Huguenot Memorial Park....truely memorial

WHAT A GEM !!!!!  I would encourage everyone to put this one on their "RV Bucket List".
The St John River flows north from Jacksonville to the Atlantic Ocean. Right where the river and ocean meet is a small city park called Huguenot Memorial. There are NO hookups, so it is virtually dry camping but with water and dump stations available. There are 21 beach sites where you are literally feet from the beach. We choose one where we had a small dune separating us from the beach since Sydney was not permitted directly on the beach. This is a preserve and sea turtles and birds are abundant. Here is where we were. My feet were in the water when I took this picture.

Even John, who is not much of a beach person sat in his chair and watched the porpoises swimming and fishing yards from the shore.

While we were sitting a marine research boat came by and they were dragging a net to catch some of the marine specimens to track the type and size. They were very friendly and gave us a sneak peek of some of the creatures up close. There were crabs, flounder, puffer fish and something called a bat fish. Here are some of the pics I took.

John was able to drive directly on the beach, so of course he did. Here he is........

We took a day trip about 50 miles south to St Augustine....  the oldest city in Florida. It was founded in the 1500's and was occupied by the Spanish and the British prior to becoming a part of the US. I was actually disappointed because most of the old city is recreated or altered and not original. Here are some pics showing the Spanish flavor of the town..

In this next picture check the spot above the 4th shutter from the gate. That area at the top is a cannonball from a pirate ship embedded in the wall.

This is what is left of the actual fort. A small portion of the outer wall....

The best part of the day was the ferry ride at sunset that took us back to the park... These are Pelicans...

While here, we ran into another couple that John had spoken to in Georgia.... Tom and Cheryl Drotning from Minissota. They are just starting out in their 5th wheel. We shared websites and experiences before parting ways. Maybe we will run into them again.... hopefully not litteraly.

We only stayed for 4 days.... I wanted to stay longer, but we had reservations in Orlando.... so off we go. Thanks Millie and Ray for letting us in on this secret place. WE WILL BE BACK !!

Southeast Georgia Time..

John and I both enjoy going to the southeast corner of Georgia. We have done this each year since we started traveling. So..... here we are again. As usual we stayed at a Coast to Coast resort in Woodbine. The ownership has changed hands since last year and we found the campgrounds cleaner and neater than in prior years. The new owners, from Australia, are a young couple with 4 children. They are slowly making positive changes that will definitely keep us coming back.
Each year we choose a different "Golden island" to visit. Last year was Jekyll island..... this year we went to St Simon's Island. What a pretty little place. In most ways it was very typical of most seashore vacation towns but  this one has a huge beautiful city park right in the center next to the shore. Here are some pics...

We also made a trip down to St Mary's, where the boat takes you to Cumberland Island. It has no beaches but is mainly a port for boaters. It is so scenic and pretty. More pics...

We enjoyed our week and will be sure to come back again as there is so much to experience. We are headed just a short 50 miles down the road to the Jacksonville area to a small city park that our friends Millie and Ray told us about. I need some beach time !!

Family and Lowcountry..

Wait a minute.... that doesn't sound right. Visiting family is a high for us....but we were in the Lowcountry of South Carolina too. Maybe I better start at the beginning. We left Sycamore Lodge just before Halloween and traveled southeast to Wilmington NC to see John's daughter Corinne. We stayed at Camp Walmart for 2 nights and had a lovely visit. See looks good, as usual.... see...

We went out for pizza... and it wasn't Friday.

Next stop was Charleston SC to visit with John's brother, Jim, and his wife Terri. We get sooooo spoiled rotten there. I feel like I gained 15 pounds from Terri's good cooking. Here we are posing on their couch so John can learn to do a delayed shot with his camera. It took several tries. Can you tell John is out of breath from running to the couch before the picture snapped?

We went for a ride to Foley Beach at high tide. There were only a few surfers as the waves weren't very high that day.

On the way back from the beach we stopped at the "Graffiti Boat". This is an old boat that was washed up on shore during hurricane Hugo many years ago and was never removed. It sits alongside of Foley Road. Locals started painting messages, wedding proposals and ads on the boat.... and so goes the tradition. I'm told it gets repainted frequently, some times within hours. So if you paint a message, you take a picture of it. Jim's daughter Amy painted it pink when she came to visit for Jim's retirement party and within hours someone had redone it. There must be thousands of coats of paint on this thing. Jim says he thinks someone maintains a web site with all the messages but he's not sure. I'll have to look and see.

PS.... Here is an address to a website with pics of the boat's various paintings. http://www.pbase.com/laplageauxfolles/graffiti_boat&page=all

Another stop was the market. I was there many years ago when I went to Charleston for a conference while working at Williamsport Hospital. They have since done some renovations, and what an improvement. They modernized the conveniences while retaining the charm and history of the place. Terri and I stopped and talked with one of the sweetgrass vendors, Elouise Frazier. What an interesting and beautiful person. She told us the history of the basket making and stories of her grandmother. I could of stayed there all day talking with her. If you ever get to the market look for Elouise and buy one of her baskets.... they are magnificent and she is one remarkable "lady"

As we left the market Terri found me some delicious she-crap soup. A trip to Charleston is not complete without some she-crab soup.

John and I both love the "Live Oak" trees here in South Carolina, so Jim and Terri took us to see the Angel Tree. It is the largest Live Oak east of the Mississippi standing 65 feet tall. It is believed to be between 300 and 400 years old. The trunk is 25.5 feet in circumference and has an area of shade of 17,000 square feet. It's longest branch is 83 feet long. The branches are so long and large that they touch the ground and have to be supported. It is amazing. Here are some pics.

We picked up some acorns from under the tree...... going to see if we can grow one.

Fun times and good people but time to move on..... Georgia coast next.