Cold at the beach

Yes, I am in winter jacket, knit hat and (in pocket) winter gloves.  It's  COLD in Florida today, as it has been for several days.  After a teaser of sunshine at Henderson Beach two days ago, we again experienced bad weather yesterday as we drove east to our next destination.  This morning we awoke to sun again, thank goodness, but it was thirty-four degrees! BRRR!

So we are now at St. Andrews State Park, near Panama City Beach.  After being quite delighted with Florida state parks in general, we have finally hit one that is only adequate, not nearly as good as the others. It seems a bit run-down, the staff are unfriendly, and many of the facilities are closed for the season (despite the fact that there are quite a few campers here).  Our site in on the Grand Lagoon, literally yards away from the water, but it's not very smoothly graded and it is close to our "next-door neighbors". 

Still it's a beautiful spot.  The park sits between the Gulf of Mexico and the Grand Lagoon, and it includes a marshy area, a gulf/white sand beach, and pine groves.  This morning we walked around to get familiar with it, and it does seem to be a good place for birding. 

Now.....if it would just warm up!  (The forecast looks better for the next few days.)

At the beach

Yesterday we enjoyed sunshine!  We walked around the nature trail at Henderson Beach State Park (from which this photo was taken, looking toward the day use area of the park).  We also walked along the beach, seeing some people who were sunbathing while we were still in our winter jackets!  The wind off the water is still quite cold.  Today we awoke to overcast skies again and temperatures in the 40's.  We took a day trip to Rocky Bayou State Park, about 10 miles north of Destin, where we walked the various trails and enjoyed being out of the wind.  This evening, our last at this site, we decided to forego the campfire and stay inside where we are warm and snug in our RV.  Tomorrow, we travel east again, to St. Andrews State Park, near Panama City, FL. 

What a difference a day makes!

After enjoying sunshine on Sunday afternoon, we awoke to steady rain and headed west to our next destination: Henderson Beach State Park.  Route 98 follows the Gulf of Mexico and despite the bad weather we saw some beautiful scenery, as well as lots of pelicans and cormorants.  After a stop for groceries and check-in, we settled into our site at Henderson Beach (Destin, FL). 

No more tall pines and grasses!  Here we're just behind the dunes and can take a boardwalk from our site to the "sugar-white" (as the brochures call it) sands of the Gulf of Mexico.  After the front came through, the sun finally came out again, but it's COLD!  This morning it was 38 and it's only supposed to get to around 50 degrees this afternoon.  Brrrr!  I just kept reminding myself that several weeks ago, Ranger and I took our first walk of the day in 17 degree weather.

Ochlockonee River SP was the quietest campground we've been in---far from towns and roads, very remote.  Henderson Beach is just the opposite.  It sits on a thin strip of land between Route 98 and the Gulf, so we can hear the cars on the highway and this morning I could see the lights of the Lowe's parking lot just above the trees and shrubs.  It's a drive of less than 5 minutes to a big mall.  Still, our site is lovely---even paved, so we don't track sand into the RV constantly!

Ranger the camping dog

Some of you may have wondered how Ranger is surviving all this travel.  So far he's not finding it too stressful.

This is his special place under the dinette where he naps and spends the night.  This is actually quite a treat for him, as he still sleeps in a crate at home.

During the day, he is kept busy guarding the campsite from possible invasion by squirrels (or worse, armadillos).  And he accompanies us on our hikes and bird-watching treks.

If he could talk, I think he'd say that he's enjoying the RV life!

Soggy in Sopchoppy

Well, not really, but it rained steadily last night.  It was nice to lie in our comfortable bed in the RV and think about how we were NOT camping in a pup tent and sleeping on the ground!  Yesterday was very foggy and cool, but we were able to enjoy a campfire last evening.  Today it's still cool and overcast, but the forecast is for clearing soon. 

After a productive morning of work and some lunch, we went out along the trails in the park.  We are spending the weekend at Ochlockonee River State Park, south of Tallahassee, almost on the Gulf.  Again we're into a very different environment: tall pines (this area used to be used in turpentine production), spaced wide apart with grasses and/or saw palmettos beneath. 

Anyway, the notable accomplishment for the day was spotting several Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers, which are considered rare and local to this area.  A new bird for Dan's life list! 

Silver River State Park

We have spent the past two nights at Silver River State Park, just east of Ocala, FL.  The weather has been cool and damp, with our first rain the evening we arrived.  Yesterday was overcast, but we were able to sit outside and read and later to hike the Swamp Trail, which took us to the Silver River where we saw quite a few birds. We've been seeing common moorhens, ibises, egrets, herons, and anhingas, as well as a variety of warblers and woodpeckers. 

Last night we were able to have our first campfire----there was a burn ban in northeastern Florida---so we really felt like campers.  This park is relatively small but the facilities seem to be quite new: clean showers with heatlamps in the dressing area plus a washer and dryer!

Manatees, alligators, and squirrels (oh my!)

Ranger and I took our early morning walk on the boardwalk along Blue Spring Run, having been told by the ranger that early morning was a good time to see manatees.  And we did see plenty of them, along with several alligators and lots of squirrels (of particular interest to Ranger).  The manatees were all under water; according to the nature program we attended this afternoon, they feed out in the cooler waters of the St. Johns River and then come in toward the spring to enjoy naps in the warmer water, coming up to breathe about every 20 minutes. 

After a return to the campsite and a few hours of work, Dan and I returned to the manatee area to find it crowded with tourists.  Not having done much research, I didn't realize what a tourist destination this park was! 

We're still enjoying good weather---in fact, in midday, I changed into shorts and tshirt ---but there's rain in the forecast for the next few days.  So we'll see how we three do in the small space of our Navion.  Heading out tomorrow through Ocala National Forest to Silver River State Park.