Construction Upgrades at Topsail State Park

Due to heavy use and heavy vehicles over the years.....

...many of the concrete RV sites here have started to look like this above.

And like this.

So.....

First, the old concrete is removed.

Then wooden forms are put up and loads of a sand/clay mixture are brought in.

The sand/clay is spread out and packed down.

Finally, pea gravel is brought in and spread out like you see here.

The finished sites are level and will not break up in the future.

Our neighbor, Francis, from back home would be great doing this work!

We Pull Anchor and Cruise our Land Boat into Topsail

We loved our stay at Grayton Beach but after eight nights we decided to move on west.

 

About eight miles up route 30-A is Topsail Hill State Park, which is also called a RV Resort.  It has a few amenities that most state parks don't offer like shuffle board, cable TV hookups with about 80 channels, a free shuttle tram to take visitors to the beach, numerous paved bike trails, a swimming pool, and a club house that can be reserved for group activities.  It is also more pricey than most at $42 per day compared to a usual $30 fee.

The park is huge in people capacity.  It has 168 camp sites with full hookups.  It has 22 tent sites (at $24 per night), and 18 pretty bungalows for rent like this one above that will sleep 4 adults.  Price is $120 per night, $785 per week.

There are also 16 cabins like this in which six visitors may stay.  They go this time of year for $145 per night or $950 per week.

It is a beautiful place to camp and we now understand why it is so popular down here.  The first laundry room she found had eight washers and eight dryers so you can be sure Karen loves this place!

Question for Today..............

Does anyone know why.........

A Starfish looks so much like a.....

Galaxy?

Coincidence?  

Probably not!

The Post Office and Street Vendors Nearby

Here is the tiny post office in Seaside where Karen went to mail a birthday present to our grandson, Harvey, up in Michigan.  Cute building.

On Highway 30-A through the communities of Seaside and Watercolor, there are eight old Airstream Trailers all in a line that have been converted into street vendors.  They offer a variety of foods.

Not all the bicycle trails in this area of the Panhandle lead to pretty sidewalks and fancy shops.  There are hundreds of acres of State land nearby.  Bill found this trail north of the park and followed it for more than four miles before he got to a paved road and figured out where he was.

Good thing he has a compass on his smart phone!

A Bicycle Trip Into Seaside

The Gulf Coast community of Seaside Florida is just down the bike path from our state park, so we cruised down Monday for a look.

It is a beautiful, upscale burg of shops and homes where everything appears to be well-planned, well-built and superbly maintained. 

The shops are small and expensive with the majority catering to women.  The streets and most sidewalks are all built of beautiful brick pavers laid out in the same design pattern everywhere.

It is hard to imagine a community more friendly to bicyclists......

and that might explain the transportation system in Seaside. (above)

You Don't See This in Michigan

On one of our beach walks we noticed this interesting sign that was posted by the walkway:

It was created by a Girl Scout Troop and adopted by the Audubon Society of Florida.

Very effective as Snowy Plovers need protection from Seagulls.

Santa Rosa Beach, Florida 32459 in January

We love the 20-mile paved bicycle trail that goes past Grayton Beach State Park where we are staying.  It is not being used very much right now except by a few old snow birds like us who have our own bicycles.

However, as we ride along the trail we have been seeing a number of rental outlets like you see above - that make us think the trail gets used a lot in warmer months. (Spring Break, etc.)

This state park has 30 cabins like this.  They are two bedroom units and sleep six people.  The ranger told me starting in March they are all reserved for the entire summer.

The beautiful beach here has shown us very few sea shells or jellyfish.  We have found a few ocean worms washed up like the one above.  When you roll them in flour and deep fry them they are very tasty!

(JUST KIDDING) Yuk!

We Scout Out Two Other Florida State Parks in the Area

Saturday was probably the coldest day we have seen so far in Florida, so we decided to take a road trip.  First, we checked out the campground of our next destination park, Tophill, which is only about ten miles away. 

Next, we drove a few miles back to the east on Hwy 98 to Eden Gardens State Park.  Like many other Florida State Parks it has no campground.  The focal  point of this park is a beautifully renovated, two-story mansion with elegant white columns and a wraparound porch.  It has pretty gardens and massive oak trees in the yard.  It is known as the Wesley House after the original builders who were a timber and sawmill family.

For a few bucks we got a personal tour of the house with a tour guide who grew up nearby.  She told us the large Oak above had been analyzed to be over 800 years old, (but we would not swear that that is true).  Nevertheless, the grounds were impressive and backed up to a bayou that once had the family sawmill on its shores.

The southern mansion was filled with beautiful old fine furniture, but flash photography was not allowed inside.  Therefore, Karen has to settle to pose as Scarlet O'Hara on the porch.

Eden Gardens was certainly worth the hour we spent there.

A Stormy Night at a New State Park

On Thursday we moved further west into Grayton Beach State Park.  It is smaller than most, but right on the beach and has a campground circle of about 30 sites that is very new and modern.  It has sewer hookups, and a free washer and dryer (which makes Karen very happy).

Grayton Beach is one of many small, upscale, connected communities along the shoreline just south of Highway 98 on a 20-mile stretch of road called 30-A.  These municipalities are all connected by a 20-mile paved bike trail that makes for a great ride.

On Thursday night the big storm that is now hitting the East Coast of the US blew through the Florida Panhandle.  We had to "batten down the hatches" and ride out the storm.  Friday morning our weather was colder, so we bundled up and took a walk along the churning sea.  We were surprised that the beach was spotless; not a seashell or a jellyfish anywhere.  Beautiful.

The scene above looks like a picture in  a snowy blizzard up north.  However, it is just other walkers in the white sand and ocean spray caused by the gale-force winds coming off the water during our unusual walk.

It was fun.

Fun Florida Activities for Older Folks

We decided that sailing might be a fun sport to learn, so we rented a sailboat and took it out into the bay to give it a try.

As you can see above..it didn't turn out too well.

But hey..we decided it was a sissy sport anyway!

So we thought we might try fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.  We rented some fishing gear and gave it a try.  (above)

We did not get any fish but Bill caught a good nap.

Finally we thought we would try our first "Selfie" with our camera, so we bought a selfie stick.  We hoped we could use it at sunset but had a few problems.

Turns out the selfie stick was really a kid's small fishing pole!

Darn.

Recycling Down Here is for the Birds

All of the parks along the coast down here have boat ramps, fishing piers, and fish cleaning stations.  Here a fisherman is cleaning Red Groupers.  The fish cleaning stations are always right next to the water for the reason you will see below.

The guts and unwanted fish parts are tossed into the water for the Florida wildlife recycling program.   Just look how popular this guy is with the local birds!  They love him.  Anything the birds miss will be eaten by other fish so this natural recycling seems to work.

The big state parks in Florida often engage in "controlled burns" in parts of the pine woods down here.  The signs say it is the only way to protect the native pine forests so that their cones open, and it keeps the hardwoods from taking over.

There is not much swimming going on at the beaches here this time of year, but we have seen some scuba divers.  Nevertheless, the public beaches all have flags flying every day.  Here are the posted beach warning flags for anyone going into the Gulf.  Our smart phones also send us "Rip Current Warnings".   (like we really need them)   ;  < (  

St. Andrews State Park

Here is what home looks like to us at this state park.  That is Grand Lagoon behind us with Panama City off to the left.

 On a recent nature walk Karen and Bill noticed this warning sign above....

...and a closer look out into the lake made us decide not to go swimming here!

The sand here is really white.  At night, in the moonlight, the ground reminds us of a snow covered landscape up in Michigan.

We Move on West to Panama City

After a stop in Port St. Joe to do laundry, we continued Sunday on west to Panama City, then southeast onto a narrow peninsula where St. Andrews State Park is located.  It has a very large campground with 176 sites so a reservation wasn't needed to find a good spot by the water of Grand Lagoon.

The park is just south of Panama City and is known for its sugar white sand and emerald green water.  That is the skyline of Panama City in the distance. 

As you can tell, we almost have the pretty beach to ourselves.  The weather has been sunny but cool, and it is way too early for Spring Break.

Just because the park is near the big city doesn't mean that there is not wildlife here.  This bike ride took Karen past these two deer.

And this Great Blue Heron stopped to take a close look at us.

Not all Campers' Pets are Dogs

As we move around different campgrounds and RV parks we see many people with dogs - lots of dogs, in all shapes and sizes.

However, as you can see in the cage above, dogs are not the only pets that enjoy camping.  Here a Cockatoo was screaming at the dogs going by.  We also saw a couple who took their two cats for walks on their harnesses and leashes.  The cats were well behaved, and would come over to strangers to be petted because they loved people.  Rare!

Most of the houses on St. George Island have metal roofs because they are so durable.  But look above at this older home to see what the salty sea air will do to a metal roof over time.

Here is a common sight at our travel trailer.  Karen is very sensitive to cooking smells in our land boat, so she often fixes up a slow-cooking meal and Bill places the pot outside to cook all day.  Delicious.

The Houses on St. George Island

The State land on St. George Island has shown us more types of birds, and sea shells, and starfish than we had ever seen in one place.  We have seen Bald Eagles three times. Yesterday, on a long bike ride to the remote east end of the Island, the air above the dunes was full of low-flying Tree Swallows and the beach was full of beautiful shells.  As we walked along the deserted beach we saw dolphins swim by just a few yards out in the Bay.  Above, you see some of the shells Karen picked up for her collection.

 However, as soon as you drive west, out of the park on to private property  the landscape changes dramatically.  The large homes are impressive by the sea with their elaborate, wrap-around, interconnected balconies with viewing platforms on the top.

It seems to us that the viewing towers allow a person to see out into the Gulf on one side and over into Apalachicola Bay on the other side of the island.

Many had small swimming pools.  Most are seasonal homes.  When we checked the VRBO website (vacation rentals by owner) we found over 500 places for rent on St. George Island.

So take your pick- just bring strong legs to climb stairs and a fat wallet because they are not cheap!