Gulf Islands National Seashore - Pensacola, FL

Our last stop on the Florida Panhandle.  Brilliant white sand.  They say the reason there are no shells on the beach is because they end up on sandbars far offshore.  We are on a little spit of land, really just a sandbar, but it's been here a long time.  The beach is lovely, but the campground s full.  It's spring break, somewhere.  This is a stay here day, we will be checking out the local sights.

 

Topsail Hill Preserve - Santa Rosa Beach, FL

Another day in paradise.  The sand is absolutely white, there's no seaweed, no shells, nothing but sand and some small aqua blue jelly fish.  Went through Panama City Beach, yesterday...the self acclaimed "spring break" capital of the world.   Last night, we attended a free local concert... Richard de Val and his 12 string guitar...Deb and Drex left early...enough said.  We are not sure of the appeal here. It's extremely clean, well maintained, very close together. It's great for people watching.  Just for the record we are in site 28 (E/W/S/C)

Small aqua blue jellyfish

Free concert at the park

St George's Island State Park - Eastpoint, FL

Had lunch on a "River," that is just an inlet from the Gulf...with really big turtles.  We finally made it to the barrier islands of Florida.  It's interesting to be on the coast which runs east and west, it destroys my sense of direction.  For some reason, only understood by the Florida Dept of Parks, dogs are not allowed on the beach, which is sad.  There was a major watermain break, so there is a boil order at the campground.  Fortunately, we carry enough water to just avoid the whole thing.  We have a delightful site(22 E/unpotable W) tucked into the woods.  The beach is pure white and, for the most part, uninhabited.

Manatee Springs State Park - Chiefland, FL

Natural underground springs feeding the Suwannee River.  We are camped next to a sinkhole that people scuba dive in to explore 5 miles of underwater caves.  A fantastic Boardwalk goes through the cypress swamps to the river.  Deer roam right through the campground, Drex is not that happy to see them quite so close.  We are in a pull thru (Site 93 È/leaky water).  It was our first "shorts" day of the year.  Deb never realized that my knees could actually be that white!

Little Ocmulgee State Park

This is a differnt sort of place (Pronounced OAK-muggi) with a lodge, restaurant, and golf course.  Restaurant serves southern epicurean...fried catfish, fried chicken, french fries and slaw.  Of course, you can get a side of hush puppies.  They had two kinds of beer, Bud and Bud Lite. Before going to lodge for dinner we took a short hike to tire out Drex.  The campsite is nice and well manicured, but very family oriented (re: noisy). We were nestled in at Site 48(E/W) 

Spanish Moss along the Lake

Off on our first trip in 2015

States we've RVed in so far

Left home with the thermometer at 28 degrees. It rose to 58 degrees by the time we got to South Carolina.  Spending the night in the equestrian loop at Lee State Park(Site 44 E/W) in Bishopsville, SC.  We are pretty much alone, maybe next time we'll bring the horses.

Plans for our Florida Panhandle Tour

Plan is to leave in March, maybe later.  We will get as far south as possible on the first day, and also make the last day as long as possible.  Last year we spent a night in a hotel because it was just too cold in North Carolina.  We plan to spend time on the gulf shore beaches, especially the barrier islands.