Rick and Cathy Hit the Road

 Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River…(are you singing yet?) Twin Falls State Park Resort in West Virginia, what a place! This is definitely up there among our favorite places to stay.  A crazy winding road up in the mountains led us to an oasis of a state park complete with miles of trails (careful to avoid afternoon hiking on certain trails that the copperheads like to sun themselves on), a pioneer village, 18 hole golf course (if you walk you play for free- which we did!), beautiful lodge and restaurant (we stayed in our “camper”lodge and our restaurant was a grill outside), playgrounds, tennis and pickle ball courts. Since it was off season there were only 3 other campers in our section of the campground. So quiet and spacious AND no bugs! The golf course was gorgeous! We played the front nine the day we arrived and the back nine the next day. Rick kept trying to pay but the nice lady in the pro shop said, “If you’re walking just grab a pull cart and go on out honey!” So, we did.

 No trip is complete without at least a few days at the beach. The ocean was calling us and long walks on the beach hearing the waves crashing at our feet was magical.  We started with Jekyll Island working our way up the coast to Hunting Island and then Myrtle Beach. While Hunting Island was our favorite the others didn’t disappoint as each had its special moments.  I had no idea driftwood could be so much fun! (Jekyll Island-Driftwood Beach) An endless, uncrowded pristine beach at Hunting Island made for some spectacular walks, beach reading, shell hunting (Rick found two completely whole sand dollars!), dog walking, and lighthouse viewing. Actually, all was not completely peaceful here… I did almost get into a beach brawl over an unleashed dog and got called a bitch. I stared her down though and calmly walked away.  We really hated to leave this beautiful place. The whole island is a State Park and therefore unspoiled. Of course we couldn’t pass by good old Myrtle Beach without spen

 The Okefenokee Swamp - National Wildlife Refuge is home to more than 12,000 alligators, the largest concentration in the entire southeast. We had a blast camping at the Stephen C. Foster state park within the refuge for a few days. And boy did we see BIG alligators!  Thought we’d try our luck at fishing so we rented a boat and after a brief alligator safety talk about not dangling fish over the side of our boat we were tootling up through the narrow canal out to the wider part of the swamp. The warm weather brought out the alligators who were trolling the waters, some on the side banks and some crisscrossing the lake. There were several people out on the water kayaking- not for me! I was thankful we had a motor and were sitting a bit higher than a kayak. Rick caught a couple of big bowfish otherwise known as mud fish and a little warhead. I caught a big bowfish too but it was so big and heavy that I freaked out thinking an alligator would try to take it off the hook so I passed my rod

 Do they let trucks pulling campers on a ferry? Well yes. Yes they do! We had the whole middle row all to ourselves. We knew the Gulf Coast was going to be spectacular and it sure didn’t disappoint. Starting with the magnificent Big Lagoon State Park near Pensacola with its trail system that was dog friendly and foot friendly (soft, sandy 3 mile loop through the park and along the lagoon).    The rain held off long enough for us to explore the Gulf Islands National Seashore at Fort Pickens, Johnson Beach, and San Rosa. Endless beautiful white sandy beaches and no crowds! Exploring Fort Pickens-designed and constructed to protect the bay and the Navy Yard from foreign attacks and later was used by the Union Army.   We were lucky enough to witness the Blue Angels practicing in the dies above us on both Tuesday and Wednesday- the 2 days of the week they practice and only from 10:30-11:30 - they’re super loud!