrade from the big hamburger bun we’ve gotten at some places. Lettuce, tomato, onions, and tarter sauce were on the side so you elect how you wanted them – in or out of the sandwich. The fries were decent, a generous serving. We thought the Cole Slaw was exceptional. Crisp Red and White Cabbage with Carrot slices in a light tangy, balsamic sauce and a decent-sized bowl. Nice contrast to the blender-chopped stuff in a heavy mayo sauce in a tiny paper cup you get some places.

The meal was great, the Oatmeal Stout outstanding, the ambiance terrific, and a beautiful day looking over the water. Hard to top. 4.5 stars. Looking forward to return visit next year.

Gulf Drive Travel and Restaurant Links:

Manatee Springs State Park

August 3, 2022April 3, 2018 by traveler

Campground Review: Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, Florida

Manatee Springs is located along the legendary Suwannee River about 6 miles west of Chiefland Florida. It offers swimming, snorkeling, and manatee viewing in its signature warm water spring. Other amenities include hiking/biking trails, canoeing/kayaking, and enjoying its full-service campground (see our review lower down this page)

The Spring pool maintains a 72 degree temperature year round which draws in Manatees from the river during the winter months when the temperatures in the river fall, thus the reason the springs are named Manatee Springs. The year round moderate temperature also provides humans swimming, scuba diving and snorkeling recreation year-round.

From the spring pool, about 100 million gallons of cool, sparkling clear, clean water are discharged into the stream that connects to the Suwannee River. The stream and the river provide excellent waters for canoeing and kayaking; both types of water craft are available for rent by the park concessionaire, Anderson’s Outdoor Adventures, who also carries a collection of camping equipment and supplies. Another service is pontoon boat tours of Suwannee River.

manatee springs boardwalk — Boardwalk to the fishing pier and boat dock on the Suwannee River.

manatee springs fishing — Going fishing from the canoe launch by the spring.

Camp Store & Grill

In the same building as Anderson’s Adventures is a walk-up grill and beverage stand with covered picnic tables and Free Wi-Fi service. So you can sit there have a brew or a burger while surfing the Internet!

manatee springs concession stand — Having a burger and surfing the Internet overlooking the springs

Other types of recreation popular in the park are fishing, hiking, and mountain-biking. There are 8 miles of hiking and nature trails, plus two boardwalk trails. Biking is allowed on most of the hiking trails as well as on the roads running throughout the park. Some ambitious bikers will bike to town on highway 320; we’ve found the road to town relatively less busy so reasonably safe for biking.

manatee springs state park bike trails — Biking on one of the many wooded biking-hiking trails

The Manatee Springs Campground

The campground offers 80 campsites in three camping areas. Most sites are reasonably level and nicely spaced away from adjacent sites. Each of the three camping areas has its own conveniently located washroom and bath house. One of the bath houses we used had heat lamps in the showers, a nice feature if you are showing on a cold morning. There is electricity and water at each campsite and a dump site near the park entrance for emptying your holding tanks. There is no Wi-Fi within the camping area, however there is free Wi-Fi at the concessionaire pavilion near the springs itself.

Cypress Trees line the spring pool and lowland areas near the river, but Oak trees are the major tree species in most of the park. Sweetgum and Ash are also found throughout the woods. The mature trees provide nice shade for the campsites and woodland plants and shrubs provide welcome privacy screening in the campground.

After each campsite is vacated, park service personnel pick up trash, sweep and rake every campsite. Sort of like a good motel has the room swept, sheets changed, bathrooms cleaned, and waste baskets cleaned between stays. We also found good maintenance of the picnic tables and fire rings and the cleaning of the washrooms excellent.

Price-wise, Camping fees at Manatee Springs is middle-level and in our opinion is a very good bargain for the services offered by the park and the high level of good maintenance.

Nearby Visitor Attractions

In the village of Chiefland (6 miles away) you can find most every kind of shopping or dining service. Among the attractions of special interest to RVers is a propane fill-up at Wilson Gas and a mobile RV Repair Service. Another Chiefland attraction is only about a mile from the park: a friendly 18 hole golf course – Chiefland Golf & Country Club.

Gulf Coast Beach Town. An easy drive (about 30 miles) is the fun Beach Town of Cedar Key (see our post). The friendly village is built on a collection of gulf islands and offers the expected beach resort attractions such as restaurants, pubs, gift shops, T-shirts shops and the like. Yet is also offers a more homey, laid-back atmosphere than you find in most other gulf beach communities. Beach sunbathing, swimming, deep sea fishing, boat and dolphin-watching tours, shopping boutiques, and excellent sea food restaurants and pubs abound in Cedar Key.

Other Campground Options

strawberry fields rv campground — our rv site at strawberry fields

Our rialta at shell mound campground — our campsite at shell mound county park

There are five other campgrounds or RV parks in the Chiefland area (see our review); our favorite is Strawberry Fields. Another campground in the area we like is the Shell Mound County Park Campground near Cedar Key.

Visitor Attraction Links:

Sunset Ceder Keys Wildlife Refuge — Sunset Cedar Keys Wildlife Refuge – Shell Mound Natural Area Observation Deck

Grayton Seafood Co | Grayton Beach

August 13, 2019March 24, 2018 by traveler

Restaurant Review: Grayton Seafood Company, Grayton Beach, Florida

On our previous visits to Grayton Beach we’ve eaten at The Red Bar so on our most recent visit we were looking to try something new. A search on “Google” provided some positive reviews for the Seafood Company located in the main entertainment and shopping portion of Grayton Beach that is located along Scenic Highway 30A away from the beach itself. So we decided to give them a try for dinner.

We were camping in our RV at Grayton Beach State Park, about a mile walk or bike to the restaurant from our campsite so we decided to burn off some calories walking vs driving. There’s a paved bike & jogging path that runs adjacent to the highway. If you are staying along the beach in town, it’s about the same distance, a mile walk, bike, or drive to Grayton Seafood Co.

While the sign outside indicates “since 1890” the restaurant itself is of much more recent vintage (opened in 2015), although they have done a nice job decorating the interior paneling with weather-worn planks, beer signs, old photographs on the walls, etc. Owned by Kenny Griner it is a family run operation. In addition to Kenny are his daughter, his son, and his son-in-law on-site working in the restaurant. While there are some standard menu items, they pride themselves on locally sourced seafood so current catches drive the menu. They also enjoy trying new selections, often using their Sunday Brunch as a testing ground for new items. For example, through their fun experiments, they discovered customers really liked their “chicken and waffles” combo breakfast-brunch selection!

I was feeling the need for some good “roughage” so I chose their Grayt House Salad that comes with romaine & Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, carrots, croutons & cheese. I added some grilled chicken breast to the mix. The salad was terrific, nicely blend, fresh ingredients and a huge quantity. I’m generally a clean-plate guy and it was a challenge to accomplish it with the size of this meal. Jo went with the Fish of the Day recommended by our server: grilled Amber Jack, a fish she has never tried before. The Amberjack dinner was four or five fillet pieces with a choice of two sides; Jo went with the House Salad and baked potato slices. The fish was delicious and the house salad quite generous. On tap are beers from three local craft breweries: we had the Hooter Brown Ale from Oyster City Brewing Co (in Apalachicola).

Service was friendly and attentive; and we didn’t have to wait too long for our food to arrive. In conversation, we discovered our server, Grayson, has Wisconsin roots – his father founded Trek & Trail in Bayfield, Wisconsin one of our favorite towns along the Lake Superior Scenic Circle Drive.

Overall we give high marks to Grayton Seafood Company, casual dining with artisinal attention to food preparation and menu offerings that “foodies” will appreciate yet at a reasonable price. In summary, very good quality food, good service, pleasing dining atmosphere, good tap beers, and we love family-run places where the owners are in the kitchen and serving customers.

Travel Links:

Learn more about fun things to see and do while visiting Grayton Beach
Grayton Beach State Park Review
More Florida Gulf Coast Restaurant Reviews
Florida Gulf Coast Scenic Drive, Part 1. – Pensacola Beach to Grayton Beach
Florida Gulf Coast Scenic Drive, Part 2. – Grayton Beach to Apalachicola
Grayton Seafood Co. Website

Red Bar | Grayton Beach, FL

January 29, 2020March 23, 2018 by traveler

Restaurant Review: The Red Bar, Grayton Beach, Florida

This was our third opportunity to dine at the unique Red Bar in Grayton Beach, Florida one of our favorite stops along the Gulf Coast Scenic Drive from Pensacola to Apalachicola. It is the nearest bar or restaurant to the actual sparkling white beach that the town’s name references, so that is one reason for its popularity. Another is its crazy funky interior decorations covering every square inch of ceiling and walls with odd collectibles and notices. It is a fun place to dine and drink and the food ain’t bad either!

My favorite adult beverage at the Red is their signature Bloody Mary, now going for $7 (2018). It is the literal “meal in a glass” having in addition to the Bloody Mary Mix and Vodka, you get a large stalk of celery, a couple of pimento olives, a few dilly green beans, a slice of lemon, and 2 kinds of sweet, mildly hot peppers. Jo had their famous Mimosa, sweet and suitably powerful.

We both ordered the Mahi-Mahi sandwich basket, one of the Red Bar’s specialties we’ve previously enjoyed. Jo found her sandwich as tasty as she remembered and would give it 4.5 stars. However, I felt mine was too dry and a little chewy. I also was surprised it was served on a rather ordinary hamburger bun and the “greens” were iceberg lettuce vs a higher quality loose-leaf lettuce. I’d give my sandwich a 3.5 rating. The service was friendly and prompt. We did have a little trouble understanding our menu options as explained by our server. (After dining at The Red Bar in three different years, it is apparent they employ guest workers or exchange students as wait staff so you can get a mixed bag in expertise in spoken English.) I’ve noticed in checking the reviews on the Zomato website that some of the more recent reviews mirror our recent less enthusiasm for the quality of the food itself.

Slide Show – The Red Bar

[tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”17″]

Dining at the Red Bar is always enjoyable and especially when they have live music. If you’ve never been there before, it is must-experience when you visit Grayton Beach. But dedicated “foodies” may want to also check out the Grayton Seafood Company (see our review), located away from the beach along Scenic Highway 30A.

grayton beach florida — The “beach” at Grayton Beach is one of the finest along the gulf coast. Learn more about visiting Grayton Beach here.

Travel Links:

Learn more about fun things to see and do while visiting Grayton Beach
More Florida Gulf Coast Restaurant Reviews
Florida Gulf Coast Scenic Drive, Part 1. – Pensacola Beach to Grayton Beach
Florida Gulf Coast Scenic Drive, Part 2. – Grayton Beach to Apalachicola
The Red Bar Website

Jaco’s Bayfront Bar & Grill | Pensacola, FL

August 13, 2019March 22, 2018 by traveler

Restaurant Review: Jaco’s Bayfront Grill, Pensacola, Florida

One of Pensacola’s Best places to eat, Jaco’s is upscale casual dining, overlooking Pensacola Bay and the Palafox Pier Marina. Spacious, comfortable tables and seating with cloth napkins, lemon-slice in the water, and more substantial eating utensils give it a touch of class.

Service was also classy. Competent, friendly and attentive wait staff. Refilling my water glass and stopping by frequently to check in during the meal is one of my service check marks and Jaco’s staff did well hitting these marks. My glass of Yuengling tap was served in a frosted glass and had a decent head of foam on it, another mark of quality service. Finally it was not a long wait for our meal to be delivered and it arrived hot so it had not been sitting under heat lamps for long. We give 5 stars for Jaco’s service.

I had their blackened Mahi-Mahi Taco, a dish I often use as a benchmark to compare restaurants. Jaco’s offering was a little different from many others in that it was served in a hard shell taco vs. a soft shell. I found the hard shell easier to consume without a mess of ingredients squeezing out. My previous Mahi-Taco at another dining establishment necessitated lots of finger-licking! Jaco’s Taco is nicely prepared and presented, as good tasting as I’ve had in the past. Instead of fries, chips, or hush puppies, Jaco’s Taco came with an ample combination of brown rice and beans as a side dish plus a mango salsa relish serving. Nice change of pace from the usual side I get.

Jo had their Pesto Flat Bread that came with Kalamata olives, Italian sausage, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, fresh basil, spinach and Pesto Spread. She found it very tasty and filing.

Jaco’s outside dining deck had overhead heaters which allowed us to be comfortable eating outdoors on a very nice sunny day that otherwise would have been too cold and windy to eat out on the deck.

Decent quality food, top service, pleasing dining atmosphere, all for a relatively modest price. Jaco’s is an excellent value; we rate it among the best restaurants we’ve experienced in Pensacola and Pensacola Beach. And reviewers on Zomato also rate it among the top 5 restaurants in Pensacola.

Links:

Fat Mama’s Tamales | Natchez, MS

August 13, 2019March 19, 2018 by Ross Reinhold

Restaurant Review: Fat Mama’s Tamales

Fat Mama’s originally opened in Natchez in 1989 and have been at their current Canal Street location since 2008. Its colorful fun atmosphere, fast and friendly service, good homemade food, and decent prices have made Fat Mama’s a favorite Natchez dining institution.

You place your order at the counter, get your beverage, leave your name and take a seat in the restaurant or out on the dining deck. A server will bring your meal when it is ready.

Jo ordered the Taco Salad, a crispy tortilla shell filled with lettuce, seasoned chicken, shredded cheese, sliced black olives, diced tomatoes and onions, but held the jalapeno peppers. Very fresh and crisp and a generous quantity of ingredients. She liked that the chicken and all the ingredients were nicely distributed throughout the salad versus being layered like you find at some eateries.

I had the huge Roast Beef & Gravy PoBoy sandwich. Served on French Bread and a generous quantity of hot thin-sliced roast beef with shredded cabbage, sliced tomatoes and pickles. Served with a side of homemade potato chips. Very filling and tasty. The chips were exceptional.

Because she had no idea what a Tamale was Jo ordered a half dozen to go with our meal. They were served hot wrapped in corn husks. Too spicy for Jo’s tastes; I found them good but could only eat one as my Roast Beef PoBoy filled my tank to the top.

Jo ordered Fat Mama’s signature Margarita and found it suitably powerful and brain-freezing chilled. I had a chilled glass of amber ale tap; one of 8 specialty beers on tap.

We give Fat Mama’s high marks for fun, comfortable, casual dining, plus great food, and good service. Zomato.com rates it in the top 5 Natchez restaurants. We had previously dined and enjoyed the food and service at The Camp restaurant, located along the river in the Natchez-Under-the-Hill neighborhood. Other top-rated Natchez dining spots on our future list of places to try are Roux 61, Mammy’s Cupboard, and the historic King’s Tavern.

Natchez Links

Plateau XLTS | Class C Motorhome

August 17, 2023January 11, 2018 by traveler

Compact Class C MotorHome Reviews – PleasureWay Plateau XLTS

2021 Update. While PleasureWay no longer makes the XLTS or any Class C motorhomes, this review will be handy for those shopping for used or nearly new compact motorhome. The XLTS is worth considering. 2023 Update – surprise! Pleasure Way, after a 4 year absence is again making the XLTS.

In my previous reviews of American or Canadian Compact Class C Motorhomes, I didn’t include a new entry for 2018 from Pleasure Way Industries from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The main drawback hampering its inclusion was price. An MSRP base price of $145,470.00! Our threshold was $100,000. While you could expect to find a dealer who could knock several thousand dollars off that $145K price, I would be surprised if a buyer could ever get below $110,000.

But for the benefit of those who might not be scared off by the sticker price, I’ll review some of the strengths. While Pleasure-Way has been known for producing high quality Class B motorhomes, the Plateau XLTS is a wide-body Class C. That extra width is important as even the high end Class Bs we’ve looked at always seem claustrophobic. While using the Mercedes chassis that has become popular, they managed to keep the length down to 22′ 9″ whereas many competitors using the Mercedes platform are pushing 25 feet.

Our benchmark features for a compact Class C Motorhome are those we have found in our Winnebago Rialta. Those are:

Low profile, aerodynamic and attractive body style
Short length (21 feet) enables parking in a conventional automobile parking space
Driving and manevering it is as easy as a pickup truck
Doubles as a deluxe passenger van with seating for 4 adults and 3 kids
Large coach windows, with natural light lending an open feeling to the interior
Large rear-facing picture window with view from the driver’s seat
Good gas mileage: 17 – 19 highway
Has the same coach accessories/conveniences of much bigger units.

Two features of the Rialta we don’t have that we might trade-off against having some of the above are: 1) Not having to tear down the bed each day to put up the dinette and 2) Having better service available than we now have due to the no-longer-available-in-US VW eurovan engine and chassis.

How does the XLTS stack up?

Somewhat aerodynamic and attractive body style but rather tall at 10′ 9″
Shorter than many competitors at 22’9″
Driving – we would need to do a test drive, but with decent aerodynamics and shorter length expect it better than most
Doubling a passenger van – does well here, can tote at least 5 adults.
Rear lounge area has three fairly spacious windows, good natural lighting
Has medium-sized rear window with view from the driver’s seat.
Mileage claim: 14 to 16 mpg (diesel fuel not gas)
Coach accessories/conveniences are top notch, A+

The coach fit and construction materials of the Pleasure-Way XLTS are grade A. Tubular steel frame, a molded fiberglass skin with very few seams, everything bonded together without fasteners. High quality, durable clear coat finish. Inside the cabinetry is quality construction, real maple wood with mortise and tenon joints. Deluxe appointments like corian countertops, spacious dry bathroom, dimmable LED lights, 6 cubic foot 3 way refrigerator, lithium batteries, a 2000 watt sine wave inverter, and many more very deluxe accessories. The monitoring panels for electrical and plumbing utilities are extremely high tech – touch pad features, providing state-of-the-art metrics and controls. So you get lots of creature comforts and quality materials to help justify spending up to $50,000 more than units that may bear some physical resemblance to the XLTS. To be fair, part of that premium price is due to the Mercedes chassis. In our reviews of Class C options, it seemed just changing out the chassis from Mercedes to either Dodge or Ford saved from $10,000 to $20,000.

Plateau XLTS floor plan — I like the floor plan. Two lounge areas. Good use of space and option to keep the bed made up.

Plateau XLTS — The two handy workstation tables.

A few special features of note. Behind the driver and passenger seats are two work station tables that when the seats are swiveled around work nicely for a laptop computer or an individual dining table. In the rear lounge area is a power sofa that converts into a bed. In the sofa configuration, there is also a dining table (that stores when the bed is made up). But due to the two workstation tables up front, one could elect to leave the rear bed made up. Another nice feature of the power sofa bed is that it can convert either to a full-size queen bed or two twin beds. Given its larger bathroom and relatively short length, there is a decent amount of interior storage space in closets, cabinets, pull-out drawers, etc.

Pleasure-Way doesn’t quote the amount of exterior storage. It looks to be at least halfway decent. Not sure we could store two golf bags, which is one of our personal criteria for a Compact Class C motorhome. We’ll amend this report once we are able to visit a dealership or find this model at an RV Show to see it in the flesh. So stay tuned for more reports.

PS. Also on our 2018 review docket is an in person review of the new North American Hymer Aktiv 2.0.

Links to More RV Reviews:

St Pattys Day | Hot Springs

August 13, 2019January 2, 2018 by traveler

Hot Springs – The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade

We’ve long known about Hot Springs claim to hosting the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade and finally were in town camping at the Gulpha Gorge Hot Springs National Park campground on March 17, 2017. Further down this page you’ll find two St Patty’s Day videos I made of the parade and the after-parade party in a local Irish Pub.

The reason Hot Springs St. Patty’s Day parade is the world’s shortest is that it takes place on Bridge Street, a street two blocks south of Bath House Row that is only one block long. Truth be told, if the official parade took place on another street it would be much longer than one block. But how it works is only one parade performer strolls down Bridge Street at a time so at any given moment in time, the parade is only a block long. Getting a front row seat to the parade is a challenge and people start lining up hours before the parade start time. We didn’t have the stamina to claim a spot so early and as first time parade attendees didn’t know the best spots to get a decent view. Having now been to one, we have some advice to offer to those who don’t want to sit in their spot hours in advance, but want to better see the parade. Don’t try to get a spot along Bridge Street. Find a spot along Central Avenue where all the parade participants line up prior to parading down Bridge St or find a spot along Malvern Ave where the paraders go when they finish their run down Bridge Street.

Many of the paraders had presents of wrapped candy or beads that they tossed out to those lining the street watching the parade. So lots of competition to catch one of the baubles.

The parade itself is a prelude to the merriment as the thousands of people who lined up to watch the parade then retire to their favorite bar for more fun. Keeping with the Irish theme, we made our way to the Copper Penny Pub where we treated to rousing performances by the Arkansas Drum and Bag Pipe Troup.

Video of 2017 St. Patty’s Day Parade & Post Parade Celebration in the Copper Penny Pub

Hot Springs Links: