Grayton Beach SP, Florida - 2016

This year we landed spot 039.    Three days to spend before leaving to Fort Pickens. 

Nice level spot... nice views, private for the most part, full hookup... "its nice not to have to deal with the gray water jug every so often. 

You can ride your bike to the beach, but if your bringing anything other than a towel and sun screen.. its best to just drive.  

Our site was in the newer loop, which gives your more space and there are full hookups, but there isn't much shade in this section.   That's where the older loop has the advantage, something to remember when picking your poison.

First night we rode our bikes to the beach.   This by the way is the public bath house.

We were greeted by a local resident who didn't seem to be very scared of outsiders.  

"SUP"

Photo Op for the Newspapers

Time to start getting down to the business of Crabbing

Dedication I tell you.... "Dedication"

Blue Crab.... Score!!!!!

Sand Crab..... 

Son, let me tell you about the mysteries of the Universe..... 

Fort Pickens NP, Florida - 2016

Welcome to site C007....  I'm guessing the smallest site they have... LOL   We made it work though.   Almost didn't get to come, but this site come open (someone cancelled) and I was able to jump on the reservation.   Beggars can't be choosers.    That tree / over grown bush helped to give a little shade.

This is the back beach if you will, facing the bay side.   It was pretty neat, we stumbled on a old sunken row boat along the shore.  It must have been Jack Sparrow's Dinggy.

This tree was directly across the road from our site, it just screams "CLIMB ME" .... Of course we hadn't even got the camper setup yet and the kids were doing just that.

Below is one of the bath houses.   This one was in our loop C.   They had just finished remodeling it.   Pretty nice if I do say so.... Private shower rooms and ceiling fans.  

They have a pretty well stocked CG store.  Your not going to find steaks, but alot of camping stuff and it was only a short ride to pickup ICE and Ice Cream.....Which always taste better when "Its On The House".... .  They have laundry machines behind the store.

Meet "Stan Lee"  he had a nice cool ride on a hot day from Joe Patties fish market.  We even treated him to a hot tub party in his honor..... I don't think he liked it too much....:)

 The long board walk across from the CG store that leads to the beach.....

 Nothing better than twilight beach walks, my favorite time of the day..... 

 There is some really nice coral trails between the campground and the Old Fort.  

 

 At the Fort Area they have a museum that tells you the history of the fort and of the area, pretty neat to find out why the sands are so white.... it came from the granite of the Appalachian  Mts.

Old Fort Gun ports.... 

Its a ship killer...... 

Shore battery guns 

We Love Big Guns.... 

Last day at the beach and somebody didn't want to go in the water.... Chillin

The waves were up and I just got a man size boogie board.... "Its On"   

The sand is so white, it looks like your driving through snow drifts... 

All good things must come to an end, so he packed up and headed to GA. 

Fort Pickens is defiantly on our come back list.   

Florence Marina SP, GA - 2016

We visited Florence Marina State Park - GA as a pit stop on our way back from Florida.   

I was kind of worried as they do no allow you to reserve specific sites and we'd be arriving on a Saturday evening.   There were alot of campers there and luckily the people in site 9 had just left before we got there.  I have to say it is one of the nicest spots.   

Below is the bath house... its very clean, air conditioned, and they have washers and dryers.   My son called it "high class".... :) 

We took a day trip over to Providence Canyon to do a little hiking...   Its just up the road about 15 minutes or so.

 I have read on the internet that it is an easier trek if you start the hike in the opposite direction of everyone else.  Most people just go straight down from the visitors center and come back up the same way they came.  We're always looking for adventure so we took the path less traveled... :)

 We found this pavillion to take short lunch break and fill up with water...

 I think the canyons were created by farm erosion, that seems amazing to me because these things are pretty deep and I didn't see much farming going on...

 The first part of the hike down we found lots of abandoned cars, leaving me scratching my head.... how did they get down here????   I didn't see any roads on the way down, and who just abadon's their car in the woods..... " unless it's got a dead body in the trunk "

 You know, I could probably fix that...... Make some rat rods out of them ... :)

 At the bottom of the trail you find yourself in a riverbed, looking for signs as to which way to go...  I always send the kids out on point "that way at least I don't get lost"...

 This is one of the 4 different canyons.... I must say you wouldn't expect to find this in the middle of GA.

 Who needs a safety fence anyway..???

 They have a pretty nice museum and gift shop, The walking sticks are kind of expensive, we brought our own...

 There also is a very old church and cemetery in the park...

 Decided to take the bikes out to tour the campground....

 We found our "Happy Place"....

 Spanish Moss.... Everywhere

 Reading by the campfire..... It just don't get any better.... tonight's story... Percy Jackson

As you can see we had the campground all to ourselves after Sunday when the local's when back to work...  It was well worth the stop and we had a great time.   Florence Marina SP is defiantly on our list of places to come back to... I highly recommend it.