The night before New Years Eve was "practice night" at Paddy's. There had to be over 200 people in a place that seats maybe 80. New Year's Eve will undoubtedly top that.
St. George Island stretches out toward the east for about 8 km's beyond the park campground. There used to be a road for hikers and bikes going all the way to the end but Hurricane Michael tore that up and covered a lot of it with sand, so that area is now closed. The beach however, is not closed. I had been wanting to ride to the end since we got here. Yesterday I did it, a 16 km round trip, all on the beach, it was magical.
Here's a short video. Best viewed in Big Screen, (button bottom right).
A short walk takes you to the bay side of the island. Here you can find oysters clinging to just about any structure, even old tree trunks. So with the help of my Swiss Army knife, we had lunch. Ahhh, livin' off the land. Next time we'll remember to bring the hot sauce.
Tara greeting a relative with complete disinterest. He's a big boy for a sheltie.
Photo bombed on NYE. This was our NYE selfie.
In retaliation for my bombing her NYE selfie, she returned the favour. Don't know who she is but she is pretty good at it. It was a great party, Paddy's of course.
After St. Augustine we spent a few days in north central Florida at O'Leno State Park. The park has a great trail system. This part of Florida has all the springs, Ginnie Springs, High Springs, etc. The Santa Fe River actually goes underground (called river sink) in the park and then resurfaces 3.5 miles away (river rise).
This is where it comes back to the surface.
The trail to this spot was about 9 kms through forest, bush, swamp, jungle. I did it on the bike but took the roads back to the campsite, it was a rough trail.
The next stop is St. George Island State Park.
It's one of our favourite destinations with a beach that tops them all. The park is on a long spit of sand well out into the gulf.
It was hit hard by Hurricane Michael in 2018, the same storm that leveled the town of Mexico Beach nearby. The park just reopened last summer. There used to be 20' dunes between the road and the water but they're all gone now.
It makes for a great view, but little protection now, from the next storm.
The island is also home to Paddy's Raw Bar (the sunny place for shady people). We spent a lot of time here on the last trip and we probably will again this time. We went there for Christmas Eve and will be there again for New Years.
Christmas day we spent sitting next to what could be mistaken for a snow drift, except the temperature was in the low 20's.
That's a Blue Heron just left of the umbrella.
Here is a picture of some wildlife. This pond is at the entrance to the campground. Either the heron likes to live life on the edge, or he didn't get the memo......
We will be exploring a few nearby towns, probably next week when it's supposed to cool off a bit.
BTW for those who have been unable to comment I changed some settings and comments "should" work now.
Fort Clinch State Park
Near Jacksonville, this park is situated near the fort and also happens to be on several miles of pristine beach. The fort was built in 1847, no battles were ever fought here, which probably explains why it is in such great condition.
At least a dozen 10 inch guns are mounted on the ramparts. These guns are huge!
A 10" cannonball would weigh 128 lbs.
The favorite beach activity here is looking for shark's teeth. If you're good at it you can find quite a few in a day. I tried for hours, found none. A very gracious young lady took pity on me and gave me 3 she had found. She has been finding them here since she was three.
They are usually black because they have fossilized. It takes about 10,000 years for them to do this, so the black ones are at least that old.
Anastasia Island State Park, St. Augustine.
We could only get 3 days here, its a very popular place. Once again an incredible beach...
and only minutes from St Augustine's "Nights of Lights", Christmas extravaganza.
View of the Historical Section from the bridge.
Traffic was stopped on the bridge so I hopped out and took this picture.
The lights in town.
It was 28C here yesterday, today 14C.
Tomorrow we head west, to O'Leno State Park in north central Florida. No beach.......but its supposed to warm up again.
My next post will probably be from St. George Island, one of our all time favorites. We'll be spending Christmas and New Year's there.
We've been here for a week, at Skidaway Island State Park. Skidaway has a great natural setting with large sites, huge oak trees and Spanish moss everywhere.
This is the road into the park. A short clip.
As seafood restaurants go, The Crab Shack on Tybee Island, is legendary. Every table has a hole in the center into which you toss the shells. And we had every intention of going there for dinner, until we found this....so we dined in instead.
Savannah also has another great attraction to get you in the spirit of Christmas. The Coastal Botanical Gardens hosts a Christmas lights show that defies description.
Here are a couple of pictures. There were acres and acres of this.
As for wildlife, this guy was often hanging around, not the least bit shy.
There are lots of trails in the park too. This one ended up by a small beach on a bayou. Nope, I didn't see any gators, and that's just fine with me.
And on the subject of Gators, we had some for lunch a few days ago. "Gator Bites", small chunks breaded and fried. Tastes like a combination of fish and chicken.
We are off to Jacksonville next.
