Friday, December 16, 2011

Fort Clinch State Park, Part 1






We left Skidaway Island State Park around 1PM, and headed south to Fort Clinch State Park in Fernandina Beach, FL. The further south we went, the darker it got. When we arrived at 4PM, it looked like it was much later. The winds were gusting, and it was obvious that bad weather was heading our way in a hurry. We checked into the park, and headed back to our campsite. I thought for sure that Gary was lost at first. He drove and drove. It was over 3 miles from the park office to the campgrounds. We eventually got to our campsite, and it was HUGE!!! Gary could have easily parked 9 trailers there. I'm not that big, and this enormous space made me look even smaller than usual. Gary quickly set me up, then began making dinner. With the wind blowing as hard as it was, I was a little afraid that the big tree branches that formed a canopy over me would break off and kill me. I was nervous, but Gary wasn't fazed, and that made me feel at least a little better. After dinner, Gary showered, then made some calls to his friends. By 11PM, the rains came, and they were strong. It rained all night, and all the way until 2PM the next afternoon. Gary went into town that morning since it was obvious he wouldn't be seeing much of the park in bad weather. I wasn't as nervous in the daylight, what little of that there was. At least the winds had died down. When Gary got back from town, he went out for a few hours and explored the park. Since a good portion of the day had passed, and it still wasn't light enough out to take pictures, Gary reserved an additional day and night of camping for us. The weather was supposed to get better as the week progressed, so an extra day would allow him to take plenty of pictures, and to see everything he had missed up to that point. The next day was cloudy, but at least it wasn't raining. Just 4 campsites down the road was a beach, and just across the street (in the brick building) were the nicest bathrooms of any place we had camped at. Gary raved about them. He said the showers were MUCH nicer than the one in our house, and he spent LOTS of time in them. Six showers in two and a half days is a bit extreme, don't you think? Anyway, the weather improved, and we ended up having a good time. Our big campsite was booked by someone else after our second night there, so we had to move to a smaller one just down the street for our third night. It was just as nice, and it was much more my size. You'll get to see it when I post more pictures in my next blog. I'm tired of typing for now, so I'm outta here. Have a good one!

1 comment:

  1. Toaster, that IS a VERY big campsite for such a little guy! And those branches would make ME nervous too!

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