Florida in the New Steely Van

I’m recovering from dumb carpal tunnel surgery and thought it might be a good time to update my June Bug Journeys posts. Evidently life got very busy and I have been neglectful. 

It has become a tradition for us to take our Steely Van to a warm climate in the dead of winter, and we chose to head to Florida in February this year. We towed our Jeep Wrangler so we’d have a vehicle to run around in.

On our way south we stayed again at the KOA in Nashville https://koa.com/campgrounds/nashville/, a familiar and easy stop after about 5 hours driving. The second night on the road we stayed at Montgomery South RV Park in Alabama http://montgomerysouthrvpark.com. The management there is so nice and the bath/shower house is really clean and spacious. I highly recommend them for a stop-over on I-65 South.

Our first real vacation stop was Henderson Beach State Park in Destin, Florida. This is a beautiful Florida state park with such convenient access to local restaurants and activities. Ordinarily we prefer to be further off the beaten path, but for this trip we wanted to try the local fare! 

A few of our favorites? The Back Porch (great ocean views and even better food), The Donut Hole (yummmmmy breakfast), and The Great Southern Cafe over in Seaside…worth the drive to the darling quaint town. This was our second visit to Seaside and I’m sure we’ll be back many more times.

We learned a hard lesson about towing the Jeep that I ought to tell you about. Don’t be like us! Bob accidentally forgot to unplug the tow brake in the Jeep and it drained the battery overnight. When we detached the Jeep to do some running around…dead as a doornail. The park ranger was so helpful (he’s a fan of the Bob & Tom Show, which might have had something to do with it!) and he arranged a park vehicle to give the Jeep a jump. Evidently the Airstream Interstate couldn’t generate enough power to jump the Jeep’s battery. Lesson learned!

After almost a week at Henderson Beach we tore ourselves away and headed over to St. Joseph Peninsula State Park for a few days. While we were there a site opened up at St. George Island and we snagged it. We had been wanting to stay there but had no luck grabbing a reservation…this time we got it! Wheee!

We checked in to our lovely sandy campsite and OF COURSE had to drive into Apalachicola to Up The Creek Raw Bar for the world’s best oysters. Oh, my gosh, I would eat here every day if I had my way. Go there if you ever get a chance, and sit on the outside deck for a beautiful view of the river and oyster boats. They allow dogs!

We were lucky enough to come back to Apalachicola for the http://www.apalachicolabay.org/event/mardi-gras-barkus-parade/ Mardi Gras Barkus parade, a crazy festival centered around the town’s love of dogs. It was absolutely adorable, and naturally I got to have oysters again. Lucky me!

St. George Island has a long stretch of beach that’s only accessible by 4-wheel-drive vehicles, so we took the Jeep up to the very tip of the island a couple of times. This was a real privilege — to see the coast of Florida the way it was before tall buildings and hotels took over most of the views. We enjoyed feeling quite remote and didn’t see another soul out there.