Ranger woke me before 6 am, hrumphing at the door to be let out.  We headed out into a cool morning (50’s) with heavy fog lying over the river.  We took the road beyond where we turned off into our site, heading toward the “cabin area”.  These turned out to be very nice, sitting on a hill above the meadow we walked through last night, some rather small (perhaps 2 bedrooms and a living space?) while another was more like a lodge for larger groups.  I’m not sure what they charge for them, but they would be a nice place to spend a quiet week’s vacation.  (Note: I can’t check any of this on the Internet, as sitting down here in the campground, there is no cell reception and thus no Internet.)

 After a leisurely breakfast, we went out to explore some of the hiking trails.  We first took the Campground Trail up the side of the hill, ending up at Culler’s Overlook which allowed a great view into the river valley.  Another half-mile took us to the large visitor’s center which---for its size---was fairly empty.  They did have quite a display of stuffed birds including a number of those we had seen but also many different owls.  Continuing on a loop, we reached the picnic area along the river and took the Bluebell Trail back to our RV.  This last trail was full of mosquitoes, the first we’d been bothered with, but we did add a new bird to our list: the Northern Waterthrush.

The afternoon was hot with a rain shower in mid afternoon. We read and napped, then took Ranger for one more walk along the River Trail.  The evening continued overcast with intermittent rain, so we had a quiet evening of reading and DVD’s and popcorn

 We left home at around noon and after a drive of about 3 hours arrived at Shenandoah River State Park.  It is about 15 miles south of Front Royal, off Route 340.  A light rain fell as we approached the park, but it stopped in time for us to set up.

The RV campground is new as of 2011, and the sites are good-sized and spread apart, though out in the open without much vegetation between.  We chose site 17, which turned out to be a good one, in that there is a Baltimore oriole nest just across the road and we’ve been able to watch those brilliant orange birds come and go. 

The campground host stopped in to greet us.  He is at this park through May and then going home.  Surprisingly, he said that the state parks have been having trouble finding people who want to be campground hosts, so no one is coming in behind him for either June or July.  He also mentioned that the place was totally packed over the Memorial Day weekend, all 32 sites taken.  (At this point, there are 7 in our loop and 4 or 5 in the other loop, so it’s relatively empty.)

 We donned raincoats and headed out to explore. We picked up the Bluebell/River Trail near the other loop and walked the flat path along the river, where we saw many birds and heard them all around.  In one short walk we noted about 15 types, including summer tanager, red-headed woodpecker, and cedar waxwings.  There are bird boxes everywhere for the many tree swallows that swoop and soar over the large meadow. 

After hamburgers for dinner, we had a nice campfire.  (Wood for sale at the campground host’s site.)

Almost home!

We had our first rain of the trip yesterday while traveling up I-95 from Georgia, across South Carolina and into North Carolina, where we are spending the last night of our vacation near Fayetteville.  While people here have commented on their warm temperatures for February, I felt chilly all day---ready to head back into some warm sunshine!

But the daffodils are blooming in this campground, so spring is on its way.

I do need to return to work, and there's still unpacking to do.  It should be a short day of travel, and we do get to sleep in our own bed tonight (and enjoy the extra space in our own shower!).

An excellent vacation----one of the best!  Now back to reality.....

 Crooked River State Park is on the Georgia side of the GA/FL border, in St. Mary's.  We had a relatively short day of driving yesterday, arriving here at a little after 2.  That allowed time for a late lunch and a walk along the river, as well as a hike on a very easy trail, to allow Ranger to let off steam.  We had stopped here two years ago and the campground was full, but my memory of the place was as the location of Ranger's first sighting of an armadillo.  Sure enough, he heard one in the palmettos behind our site last night (and went nuts).  I was not able to catch a view of it, however.

The park is excellent, with large level sites. It's only about 20% full so we had lots of privacy and a pull-through site.  This is a park that is worth staying at for more than an overnight, so maybe next year.......

 Our campsite at Little Manatee River has been a good one: enough vegetation to provide privacy from neighbors, a mix of sun and shade, and level.  It's a good place to relax. (I finished a second novel while here.)  Yesterday morning we took a leisurely walk around the nature trail to the river, seeing a huge flock of warblers at the picnic area.  Then we returned to the site for a big brunch of eggs, ham, potatoes and toast.

 An afternoon bike ride around the park allowed us a good view of a gopher tortoise.  I guess the original settlers used to eat them, but it does not look very appetizing to me.

This park is geared up for horseback riding with a camping area specifically for equestrian camping and lots of marked trails.  A short walk along one of the nearby horse trails took us to Dude Lake.

All in all, this has been a relaxing couple of days in a well-run, clean state park.  Well-worth the trip here and probably the only Florida park of this trip that I would highly recommend to anyone!

Here's everyone's image of Florida----our first white sandy beach of the trip!

We left Collier-Seminole SP yesterday morning (no plans to ever return--one of the worst of the Florida state parks!) , and rather than jump on I-75 for a three-hour drive to our next destination, we decided to stay with Tamiami Trail (Route 41) up the gulf coast.  We discovered that between Naples and  Fort Myers, both sides of the road are FULL of stores---strip malls, chain restaurants, and so forth, non-stop!  And of course, lots of traffic, making it a slow trip.  We turned off Rte.41 toward Sanibel Island, and as soon as we went over the causeway and saw all that blue and green water, it seemed the side-trip was worthwhile.  Sanibel is a beautiful place, with easily accessible public beaches like the one above.  The community is cute and quaint, lots of little shops and bike paths everyone.  What it is not is RV-friendly!  Narrow two-lane roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic!  Bicycles are definitely the preferred mode of transportation there.  We did manage to find the one public parking area with spaces for "vehicles 20 feet or more in length", which allowed us to take Ranger for a walk on the beach.  Yes, surprisingly, they do allow dogs on the beach there, with just a request that they be on leash and be picked up after.

Little Manatee River State Park is just east of St. Petersburg/Tampa, and it is a small park with only 30 campsites.  We were greeted by an extremely friendly and enthusiastic ranger---always a good start to a stay!---who provided maps and lots of suggestions for things to do.  Our site is private and level, just across the road from clean bathrooms with nice new showers.  Hurray!

Having come about 150 miles north from the Everglades region, it is noticeably cooler--cool enough for a campfire last evening.  Today's high expected to be mid-70's, after 55 this morning for the dog walk.  Still sunny--no rain at all so far on this trip.

 Our morning walk was along the one trail adjacent to the camping area at Collier-Seminole State Park. It passes through a "hardwood hammock" area with many royal palms which are fairly rare.  Mostly it was quite jungle-like!  The trail took you to an observation platform looking out over a salt marsh where we were able to watch quite a few ibises.  Ranger seemed to find lots of interesting things to sniff.

We later unplugged and took a day trip into Naples.  We visited the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve where they had a nice display of critters that live in the mud.  This picture of the display with parchment worm is for you, Kelly!  We also walked around the trails there which were supposed to be a good location for bird-watching; however we saw only a few hawks.  From there, we drove around Marco Island, which seems to have much high-dollar real estate---big houses on canals with large boats parked behind them.    The afternoon ended with some relaxation and reading around the campsite.