10/13 T.H. Stone Memorial State Park, San Blas Peninsula

I camped here way back in 2014, and at that time, the campground was old and had no hookups other than electric.  It was also hard to get into spots because of scrub that had grown up over the years.  However, as with St. Andrews State Park Hurricane Michael hit this part of the Florida Panhandle in 2018 and changed everything.  First, it broke across the long San Blas Peninsula where this state park is located, cutting the highway and all access for a long period until the roadway could be reconstructed and a storm buffer of big rocks installed.  Almost everything on the peninsula, including homes, businesses, and utilities had to be replaced.  

This meant that this state park also was closed for several years as it was completely reconstructed with new and much larger campsites and cabins, all brand-new and much more up to modern standards!  I think it has become one of my favorite places now!     

 

 

 

As you can see from the following photos I took as I drove in, you can see that there are only a few living Southern Pine trees and a lot of dead standing trees that have been left for birds and other wildlife.  It might look a little barren and harsh until you notice how much of the undergrowth has regrown over the past few years.  Thousands of young pine trees and palms have sprouted on their own and are now about 5-7' tall.  In another ten years, it will look fully forested!  

 

 

The tall dead trees, by the way, are used by ospreys during breeding seasons, and the pines are preferred by eagles.  Other birds, like woodpeckers and owls like the dead trees as well, so the sparse trees still provide homes for wildlife.   

 

 

 

ALL of the new campsites are large enough for the biggest RVs and include electric, water, and sewer!   They are clean and well-designed, to say the least.  This one was mine. 

 

 

 

 

And as with all Florida state parks, there are modern restroom and shower facilities that also include a washer and dryer.   

 

Just behind my site is a nature trail.  Lots of young pines and other trees and shrubbery.  None of this was planted, by the way.  Some of the young plants survived the hurricane and others sprouted once the overgrowth was removed by the winds. 

 

 

 

  

There is also a boardwalk down to the beach.  It is only a few hundred feet, but as in many places in Florida, it is illegal to walk on the sand dunes because they protect the land from wind and surf during hurricanes.   

 

 

 

Looking back towards the campground and nearby buildings from the boardwalk.

 

 

Looking down the dune area to the far end of the peninsula.   

 

 

The beach!!  With the sugar-white sand typical of the Florida Panhandle.   

 

 

  

 

 

  

And some crystal-clear water at low tide! 

 

 

 

10/9 St. Andrews State Park, Panama City Beach, FL

Almost caught up.  Here is a summary of what happened on my trip south to Florida,  I left my dentist office on October 1 after getting stitches removed and headed south.  First stop was near Columbus, OH, and then had three very long driving days to make it to the panhandle of Florida.  Normally, I like to drive about 200 miles per day or even less, but I had reservations waiting for me, and I was really anxious to get there, so the next day I drove 28 miles to London, KY, then a whopping and record-breaking (for me) 382 miles to West Point, GA.  

I managed this by getting up early and taking a rest or two along the way.  I also made no stops for groceries or sightseeing and stayed in places right off the freeway, so as not to waste time.  This left me only 266 miles to make it to my first stop in Florida, T.H. Stone Memorial State Park on the Gulf just east of Panama City, FL.  I had made and cancelled reservations a couple of times so was able to spend only three days here, but it was very pleasant weather here, and I enjoyed meeting and visiting with a very nice couple.  (I took almost no photos here because I was working on getting my income tax done.)

In fact, I enjoyed visiting so much I stayed out too late the last night and ended up with a ton of mosquito bites.  I have since tossed out all my old repellents and replaced them with newer ones, plus I am going to be more careful to spray my legs and arms before I go outdoors in the future!   

Next, I headed about 65 miles west to St Andrews State Park, which is just south of Panama City.  I had reservations for five days here, and was pleasantly surprised that the campground was so different than it had been when I first came here about 10 years ago.  At that time, the campground was old, with small and cramped sites being very difficult to get into with my motorhome, so I swore I would never come back.  As most campers know, many of the state parks in this country were built 40-50 years ago to meet the needs of campers at that time.  Since then, more campers are choosing trailers or motorhomes instead of staying in tents.  In addition, trees and shrubs have grown bigger and have partially filled in campsites.  Since one of the goals of state parks is preservation of nature, no one likes to cut growth back or trim thees.  Also, when state budgets are stretched, recreation funding is often cut. 

However, once in a while Mother Nature takes things into her own hands and cleans things up.  In 2018, Category 5 Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle and did a lot of damage to homes and property, but it also almost completely destroyed St. Andrews and T.H. Stone Memorial State Parks, blowing or washing away many of the trees and brush!  Now both of these state parks have been completely rebuilt!  First, St. Andrews!

From a campground where sites were very small and hard to get into, all the sites are now much larger and have full hookups, meaning they have electric, water, sewer, and even internet access in the updated campground.   Instead of dirt, the sites are easily identified by edging timbers and contain clean gravel.   

   

New bath houses have been built, and all contain handicap facilities and washers and dryers.  

 

 

Roadways are wider with bike/golf cart paths alongside the camp roads.   

Sites are large enough for the biggest of campers and motorhomes.  The spots are also wide enough for some campers to park boats alongside their rigs.  

In addition, many of the sites back up to the lagoon with views of the city across the water.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the main state park roads have bike/golf cart trails along the side, as shown here.  They are in the process of adding a barrier between the two, so in the meantime, it is easy to make a mistake and drive on the wrong road!    

 

 

The last day I was here, I drove to the beach area and took some photos.  These people are carrying stuff to spend the day on the beach. There is also a small store and place to buy tickets to a ferry to a nearby shelling island. 

 

 

And a very nice fishing pier.  

 

 

The sand is the sugar-white stuff found on nearly all the Florida Panhandle beaches.   It is also a very large beach and does not seem crowded.  

 

 

 

This was taken with my telephoto lens.  You can see that it is a bit more crowded down by these condos and hotels.   

 

 

 

It is amazing how clear the water of the Gulf of Mexico is here.  You can see every ripple in the sand and every tiny fish swimming around.    

I walked out to the end of the pier and enjoyed watching the fish and the seagulls diving for them.     

 

 

More views of the beach.  

9/29 Mosquito Lake State Park

Another place I occasionally stay at when I am in Ohio is Mosquito Lake.  I have no idea who would name a lake after nasty little blood-suckers, but they did.  This is a large state park with a couple hundred campsites, but it is older and most of them are either electric-only or no-electric.  However, as with the rest of the state parks in Ohio, about 15-20% were updated to larger, full-hookup a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, those updated sites are very popular and get booked up fast!

This state park is also a little farther away than I prefer, but it is a good option when other places are full.  It also is closer to stores than some of the other state parks I stay in.

And why do I stay mainly at state parks instead of trying to find commercial campgrounds?  Even though state parks can get crowded during summer weekends or big holidays, they are still a lot less crowded than commercial campgrounds where you are only a few feet from the next person's rig.  In order to make a profit, most commercial campgrounds pack in RVs as closely as possible, so you can often hear conversations and music from people next door.  There also is a lot more coming and going of cars and trucks in a commercial campgrounds, plus they are more expensive.  In other words, I feel a lot more comfortable out in nature where campsites are spaced more widely apart and where there are trees and such to buffer sites from one another.  

Anyway, here is the entrance to the Mosquito Lake Campground.    

 

 

And, of course the check-in booth.  One nice thing about this campground is the large water fill and dump station, as shown to the left.   

 

 

Because I travel so much and often return to the same places, occasionally someone will recognize me, which is nice, but on this trip one of the camp hosts came running out loudly welcoming me and saying she wondered when I would be back!  A bit embarrassing, I think, though her intentions were very nice!  

 

 

My campsite has lots of space on either side, though it is on a main roadway.   

 

 

Because I made a late reservation, I ended up in one of the old electric-only sites.  Notice that the site is long enough, but very narrow.  These sites were probably laid out 40 years ago when most campers were much smaller and more narrow.   

 

 

The photo below shows the problem with such narrow sites and more modern RVs.  As you can see, when your stairs deploy, you have to step out onto grass.  Unfortunately, during wet weather, you often will step out into mud.  This causes people to use those large plastic camping mats so they avoid the mud and can put chairs of drier ground.  The problem with those mats is that they also kill the grass.  And dead grass causes more mud in wet weather, which causes more people to use plastic mats, which causes more dead grass, etc. etc.  

 

Almost all newer campsites are wider and have gravel patios which drain better.  In addition, some campgrounds have completely banned the plastic mats, which makes campers very unhappy to have to camp in mud!! 

 

 

Here is a view of my site before I parked in it.  It looks nice, but is much too narrow for modern RVs like mine.   

It was a quiet stay here because I stayed here during the week.  It gets much busier on weekends. 

 

 

This is one of the newer sites.  It is about 2' wider than the older sites, and has a gravel or paved patio area, so if you pull back far enough, you can step out onto gravel instead of mud.  It also has a paved area around the electric, water, and sewer hookups.  This is the campground where about six years ago, after a rain, my electrical hookup in a pond.  I complained about the dangers of wading in water while plugging a 30 amp plug into the receptacle, and they sent a man with rubber boots to do it for me!  Still did not feel very safe, so I was happy to see that all the updated sites Ohio state parks have put in have these cement pads.  They have also added gravel around a lot of the posts in older sites so rain water will drain. 

I have had my last doctor's appointment and tests, and have only one more dentist appointment, so I will be headed to Florida for the winter, where I will stay almost entirely in state and Corps of Engineers campground!   It's been a good visit, but I am looking forward to getting on the road again!