As we arrived into our next destination, we were a bit apprehensive, partly due to the location (seemed to be in a very busy area of the Panama City beach 'strip') and we did not have a reservation. On the first count, we were excited when we found out that the park is actually quite large and is located at the tip of a peninsula (i.e. the road 'dead-ends' to the park). On the second count, we were glad to hear they had room (though only about 5 sites left out of 180 .. it being Spring break for universities (and possibly high schools) here in Florida). We chose to stay two nights. That would give us enough time to really check out the beach scene.
On the first evening, David took Reba, Daniel, and James on an expedition. It all started at the beach. Dan and James are having fun doing a little wave jumping:
And next, the sun is in the process of a beautiful setting display:
Afterwards, the group of us went to get propane and hopefully to find a DVD rental (to watch on our portable DELL computer). We did get the propane, however, we failed on the DVD reconnaissance mission. Actually, we ended up having to buy a DVD at Wal-Mart ('we', read David, chose 'The Truman Show'). The DVD seemed to start up (gave us the copyright notice in French and then English) and then died. We exchanged it for another of the same title - they had a return policy that prevented us from exchanging it for a different title. The second DVD also did not work, so she then allowed us to return the second one. Sure it cost us nothing but it did take a lot of time. Meanwhile (back at the ranch .. actually, the campsite), Pam and Heather Lynn are getting hungry. We were also picking up a couple of groceries. We did not get back until after 8 PM. And this after a time change (we just entered central time the previous day as we headed in to the Florida Caverns), so our eating habits may not have been able to adjust too easily. Sad, oh well.
The next day we all visited the beach (you could walk there from the campsite, but it was a long walk). We drove. What a spectacular, white sand beach, complete with sand dunes. We sunned ourselves, played along the shore under the pier, and read. Very relaxing.
Here is Jim doing a bit of acrobatics to avoid getting his 'still wearing shoes feet' from getting wet:
Here is the 'babe' picture:
Here is the 'cooperating on a Floridian aqueduct project' shot:
We then headed back for lunch. After lunch David and Pam headed out together (quiet time, no kids :-) for a series of walks. First we went to a lookout point and saw an alligator, a number of turtles, and birds, but most spectacular was the snowy egret nesting ground a mere 100 feet from where we stood. There were probably about a dozen snowy egrets nesting in a clump of small trees (read shrubs) out on a little island in the pond.
The snowy egrets are difficult to see in this photo, however, if you look carefully you will see small, white, fluffballs in the trees:
Next we went on a walk around a pond that also had a large alligator out snoozing on a little island (this one was probably 7 or 8 feet .. the first a mere six footer). It was a bit unsettling walking along the shore of this pond when there were alligators possibly only a few yards away lurking under water at the shore awaiting an unsuspecting fate (they like to munch raccoons that come down for a drink). Needless to say, there are signs that indicate that swimming would not be advisable because 'we like our people' and 'we like our wildlife' (captions on the sign).
Finally, Pam and David went to the second beach at St. Andrews, a beautiful spot right on the point of the peninsula. The first one had a neat (human-made) wooden pier. This second one had a human-made jette of rocks. People liked to fish on the pier and people liked to fish on this jette of rocks. I am not sure which was more popular, but they were both well used.
Later in the afternoon, Heather Lynn and David went to the second beach and played football. Heather Lynn started to really improve her game at this point, and this is when she started to practice more avidly as she really started to whip that football for some long bombs.
After a nice sleep in our campsite along the water (Pam and HL having breakfast on the last morning),
we packed up quite efficiently in the morning and headed off to our next destination, Big Lagoon State Park at the very western tip of Florida's panhandle.