Surf's Up!

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far:  pronghorn, horse, llama, elk, bison, grizzly, bighorn sheep, mule deer, Uinta ground squirrel, wolf, black bear, moose, coyote, fox, bullsnake, bat, white-tailed jackrabbit, mountain goat, yellow-bellied marmot, river otter, longhorn cattle, prairie dog, white-tailed deer

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far: bald eagle, grouse, osprey, magpie, red-tailed hawk, Canada goose, great horned owl, American kestrel, sandhill crane, cliff swallow, mountain bluebird, Ferruginous hawk, cinnamon teal, Clark’s nutcracker, northern flicker, Brewer’s blackbird, red-winged blackbird, Lazuli bunting, common merganser, American white pelican, wild turkey, brown pelican, seagull, great egret, great blue heron, gull-billed tern, sanderling, belted kingfisher

 

 [Click on any photo to enlarge.]

Southbound was our direction, going through IL, KY, TN, and AL before arriving in the FL pan- handle.  The skies were overcast most of the way with occasional rain and we even had some snow flurries at the Franklin, TN, Wal-Mart where we stayed.  Along the way we passed this Veterans Memorial Bridge that was built in
1921.  It was the first concrete reinforced bridge in Alabama and is a registered Alabama Landmark located right next to the highway.  However, once we got to Florida, we found the sunshine and the palm trees along the Gulf Coast (though it was still chilly).

 

   Our destination was T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park (stjoseph) which is surrounded by St. Joseph’s Bay on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other.  This 2,516 acre park has 10 miles of white sand beach on the Gulf side that is rated some of the best in the U.S.  The park
opened in 1967 and is also well known for its excellent bird watching opportunities with over 240 species having been spotted in the park.  Though we didn’t see near that many, we did see a lot, some we could identify and some we could not.  These photos are just of a few of them.

The park has two campgrounds and we had reservations for the one called Gulf Breeze. Across from our site were sand dunes, and on the other side of them was the beach and Gulf of Mexico.  Walking on the dunes is prohibited so we had to walk about 75 yards to a boardwalk that took us to the beach.  However, this photo is a sunset behind the dunes as seen from our site (forgot to take one of our actual campsite!)

 

The weather was chilly the first couple of days, even dropping to 27°F one night!  By Friday it had warmed up nicely and we walked down to the beach for a look (the water was way too cold to get in as far as we were concerned!)  I
       probably should have spent a little more time there that day because the storm began rolling in that night bringing the wind and rain.  In between rain showers the next day, we again walked to the beach and the water was no longer that
   beautiful calm blue.  It was gray and roaring!  And despite the warning flags and sign indicating that the water was closed to the public, you can see that folks were still allowing their kids to play in the surf...crazy!  We could hear
      the waves from our site, and the next day the skies were even grayer and the waves even more intense (see photos below).  The weather finally cleared but it was still too cool to hang at the beach.

Our next stop was about 50 miles further east taking us back up to Hwy. 98  on the “mainland”, traveling along the Gulf Coast, and across a couple of long bridges between Apalachicola Bay and the
      Gulf of Mexico to St. George Island.  We saw lots of birds along the way, many of them pelicans...flying, diving, or simply hanging out together keeping their eyes out for the fish below.
 

   We had reservations to stay at Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park (stgeorge) which is surrounded by Apalachicola Bay on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other.  The park opened in 1980 and has 9 miles of undeveloped beaches which are also ranked among some of the
best in America.  This 1,962 acre barrier island park has 60 camp-sites though none are close to the water but rather about a quarter mile walk to the beach.  Despite no close proximity to the water, we had a really nice site, and at both parks enjoyed almost nightly campfires (weather permitting).

 

Pets are not allowed on any Florida state park beaches, but we found a public beach about 5 miles away to take Abby.  She had a blast running on the beach and into the waves when we briefly let her off leash.  As we continued our walk, we also discovered some "sand art" that had not yet been washed away by the surf.

 

On our way back to the RV we stopped at one of the roadside seafood trucks and picked up some fresh grouper.  The guy said it had been caught fresh the day before and had not been frozen.  We cooked it for dinner that night, and though it was good, we’re not sure it was worth the price ($14.99/lb).

 

Despite the weather and my lack of beach time, these couple of weeks along the Gulf Coast were quite enjoyable and relaxing, but now it was time to head further south to our home for the winter…Lake Magic RV Resort in Clermont, FL (in the Orlando area).