Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA Resort

We stayed at Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA Resort, in Sugarloaf Key, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A very nice resort, that actually lives up to the resort label. We wished we could have stayed longer.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-02-02
Check out: 2024-02-04
2 nights

Weather:

Mostly clear
High temps 70°F, lows around 65°F
Little wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

Some highway noise
No train noise
Live music from pool area on the first night

Site:

#102, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
A little unlevel, high on left; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 50 feet long by about 10 feet wide
Shrubs between sites
Picnic table and fire pit on gravel area
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
35 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 52 Mbps down, 67 Mbps up, 37-437 ms ping
AT&T: 37-50 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Pool
Pub and cafe

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Most resort-like KOA ever

This was a last-minute change as we had reservations at another place in the Keys, but needed to avoid a major storm and came down a couple of days earlier than planned. We only stayed two nights, but I wish we could’ve stayed for our entire trip in the Keys. We’ve stayed at lots of KOAs and lots of other so-called “resorts”, but this one felt the most like a true resort that we’ve ever stayed at. The pool and bar area were like something at a beachside resort in Cancun, with lush landscaping and attentive bartenders. It does get a bit loud in the evenings when they have live music, so if that’s not your scene, just be aware that you will hear it from your site.

We had a back-in along the perimeter, which we enjoyed. There is very nice landscaping between the sites, so it was relatively private. The site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome, with our tow vehicle parked perpendicular at the front of the site. Since everyone does this, the road was a bit narrow when backing in and when we left, so make sure you have a reliable spotter.

The cost is a bit higher than we are used to, but it is what it is. It was cheaper than a less-fancy resort that was further away from Key West, so bear that in mind. We would definitely stay here again. We camped at Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Office:

Office

This KOA is different in that it has a couple of hotel buildings for non-RVers:

Hotel

Other sites:

Other sites

Dog park:

Dog park

They have nice paths in the middle of rows, so people aren’t tempted to cut through unoccupied (or occupied!) sites:

Path

Sothernmost KOA:

Sothernmost KOA

Marina:

Marina

Rentals:

Rentals

Boat ramp:

Boat ramp

Hammock:

Hammock

Pools:

Pools

Pool

Always nice when there’s food onsite. They have a poolside pub:

Pub

Menus:

We tried some beverages:

Beverage

Bar

Sandwiches and fries:

Sandwiches and fries

Second round:

Beverage

The next day, more beverages:

Beverages

And pizzas:

Pizzas

Pools

Cafe and store:

Cafe and store

Store

A path to a “beach”:

Path

Bridge:

Bridge

Mangroves:

Mangroves

“Beach”:

Beach

A nice resort. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Homestead to Sugarloaf Key, Florida

We drove our coach 122 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida to Sugarloaf Key, Florida.

This was a late change; we had planned to stay a couple of days more, but decided to leave early to avoid some bad weather.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading down the Overseas Highway in the Keys:

Route map

An interactive map:

Leaving our site:

Leaving site

We stopped at the dump station, which was rather popular at that time:

Dump station

A bird in Everglades:

Bird in Everglades

Leaving next to the entrance station:

Entrance station

Road works:

Road works

Entering route 1:

Entering route 1

Our coach in traffic cams:

Traffic cam

Overseas Highway, with an adjacent fishing bridge:

Overseas Highway

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Paladin sat on the dash at the fuel stop, but jumped down once underway again:

Paladin on dash

Turtle hospital:

Turtle hospital

Overseas Highway

Passing Encore Sunshine Key, where we stayed a couple of days later:

Encore Sunshine Key

Overseas Highway

Our destination:

KOA

Guided to our site (even though it was literally right around that corner):

Guided to our site

Robert is Here fruit stand

We stopped by Robert is Here, a longstanding fruit stand in Homestead, Florida:

Robert is Here

We tried several interesting fruits we hadn’t encountered before:

Robert is Here

An interesting way to package pineapples:

Robert is Here

Chickens:

Robert is Here

Trying some of the fruit:

Fruit

Some strange tastes, but we liked most of them.

Travel from Clermont to Homestead, Florida

We drove our coach 289 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont, Florida to Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south along Florida’s Turnpike:

Route map

An interactive map, showing potential stops:

Leaving TTO:

Leaving TTO

Toll plaza:

Toll plaza

Sinclair Road:

Sinclair Road

Toll plaza:

Toll plaza

Entering the Florida’s Turnpike toll freeway:

Florida's Turnpike

Service plaza rest stop:

Service plaza

Our coach in traffic cams:

Our coach in traffic cam

Service plaza lunch stop:

Service plaza

Earl of Sandwich; it was a very nice sandwich:

Earl of Sandwich

We bought and activated a Sun Pass toll transponder for our truck:

Sun Pass

Another traffic cam shot:

Traffic cam

Florida’s Turnpike:

Florida's Turnpark

Fuel stop, alongside another Tiffin Allegro Bus (slightly newer):

Fuel stop

Hard Rock guitar building:

Hard Rock guitar building

End of the turnpike:

End of the turnpark

Entering Everglades National Park:

Everglades National Park

The entrance station, with a lot of traffic (other times we went through only had one or two cars):

Everglades National Park entrance

The ranger in the booth loved seeing Paladin on the dash:

Everglades National Park entrance

The turn to the Long Pine Key campground:

Long Pine Key

Campground entrance:

Long Pine Key entrance

Our site:

Our site

Universal Studios Florida Theme Park

On the other two days, we visited the Universal Studios Florida Theme Park.

Universal Orlando

The Simpsons characters:

Simpsons

Characters

Spongebob Storepants:

Spongebob Storepants

Jenn in a pineapple under the sea:

Jenn in a pineapple under the sea

Coming soon:

Coming soon

Shrek

Springfield:

Springfield

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:

Harry Potter area

Knight Bus:

Knight Bus

Diagon Alley:

Diagon Alley

San Francisco:

San Francisco

New York:

New York

On another day, we started at Starbucks for some coffee:

Starbucks

The Brown Derby Hat Shop:

The Brown Derby Hat Shop

Beverly Hills:

Beverly Hills

Cars

Kings Cross Station:

Kings Cross Station

Diagon Alley:

Diagon Alley

We did the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride:

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

Frozen butterbeer:

Butterbeer

Diagon Alley dragon:

Diagon Alley dragon

Selfie

Back to the Future:

Back to the Future

Finally, we got some Voodoo Doughnuts on the way out:

Voodoo Doughnut

More fun stuff. We’re not so interested in Universal properties, other than Harry Potter, so we basically went to the parks just for that, but enjoyed exploring the other areas too.

Universal Islands of Adventure Theme Park

While staying in the Orlando area, we spent four days at two of the Universal theme parks. Two of the days were at Universal Islands of Adventure Theme Park.

Universal Orlando

Islands of Adventure:

Islands of Adventure

Hogsmeade:

Hogsmeade

We enjoy the Butterbeer there:

Butterbeer

We did the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride:

Hogsmeade

We checked out many of the shops, and bought a few souvenirs, including some sweet stuff from Honeydukes:

Honeydukes

Hogsmeade

Dinosaur selfie:

Dinosaur selfie

Comic area:

Comic area

Leaving Islands of Adventure at night:

Islands of Adventure

Another day, we started out with cheese curds and margaritas at Margaritaville:

Margaritaville

Then went on the Hulk roller coaster, which was the first time we’ve both ever been on a real roller coaster, with inversions and everything. We survived!

Hulk roller coaster

Then we went on a much more gentle ride, Storm Force Accelatron:

Storm Force Accelatron

A Hulk popcorn snack:

Hulk popcorn

Spiderman ride:

Spiderman

And Skull Island: Reign of Kong:

Skull Island: Reign of Kong

Natural Selections for another snack:

Natural Selections

Hogsmeade:

Hogsmeade

We were going to go on the Flight of the Hippogriff ride, but they had a major delay, so we bailed:

Flight of the Hippogriff

Time for more butterbeer:

Butterbeer

Cat in the Hat and Things:

Cat in the Hat and Things

Caro-Seuss-el:

Caro-Seuss-el

Hat:

Hat

Finally, we enjoyed some Green Eggs and Ham:

Green Eggs and Ham

Fun times. Tomorrow, the other Universal park.

Travel from Carrabelle to Clermont, Florida

We drove our coach 263 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Carrabelle, Florida to Clermont, Florida. Our first travel day of 2024.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading southeast:

Map route

An interactive map, with possible stops:

We pulled our coach out to toad up:

Toading up

Bye beach:

Bye beach

Look out birds; you can come back to your tasty roadkill after we go by:

Birds

We stopped in front of a gas station for lunch:

Stop in front of gas station

Gas station lunch; not ideal, but not bad:

Lunch

Joining I-75:

I-75

A traffic cam, showing our coach:

Traffic cam

A rest area stop:

Rest area

Joining Florida’s Turnpike toll road:

Florida's Turnpike

The Villages:

The Villages

“Florida’s Turnpike, The Less Stressway” (maybe if they improved the road surface a bit):

Florida's Turnpike

Another traffic cam:

Traffic cam

Toll at the exit; our Freedom Pass transponder worked:

Toll at exit

Citrus Tower:

Citrus Tower

Arriving at our destination, Thousand Trails Orlando:

Thousand Trails Orlando

Normally in Thousand Trails parks you roam around to pick your own site, but TTO is different; they have people guide you to a site. We were directed to this parking lot to await a guide:

Thousand Trails Orlando

Guided to site:

Guided to site

Arriving at our site:

Site

Not ideal, but nice to not have anyone behind us:

Site

Carrabelle

We didn’t really do anything during the three weeks we stayed at Ho-Hum RV Park over the holidays. That seems to be fairly typical for us, just taking some downtime to relax. Especially with some very busy times coming up after this (stay tuned!).

Ho-Hum is in a kinda out-of-the-way area, but near a town called Carrabelle (population 2,778). We did go to one restaurant, the post office, and the local grocery store; that was pretty much the limit of our exploring here. There are definitely a few more things to do and see, e.g. we considered going to check out a couple of nearby lighthouses, but we’ll save that for our next visit.

Here’s an interactive map:

Carrabelle

We had lunch at Marine Street Grill:

Marine Street Grill

Pizza

Next to the post office is the world’s smallest police station:

World's smallest police station

The Gulfside IGA Plus grocery store is a little small, but had almost everything we wanted:

Grocery store

(There is a Walmart 45 minutes away, for people who use that as a marker of civilization.)

Clock and memorial:

Clock and memorial

We do enjoy cute little towns, and this is definitely one. We’ll have to make a point of exploring it more when we’re here again.

Lambert’s Cafe

I usually don’t do a blog post about a restaurant, unless it is particularly remarkable. Lambert’s Cafe fits that criterion.

We went there for lunch, and it was quite the experience. Their claim to fame is “throwed rolls” — they have a guy roaming around, throwing freshly baked rolls to patrons. Which sounds like a bad idea, but is actually rather fun. (And this from a guy who doesn’t do “fun”.)

They also have people circulating with bowls of “pass arounds”, side dishes that they ladle onto a paper towel as soon as you sit down and your plate throughout the meal, including Southern staples like fried okra, black-eyed peas, fried potatoes and onions (my favorite), and several more.

Lambert's Cafe

There was a line to get a table, which usually makes us bail, but we opted to wait; it wasn’t a long delay:

Line

A sign indicates they don’t do doggie bags, which appears to be out-of-date, as we were offered a box for our leftovers:

Sign

Lambert's Cafe

Pretty much as soon as we sat down, they provided some fried okra; our first time tasting it (not bad, less great once cooled down):

Fried okra

Menu:

We were also tossed some rolls, as advertised. They were super tasty, nice and soft:

Rolls

We ordered sodas, which arrived in huge mugs (hard to tell the scale, but these were substantially larger than normal, even by American standards; the menu says they are 34 oz, which is about three cans of soda):

Huge soda mugs

Jenn ordered chicken and dumplings and a couple of sides (included):

Chicken and dumplings

I ordered meatloaf and sides:

Meatloaf

As mentioned, throughout the meal staff would come by offering additional sides; we tried several of them. It is possible to just order an empty plate and make a meal of the “pass arounds”, which would be plenty of food.

Throwing rolls:

Throwing rolls

When we were done (stuffed!), they provided a doggie bag and box, and even to-go cups for the leftover sodas, which we hadn’t encountered before; nice that they’re not wasting all that:

To-go cup

Quite a unique experience. And taking typical American over-consumption to the next level. Highly recommended, if you’re not on a diet!

Travel from New Orleans, Louisiana to Spanish Fort, Alabama

We drove our coach 146 miles, about 2 hours of driving, from New Orleans, Louisiana to Spanish Fort, Alabama.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast:

Route

An interactive map with potential stops; we actually only stopped at the Flying J:

Preparing to leave our site:

Preparing to leave our site

Hooking up our truck, with the City of New Orleans paddleboat in the background:

Hooking up our truck

Rail crossing and onramp:

Rail crossing and onramp

Drawbridge:

Drawbridge

Bridge:

Bridge

Another drawbridge:

Drawbridge

I-10:

I-10

“Welcome to Mississippi”:

Welcome to Mississippi

We stopped at a Flying J truck stop for lunch:

Flying J

The truck parking was rather full. With our toad attached we can’t back up, and this parking area has back-to-back spots, so we could only park where there was two adjacent ones empty so we could pull through. It was a difficult turn and tight squeeze, but Jenn’s driving skills got it done:

Parking between trucks