Day 3 of our trip overlaps both parks. As it was only an hour drive or so from one to the other, we slept in a little. I had already folded up the pop-up tent the night before as it was dry and I didn't want it to get dew on it and have to put it away wet. We really didn't need it after the rain stopped as our site was pretty shady.
Naya was slow to get up as usual, so we cooked a big breakfast with bacon and eggs which turned into bacon and omelettes as we started throwing veggies and cheese in it.
After breakfast Lucy and I went on the nature trail nearby. It had a geocache on it, so the hunt was on. I wasn't a fan of these for a long time, but it turns out I'm pretty good at finding them.
It was the Ancient Dunes Nature Trail and was pretty short, but surprisingly had a lot of up and down as the name implies. The geocache was off the trail by about 50ft in a hollow section at the base of a tree. it was a fun couple minutes as others came down the trail and we hid in the bushes so they couldn't see us. Me in my bright yellow t-shirt blended right in and they went by without seeing us lol.
We rolled out right around 1 and started heading south on A1A. About 10 minutes down the road we stopped off at The Surf Station in Crescent Beach. It's their second store and where they have all the used boards.
Tommy and Hugo were left on guard duty while we went in. I'm in the market for a new to me longboard, so wanted to check out what they had available. The only board I liked in the place wasn't for sale (figures).
Naya, however, found this cosigned 5'6" Rat Boy model Surftech reduced to $160. It needs some minor epoxy repair, but it presents well and she is very excited to try it. I would need a snorkel if I sat on this board as its so small, but she is light enough that it may work well for her. It's her first board that is all hers so that's a big deal!
The area just off of A1A between Flagler and Ormand is an amazing marshy area with some great cruising roads. This is a section of Old Dixie Highway heading south toward the park. Lucy got some good video of the drive she is editing into a piece which will debut later.
Good ole spot 98 in Tomoka SP. It's a great spot if you can find it! We drove around the campground twice before we found it. It's an oval and the sites start at 1. They end at 97 so I was confused as they didn't have any park maps when we checked in. There are two little 'side streets' and it is nestled back in one of them. The site isn't as deep as it looks if you notice the 'street' curving toward the camera. I like this picture as it looks like the coach is stalking you.
Naya wanted to read, so Lucy and I took off on the bikes to see if the Trading Post was open as normally they are closed Tues and Wed (the days we were there). Luckily, they were open for the holiday week and we inquired about kayak rentals for the following day. It's first come first serve so they advised to be early. This is a shot of the river off their back porch.
Just North of the trading post is the tip of a peninsula where the
Timucua Indians had a village. Back in the 1950s this statue was built to commemorate it. It was pretty cool, but unfortunately has fallen into a state of disrepair as there were some body parts of the supporting Indians laying on the ground where they had fallen off.
A closeup of the Chief. We bought a magnet for the coach with a drawing of this statue on it. His sword needs a little fixing up too.
Shot from the peninsula's tip looking west. I strategically silhouetted the sabal palm to cut the glare down in the picture. I think it came out okay.
Looking north off the peninsula. Lucy was having fun with her video camera. It was about 5PM here so daylight was going to disappear fairly quickly.
We rode back to the campsite and I started the fire just as twilight was dwindling. I won't bore you with another campfire picture, but I built it up to cook with. Lucy made some chicken skewers and I quickly found out we needed the trusty grilling cage again.
After dinner, we threw some more logs on and had a great view of the Moon and Mars in conjunction. They were VERY close in the sky. There was a small gap in the tree canopy at just the right angle and time we are looking. Neither of us had to even move out of our chairs. Super clear evening and less breezy than it was near the beach, but just enough. It cooled down to the mid 60s overnight.
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