Fort Pickens State Park Campsite, Florida

Today we are in Fort Pickens State Park, Florida.

We have been here for a couple days, and the beach and sand is a big change, first time swimming in the ocean on our trip so far, and was rough seas yesterday, but I went, and was cool, but not cold. I call it refreshing, could stay in, just waves were pushing me around allot, so got wet, and cooled off, then to the sand for a little lay down, and get a little sun all over (kept the suit on though). Boy did that feel like we have made it to the sun, laying on the beach in April, no clouds and full sun, was a great free feeling. Polly chose to stay at the trailer, as she had a rough sleep the night before so a few extra Z's were had. I laid on the beach for about an hour, sand was nice, not a bug, or sand flee to bother me in this white soft sand. There were others on the beach, but was much room between everyone, as beach is huge, goes all the way back to Gulf Shores where we came from, you can see the condos, and hotels in the distance, and as far as you can see the other way. Yep was a nice way to spend a bit of my afternoon. Retirement, Can I stand it? I think so.

Polly keeps saying when we have something happen, or see something that is quite different from what we are accustom to, “You have to put that in the blog”. I try to remember them all, but forget most. Here are a few I do remember. When we first drove to the town called Orange Beach, on Gulf Shores, we noticed a boarder in the middle of the road, was a newly paved road, actually all the roads looked like new here, quite a change from what we saw in Louisiana, but this one had a turn signal I hadn't seen before, U-Turn signals, and not one but many, the way to get to the other side was always a U-Turn. Polly and I found it odd, but was the way they did it here. Also as we found in Louisiana that the roads were often divided by ditches, or drainage's, so roads were divided in the middle, so I sometimes wanted to turn into the oncoming traffic as I was used to no division just all together, this did cause some concern from Polly as she was and is always on guard for me to do something incorrect... I am still not used to the sounds she gives off. Like the huge breaths she takes, sometimes sucking all the air out of the truck. Or the BREEEENT, that one has gotten more prevalent as we go... LOL she is always on guard, and sometimes for good reason, I do screw up... Yup it happens, even to me...

Polly and I don’t usually argue, but this driving and directions, and heavy traffic is tough on both of us. As we go we get better at preparing ahead for what’s to come, and planning our route just a little better. The GPS was letting us down sometimes, as wouldn’t find exactly where we want to go to start, so we started using the phone, and it works better, but was always falling down, or once it went blank, lost power, so we got a holder that plugs into the vent, works much better now, and make sure always charged fully. This part of our trip will get better with time, as we both get used to what comes.

Our campsite is not right on the beach but a 10 minute walk to the beach is not bad, or you can take the truck to another beach that has a washroom close, and we did that once, me I like to walk to the beach.

Campsite in the evening

Our home in the evening

Full Moon last night was a beauty

Our RV site is not far from the dumpster, and a trail to the other campsite, and the bird marsh, so we get much traffic by our corner, Dogs dragging their people, Bikes with some kids, People just out for there evening walk, but mostly people walk with there bag by there side, looking for the dumpster to chuck it in. We sit in the shade side of our home in the late afternoon, Hi to all. Three young boys that came by last night before supper on there skateboards, with cool tunes, and dressed for town, was surprising. Pine trees are the norm here, tall and spindly till the top, nice for some shade, and makes this place just a little nicer. The older part of the campsite has more oak trees, and are lower cover, so have to watch when you come in with a trailer. Nice, but I like where we are too.

We went for a walk last night around the site and as we got to the other end we found a group of Rialta owners that travel together, been doing it since 1995 we are told, was a nice visit we had with them. Just a little too small for us, and not enough power for me. Would be cheaper, but we can afford what we have, and like the extra room.

Today is calmer, and have some dew on the windows, should be a scorcher today. The Blue Angels jets practice here on Tuesday and Wednesday so hope to see them today all going well. Hope to get a few decent pics of them up close. We also want to stop in at Fort Pickens and check out what this was years ago. Spooky is one recollection I got, so should be interesting.

Loving it here in Florida...