New Life Chapter: Last of FL

1/2/24 - Last night I stayed at Grayton Beach state park. It was nice because the sites had trees separating them. As usual, I didn't spend much time outside as it got chilly. I did sit in my chair for a bit, but that didn't last long. Before getting to my site, we went for a walk near the beach. Some of the trail was covered in sea shells, I suppose due to wetness, and it was horrible on dog paws. They obviously aren't thinking of the pups! Since she can't walk on the beach, it's the only area at the beach that dogs can go. I like to go for walks, but I have had enough of the FL landscape. Actually, I guess it's really the east coast as in NC, the only trail that was particularly nice was the Fort Macon trail. The rest is all the same tall pines and scrub. The Fort Macon trail has lots of the Live Oaks that have so much character. I had parked my van next to another almost exactly the same. Same size, same color, similar windows. We ended up hanging out and showing each other our vans. John had built out his own and still has things to do. I love the idea of being able to do it myself and being able to "easily" add to and modify what I had done. I have done a few minor mods, but wouldn't feel comfortable with anything bigger.

The sun glimmering off the pine needles made me think of ice on them. Thankfully that's not the case - almost cold enough though!

After leaving Grayton Beach, I wasn't really sure where I was going. Go to a HH or to Fort Pickens to meet up with friends. I drove along the shore and ran across this amazing beach and there was a pet station, so I figured dogs were OK. It did say something about having a permit for the dog, but it wasn't obvious, so I pretended to have missed it... Thankfully no one bothered us. But OMG, the beach/water was sooo beautiful! It made me think of the Caribbean. The sand so white and so fine and the water so aqua. They call it the Emerald Coast for a reason. Santa Rosa beach.

Practically deserted!

I should have just stayed there and hung out, but figured we should get going and it was getting a little cloudy. I decided to a HH at a BBQ place as I had a craving and it sounded good. Mistake as it is on a busy road and just a parking lot. The food was OK. Actually, the onion rings were really good. Pulled pork and beef brisket were good, but not great. Plenty of food, which I brought back, but ate more than I should have. After having pizza a couple of days ago (and finishing it off today), gee, I wonder why I feel like I'm gaining weight. Also, exercise is just flat walking...

It's going to rain tomorrow, but I'll head to Fort Pickens and stay till Friday.

1/3/24 - The best part of going out of my way to go to that HH was that I found the BEST laundromat! Granted, I haven't had to go to laundromats much in a long time, but this place was clean, dog friendly, helpful, and had a cafe where I had an awesome breakfast wrap. And no quarters required. I wanted to wash Zoe's bed and such and they are totally OK with that and it came out so clean. There was almost no one there and Meike couldn't have been more helpful. And since it was a rainy day, it was perfect to be doing laundry. If you're ever in the Pensacola area and need to do laundry, go to The Wash Room Laundromat.

After laundry, we drove into Pensacola and since the rain had died down, we took a walk around town. Nothing special, but Zoe enjoyed getting out and trying to drag me into any store/restaurant that smelled of food. Her food drive is just off the charts!

Fort Pickens beach (no dogs allowed of course)

Drive to Fort Pickens

Rainy day in Pensacola

Found a spot to park Big Bertha!

Pensacola

When I drove onto the land leading towards Fort Pickens, I, once again, couldn't get over the beauty of the ocean. It was supposed to have stopped raining by around 2, but the rain kept coming and going. Marta, Annie, Kim, Ellen, Carol, and I had dinner in Marta and Annie's little tent that was setup over the picnic table. It worked well and kept most of the wind/cold off us. Ellen cooked up scallops, shrimp, and fish for our dinner. I made some rice in the instapot that came out great and we had some salads. Despite the weather, dinner and company were good!

1/4 - Mostly hung around and took a walk on the beach with the dogs. I sat outside reading for a while, but I got too cold, so I climbed in the van and turned on the heat... Pathetic. We ended up having a campfire, but I couldn't get warm, so I didn't stay long. The van was probably 70 degrees when I crawled into bed and I had all my blankets on and had to put socks on. I don't know what was wrong with me, but finally I got warm. I even had Zoe's blanket over my feet on top of all of mine.

Steaming morning tea. Much needed in frigid Florida!

pumpkin on the beach???

Finn sniffing out the sturgeon. Both Zoe and FinnLee thought rolling on this would be a good idea. NOT!

Prehistoric, endangered Atlantic Sturgeon.

Nice beach. Probably no dogs allowed, but...

Ugh. I'm so over this cold! It is just so not what I was expecting!!!!!!!!

1/5 - Left Fort Pickens, knowing it was going to rain again tonight. I was ready to go and I finally escaped FL today! 😝 I arrived in FL at St Augustine on 12/10 and didn't leave until 1/5. I obviously had some great times, but I was definitely ready to leave. There is only so much beach and same flat landscape that I can handle. Once in Alabama, there were even a few little hills! Haha. I didn't stay in Alabama because I wanted to just move on. I did think about finding a spot in Fairhope because that seemed like a super nice town, but I had it set in my mind I was going to get closer to Biloxi. Tonight I'm waiting out a rain storm in the parking lot of a restaurant/brewery where there are many RVs and I had to sneak in between the slide of a big class A and the stairs of a truck camper next to me. My van looks so tiny! The rain is supposed to stop by 9, which is when the restaurant closes. I really would rather just stay in the van, but I feel like I have to go in and spend my $30!

So, I went into the restaurant and sat at the bar and met two wonderful couples and had a great time! I had a flight of margarita's that were excellent and a wonderful blackened fish dish that had loads of broccoli. 😀 Veggies are usually skimpy, so I was very pleased. So, I didn't want to go, but I went and had a great time. One of the lessons. It doesn't always work out that way, but when it does, it's pretty great.