This August, our family of six drove from Savannah, Georgia, to the Fort De Soto campground on Florida’s Gulf Coast in a rented RV. It rained every single day, and we still had a blast. Here’s what we did, what we loved about RVing with kids, and what we’d do differently next time.
What you’ll get from this post
- What the kids thought of riding in an RV on a long drive
- What the Fort De Soto campground is like
- Why taking the RV to the beach was a genius move
- Our stops: North Beach, St. Pete Beach, the historic fort and Adventure Island
- Our honest verdict on renting from Cruise America
Riding in the RV
The kids absolutely loved riding in the RV. It made that really long trip not feel so long. They were comfortable and it was fun. Bud gets super big props for driving that big old honking thing up and down the road.
The Fort De Soto campground
The campground is really nice. It’s super well manicured, has several playgrounds, and is only about a mile from the beach. It sits on the water, but you can’t swim right there because there are some really deep holes off the shoreline. So we brought our bikes and rode down to the beach.
The weather (and the water)
It rained every day of our vacation. I know that’s typical for Florida, but this was long stretches of storms, more than we expected or hoped for. All those storms had churned up the water, so it wasn’t clear like it normally is. A bit of a bummer, but it’s still a beautiful beach.
Camp dinners were simple: corn, hot dogs and mac and cheese, which was quite a balancing act in the little RV kitchen. One night the kids made pizza sandwiches, with plenty of cheese stretch.
Take the RV to the beach
On our second beach day, we drove the RV to North Beach, about four miles from the campground. We weren’t trying to bike that with our crew. Unhooking the RV from water and power was a lot easier than we expected, so it was no big deal.
And it was super awesome to basically have our house right at the beach. If we needed anything, it was right there, and we didn’t have to pack everything up. That made it really easy, and we loved it.
St. Pete Beach and sea foam
Fort De Soto is just south of St. Pete Beach, so one day we drove up to explore. It’s so pretty. A storm was rolling in that night, so it was super windy and there was sea foam everywhere. The kids thought it was bubbles and had a blast.
A history field trip at the fort
One day we explored the historic fort, so we worked in a little history field trip. The kids had fun seeing it all. You can go inside some of the rooms, and you can climb to the top for a great view of the beach.
The kids’ favorite: Adventure Island
The kids’ favorite thing all week was Adventure Island, Busch Gardens’ water park in Tampa. It’s awesome. We even rode the Colossal Curl.
A huge perk of having the RV there: the RV parking is super close. That was the night we drove home, so everyone walked out to the RV, showered off, ate dinner right there and got ready for the long ride back.
Our verdict on RVing
The RV experience was super fun. We used Cruise America, which has locations all over, and we give it two thumbs up. We’ll definitely do another RV trip, and I really want to go back to that campground when it’s not storming all week so we can explore it properly.
Key takeaways
- An RV makes a long drive with kids feel shorter and more comfortable.
- Fort De Soto’s campground is well kept, has playgrounds and is about a mile from the beach.
- Don’t swim at the campground shoreline. Bike or drive to the beach.
- Unhooking an RV is easier than you’d think, and having it at the beach is so convenient.
- RV parking near a water park means easy showers and dinner before the drive home.
Know a great campground in Georgia or Florida? Tell me in the comments, and come hang out with our crew on YouTube. Subscribe to The Johnson Crew on YouTube.
FAQ
Is Fort De Soto campground good for families?
We thought so. It’s well manicured, has several playgrounds and is about a mile from the beach. You can’t swim at the campground shoreline because of deep holes, so plan to bike or drive to the beach.
Is it hard to take a rented RV to the beach?
No. Unhooking from water and power was much easier than we expected, and having the RV at the beach meant everything we needed was right there.
What else is there to do near Fort De Soto?
We explored the historic fort, visited St. Pete Beach and spent a day at Adventure Island water park in Tampa.
What viewers say
Looks like it was fun despite the weather!!! Taking the rv TO the beach is genius
@MyCathedralGarden on YouTube
What an incredible family experience!! My husband is forever trying to get us to travel by way of RV, watching this awesome clip might just push me to finally say yes! 😉
@TheirTeacherSkates on YouTube
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Full transcript
Hi guys welcome back to my channel this week we took our family of six from savannah georgia to fort de soto florida in an rv the kids absolutely loved riding in the rv it made that really long trip not feel so long they loved it they were comfortable it was really fun my husband Bud gets some super big props for driving that big old honking thing up and down the road the campground at fort de soto is really really nice it's super well manicured it has several playgrounds it's only a mile from the beach
So it rained every day of our vacation and I know that's pretty typical for florida but I mean like like storms like long stretches of rain more than what we were expecting and hoping for well people oh he's biting you you got it he's really happy tedious the campground is on the water but you can't swim there there's some really deep holes right off the shoreline so we brought our bikes and rode down to the beach there had been a lot of storms coming through there
And so the water was pretty churned up actually while we were there it wasn't clear like it normally is which was kind of a bummer but it's still a beautiful beach you need to hide because he thinks there's a monster again what you got ew wow there's water in the hole okay it's dinner time we're cooking up some corn and hot dogs and mac and cheese oh yeah quite a balancing act over here the next day that we went to the beach we actually took the rv
And drove to north beach because that's about four miles from the campground we weren't trying to bike that our units a little crazy it was a lot easier to unhook the rv from the water and the power than we thought it would be so it was no big deal to take the rv to the beach and actually it was super awesome to have your house basically right at the beach so if we needed anything it was right there and we didn't feel like we had to pack up everything that we had it made it really really easy we loved that wow I see him daddy's got to get his workout in somehow
Okay making a pizza sandwich this is my mom and she's making sandwich hi what did you say oh oh mom oh come on now it's time for the cheese oh yeah baby squeeze it in there right now how you did it all right we're ready what you got what did you get on your finger let me see oh it's messy don't rub the rv on the outside that's dirty it's dory oh yeah look at that beautiful wow look at that cheese stretch great job it's definitely your sandwich the campground fort de soto is just south of saint pete beach
So one day we drove up to st pete beach and explored around there a little bit and it's so pretty the night that we went there was a storm rolling in so it was super windy and there was all this sea foam which our kids are like bubbles and they just had a blast it's so warm what do you think then one day we did go and explore the fort kind of working in a little history field trip there the kids had fun seeing all of that you can even go inside of some of the rooms
And then you can even get to the top of it and you have this great view of the beach all right where are we headed to the historic fort you're in jail oh man this looks like a great play pin to lock you guys in today me and daddy go to the beach huh wow great job our kids favorite thing we did that week was going to busch gardens water park adventure island it is awesome oh you did it yeah all right finn you excited my god that was awesome we're about to do this slide the colossal curl
So huge perk of having an rv at the water park is their rv parking is super close and then it was so nice that we could just walk out to our rv everybody could shower off because this was the night that we were driving home and we could make dinner right there and get everybody ready for our long trip back home so that was awesome we feel like the rv experience was super fun we used cruise america which I know has locations all over so definitely check them out we give it two thumbs up super fun we'll definitely do another rv trip
And I really want to go back to that campground when it's not storming all week so we can really see all of it and really explore it really well well thanks so much for hanging out today leave me a comment below let me know what your summer vacation was this year or if you're planning a trip in the future if you're looking for somewhere to go camping rving and if you know of any other awesome campgrounds in georgia or florida I'd love to hear about them if you enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up definitely helps out my channel
And if you're new here my name is Sarah and I have four kids and most of my videos are about homeschooling and life as a family and traveling with our family so if that interests you go ahead and hit that subscribe button below and join us here every week until next time