Flamingo on a Stick

Our beach on the Emeradl Coast We are nicely settled in here at the Destin West RV Resort. There are a few draw backs to this resort but the advantages far out way them. It is situated on Okaloosa Island that is a long narrow island between Fort Walton beach and Destin. This resort is part of a complex of condos and the Ramada Inn so we have privileges for the pools and workout center at the Ramada which is a big plus. The RV resort is on the bay side of the island and the Ramada is on the Gulf side. Just a little ways from us by the condo is a pedestrian walkway across the busy Miracle Strip Parkway that runs the length of the island. That little bridge across is a great advantage. It gives us access to the beautiful beaches of the Emerald Coast on the Gulf without risking our lives getting across the road. At the resort on the bay side is a pool they keep very warm (about 90 degrees), some picnic tables and an area where you can launch your kayaks if you wish. We haven’t done...

Just a quick post to let you know we are still here and ok but are having some computer issues. My MacBook has treated me well for a lot of years but recently the track pad has only been working intermittently making it difficult to blog. For Christmas I got a Kindle fire and I am now learning to use it. I don't know if it will meet all my needs but I like it and it will have to work for now. Photos and how to deal with them is my biggest obstacle. I will probably try to do that with the Mac when it is cooperating. We are in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and love it. The Destin West RV Resort is in an ideal place. The bay is on one side and across the road I'd the Gulf with beautiful beaches. Our friends Sheryl and Jeff were here the last couple weeks and we enjoyed our time with them but they left on Thursday. We are now just beginning to discover the area on our own. I hope to share more of this area in photos soon. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving So until I figure ...

Todays blog is in two parts, first my little narrative on where we’ve been and then a Captain’s log from John. Soft shell turtle Where have we been? The swamp! We stayed at Stephen C. Foster StatePark, Fargo GA. This park is in the the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge or the Okefenokee swamp. What an interesting place. We took a boat tour on the second day we were there. Ranger Mike is a good ’ole Georgia Boy all the way was our tour guide. This is the first time I have seen alligators in the wild and we saw a lot of alligators. There are two that make the boat harbor their own and as we left the harbor it really just becomes alligator city.  Besides the alligators there are all the cypress trees just dripping with Spanish moss, and there were flocks of White Ibis, blue heron and the Wood Stork. It is an amazing place. I really feel it is a place everyone should visit at some time in their life. It is so different than anywhere we have been so far.  On Thursd...

One of the beautiful fountains in the town squares Round House at the museum Before visiting we heard many good things about Savannah and I think we agree with them all. This is a beautiful city with an amazing Historic District. When we drove into town we were looking for the Visitors Center because we read they had public parking. Well, we made a wrong turn so we pulled in to the Georgia Railroad Museum to turn around but then noticed they had a great parking lot, especially for this honkin’ big truck and the  gate said they were open 9am to 5 pm. Best of all no charge for the parking. We also are big suckers for train museums so we checked this one out before we went across the street to the visitors center. The train museum charged $10 a piece but with parking included and the tickets good for 3 days we bought the tickets. The museum is the old train yard complete with a round house and a turntable. The table actually works and we got to see it in action our second ...

One last beautiful sunset over Strom Thurmond lake Pam, John and Vic We left Petersburg Campground last Monday but not before we made some new friends. On Saturday morning there was a knock on the door and one of our blog readers had come to let us know they were also in the park. Pam and Vic (the Big EZ Travels) were just over on the next loop. I have also read her blog but lately I’ve done more knitting than reading so I didn’t realize they were there. We talk for awhile and later had a great campfire and happy hour. It’s always fun and remarkably easy to sit and chat with other full timers and when they are fellow bloggers you kind of feel like you know them already. We were both headed out on Monday and ran into each other at the dump station Monday morning so got to say farewell. They were going to Hilton Head SC and we were on to Savannah about an hour south of there. I got an email from Pam saying how much they are enjoying Hilton Head so tomorrow we are going t...

Now this is a big site! We are still at the Petersburg campground in Appling GA. We were suppose to leave last Monday but we were feeling that need to be away from the hustle and bustle of the cities and parks we had been in. I’m a pretty social person, just ask anyone who has met me. In fact, I probably (well more actually than probably) talk too much so it may come as a surprise that there are times I crave solitude. I think it is what appeals to me about this lifestyle. When you want, you can plant yourself somewhere with lots of things to see and do and other times you can hide away in a forested campsite along a lake like this one. This site is one of the smaller ones and its still big enough for his boat too! On Monday we dumped our tanks and moved to a different campsite. We were in #55 which is a huge pull through but not a great view of the lake and the picnic table was one that was cemented in and was a long ways from the rig. I stopped at the gate earlier in th...

Fall in the Smokeys This week we added another National Park to our places visited. Fall arrived this week too so we are doubly blessed. We arrived Sunday to experience first hand what I had heard from others; this area is a traffic nightmare. We were lucky in that it was the traffic leaving the area that was backed up for miles and we were coming into the area. We have been staying at the River Plantation RV park in Sevierville. It’s actually a pretty nice park, our biggest obstacle was a low branch in our spot but we got parked and all was well. When we first arrived it was still warm during the day but cooling off at night making for great sleeping weather, as the week has progressed fall has definitely arrived. Monday we drove into the park and went to the visitors center. The traffic into the park is amazing, pretty much a steady stream. A bridge on the trail, really just a flat log with a hand rail, pretty cool These are the trails we could have added if we ha...