Pensicola Beach for a Week

We landed at Fort Pickens National Campground at Gulf Islands National Seashore. We are here for seven days. The weather has cooled, but we are enjoying the beaches and doing a lot of exploring. We have been to this campground in the past, and enjoy it for the old fort and all the hiking and biking trails.
Henderson Beach State Park was our last camp, and the beach and the campsites there were awesome. This is the "Emerald Coast" area of the Florida Panhandle, and with the white sands and shallow crystal clear gulf waters the name applies perfectly. The beaches are clean and clear and stretch forever. We have noticed a lot of coastal development and the hi-rise condo's and resorts are springing up everywhere. It is a good thing some areas have been set aside, or nothing would remain natural.

The shore at Henderson beach was accessible by a long boardwalk back to the campground. The highway use to go through these dunes, but was moved about 1000 yards inland in the 1990's. 

Henderson Beach

This is the barrier island at Fort Pickens.

The bayside shore at Naval Live Oaks National Seashore east of Pensicola.

Last Day at St Andrews State Park

We've had a string of warm sun shiny days and everything is drying out from last weekend's rain. We have been relaxing and enjoying the park and tomorrow we are moving on. We are going to Henderson Beach State Park near Fort Walton, Florida. Another park we haven't been to before. We are looking forward to exploring.
We are amazed to see that the calendar is moving along and we now have only four weeks until we are back in Michigan. We are watching the weather and hoping the snow will melt off fast in the next few weeks so we don't have much when we return. We are acclimated to this warm weather now and we will be a couple of wusses if it's too cold back in the north country!

There are several cruises that go past the beach here every day. This pirate boat is one of them. There is also a catamaran excursion and the "Sea Screamer" which is a large speed boat that carries about thirty people for a party cruise.

The gulf looking towards Panama City Beach.

The St Andrews Pier.

St Andrews State Park

Yesterday we moved from St Joseph Peninsula to Panama City Beach and set up camp at St Andrews State Park for a week. This park is on the Gulf and has a lot going for it. It has a pier, a jetty area, beaches, and lots of room for biking. We had to drive through Panama City Beach to get here and it took us almost two hours in a traffic jam with all the spring breakers cruising the streets and clogging up the city. We were amazed at the crowd of college kids that come here for their spring fling! The police were set up at all the intersections trying to keep the traffic flowing and avoid gridlock with all of the cars in town. They even had to close the Walmart parking lot because cars were lining up in the street to get in and the lot was completely full!!
The park is a couple of miles past the congested area of town, and once we got here all was quiet and calm. Thank God!
Our campsite is right on the bay side of the peninsula and we have a small beach right behind the camper. We look forward to doing a lot of exploring during the week that we are here.
We see that Maple City has posted 244 inches of snowfall this winter. Hurray it is a new all time record! Gee, we really miss the fluffy white stuff!
Hope everyone is well.

A sunset at St Joseph Penninsula

We had a visit from a local resident at our campsite. Did someone say possum-on-the-half-shell?

The fluffy white stuff at our beach is sand, not snow!

Another gorgeous sunset at the beach.

And on the other side was the rising moon!

Taking pictures of the pelicans at St Joe

Look closely and there are about six jellyfish along the edge of the water.

Our camp at St Andrews

The view from our back porch.

Another visitor to our campsite.

This is looking out of the state park from the pier.

This is the shoreline of the park from the same spot looking the other way.

Kite boarders near the jetty playing in the surf.

St Joseph Penninsula

We are at St Joseph peninsula State Park near Port St Joe. (This is the northern Gulf in the panhandle). We are enjoying ten days here at this park and have been relaxing and just hanging out tat the beach. We continue to bike and hike to stay active and take advantage of the sunny afternoons to be on the Gulf.
Our weather stays a bit below normal, but the rain has stopped and we have had a string of sunny afternoons. Today was the best with temps in the seventies and sunshine and clear blue sky all day.
I see that Michigan's weather is finally starting to moderate and am hoping some of the snow starts to melt off before we get home in mid April.

Riding bikes on the beach at Anastasia State Park on the Atlantic coast at St Augustine.

The bay side coast of St George Island on the Gulf of Mexico

We may have found a piece of Ponce De Leon's ship on the beach!

St George Island

We left St Augustine on Sunday and had a nice sunny drive to the Florida panhandle. We arrived at St George Island in the afternoon and set up yet another camp. We are here for three days and then we move further west along the Gulf to St Joseph peninsula.
The weather continues to struggle to get warm, but we have had some sunshine and are able to do a lot of walking and biking. We even sat on the beach for a couple of hours yesterday, but we had to wear our hooded sweatshirts and stay out of the wind. We were entertained by the flocks of sea gulls sitting along the shoreline waiting for some food to come washing in on the tide (or for some tourist to toss popcorn into the air, I'm not sure which). One kept a close eye on us and wouldn't let any of his comrades come too close.
W rode our bikes to the eastern end of the Island on Monday and were surprised that there were not nearly as many shells as there were last time we were here. It might have something to do with the winter storms or lack of hurricanes. The park has been much improved since last time we were here, so maybe they are recovering from hurricanes of prior years.
We have been watching the temperatures in Michigan and it makes it bearable to be in the sixties down here.
Hope everyone is well and is coping with the tough winter in the north country.

Exploring St Augustine

We had a nice sunny day today, but very cool. High temp at 58. We drove into St Augustine and walked around the fort and the old town district. Lots of sight seeing, history and people watching in this place. There were tall ships in the harbor and we walked along the waterfront to see them.
This is the oldest city in the United States, dating back to the 1500's. That must explain why they have so many ghosts here. The ghost tours are advertised everywhere and are very popular.

 

The old historic marketplace. Now lined with restaurants, boutiques, and gift shops. 

Liquid Sunshine Lately.

We have made a couple of moves since I last posted, and we are having a hard time getting internet reception. When we left Highland Hammock State Park near Sebring we drove north and set up camp at Juniper Springs Recreation Area at Ocala National Park. We were very near to the Leesburg area where Goodfallows spent their winters these past years. Juniper Springs is a natural spring that puts out 65 million gallons of water each day. There are three other large springs in this area and numerous smaller springs that release crystal clear water year round at 72 degrees.
After a few days at Ocala N.P. we moved northeast to St. Augustine on the eastern seaboard. We are at Anastasia State Park for a week. When we got here it was pouring rain and we backed the camper into our campsite and didn't even bother unhooking from the truck the first day as it poured all day. On Monday the rain stopped and we were able to get set up and dry out. Tuesday was nicer still and we even managed to spend the afternoon on the beach. Today the liquid sunshine returned and we have had rain steadily since 10am this morning.
We have four more days here and hope to explore the town and get some more beach time in. Afte that we move to the Florida panhandle and the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico. Hoping for warmer weather.
I'll post some pictures when I can get better internet reception.
Hope every one is well.
Maple City is up to 223 inches of snowfall! (None here).