Long Point Park, Sebastian Inlet Day 3

 It's funny how sometimes when I go camping I"m up pre-dawn but it's fairly regular occurence.

Sunrise over the campground..

The double-wide that was across from us had a sherrif's deputy living there so we had to tell Tommy and Hugo to keep the noise down.   Morning shot of the camp area.   We really didn't pull out alot of stuff on this trip.

On the way home, we stopped at an I-95 rest area for lunch.   I think this was the one by Stuart, so about halfway.

The coach looks so little next to the big trucks.

The trouble makers are ready for the next trip!

Long Point Park, Sebastian Inlet Day 2

 I had planned for all sorts of water activities on the trip. Surfboard and SUP.   The day we arrived it was VERY windy with 20 MPH+ hard north wind.   We passed on the water activities all weekend.   It was also in the 50s and with the wind, we didn't want to be on the water and wet.   The surf did not cooperate (I knew ahead of time, but you ALWAYS should bring your board as you never know when a mystery swell will pop up.

We woke up and had breakfast and as it was still cold and windy, decided to bike down to the Inlet.  I looked at the map and saw a trail through not very visited part of both parks and we mapped our course

As mentioned, the spot was wide open.  It was so ridicously windy the first night, we didn't even try to light a fire or bother with the pop up as it was overcast.

Another view of the large open space in the middle of the campground.  The boys are suited up and ready to go for a ride.

The first part of the trail was a man made dyke running through the mangroves.  The tide was low and it is the dry season so mostly it was dry in this area..

A view looking across one of the small bays on the east side of the Indian River Lagoon.  I'd say this was about half a ile to the other side, maybe a bit less.

After a section of some mangrove mud that was semi-dry (peddled fast and made it through), we got to a section of the state park with a boat ramp and little marina.  As you can see there were Dolphins swimming around and chasing bait fish.  There were 3 or 4 of them.  We watched for a bit and they moved off.

Another section of the trail getting closer down towards the inlet.

Yaay, we made it.  I think it was about 4 mile ride so not bad......except for when TOmmy threw Lucys phone out of her bag and we had to backtrack over a mile each to go get it.

We went up to the snack bar and sat at tables on the second floor which gives a commanding view of the surf area.  The food was pricey and average, but we enjoyed it.

After lunch walk out on the jetty.  There was only one or two grommets out trying to grovel something rideable but it was worse than the photo looks.

A flock of Royal Terns.   These are definitely winter time visitors to our beaches.   I always liked their coloration.

Lucy posing with the boys during Tommy's photo shoot.

Back up the road at the turn off for our park, the boys take some more shots.

Sausage and mini potatos on the grille.  A tasty dinner.  By the evening the wind had died back to near still and although cloudy, it was alot more mild of an evening.

Long Point Park, Sebastian Inlet Day 1

Wow,   Just realized I missed a whole trip back in January!    Late posting 3 months later, but I'll get the highlights of a fun get away laid out....

We couldn't get away on our Anniversry the previous week, but we got lucky and scored a spot in Long Point Park.  It is a Brevard county park and it is usually full as it is right next to Sebastain Inlet State Park.  I have been going to the 'Inlet' since the early '80s when my surfing buddies were old enough to drive.

The Inlet is a legendary surf spot on the east coast of the US, but of course any old timer will tell you it was better back in the day, but as you can see it still gets some good days.

Anyway, one of the big landmarks on the way to the Inlet, was always Wabasso Bait and Tackle on the corner of US1 and Brevard 510.   Well it was now a Dog Groomer and I was bummed, but found out it's still open, they just moved to a bigger building 100 yards south....yay Old Florida prevails  (kind of).

Trucking up A1A we crossed the Inlet bridge and Tommy and Hugo go a great view of the area.   Sadly, the surf was flat....

Being as how we got the LAST and ONLY available site a week earlier (someone had to have cancelled)  we didn't get a choice and got a veer open spot in the middle of the park.   The nice part was there is a ton of room to toss the Frisbee, but the wind was ripping along 20+ so no dice there....
 

We walked over to the Indian River for the sunset.  This spot was protected from the wind, but it was honking.

On the north side of Scout Island, a victim of hurricane Ian or Nicole last year.....

Hugo trying out Lucy's glasses back in the coach.   The stuffies were pulling shenangins this evening.

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Turkey Day camping!

 Since Covid 19 started, many people went out and bought campers as it's a great isolated way to relax and enjoy the outdoors.   While that's great, we noticed that many of the state parks are now booked months and months in advance, especially on the weekends.   Pre Covid, the popular parks were always an issue (going back 30 years since I started camping),  but the lesser know parks you could always find one somewhere with some availability.   Well not so much anymore, however, with the down turn in the economy, I think the people that financed a little too much camper with be dropping out of the game, but I digress..

As mentioned in an earlier post, this year has been a strange one, and we had no idea what the holidays had in store for us.  Around the end of September, we realized it would just be the 3 us together for the holiday.  I started looking for campgrounds, as why not,   I'd  rather hang out outside vs. Black Friday shopping anyway.

As you may have surmised there were no sites available any where within 2.5-3 hours drive.   Our daughter had school until 4PM on Wed and would drive to meet us.   I looked a week earlier and nothing, looked another week earlier and found the spot at the prairie from the last posting and booked it.

2 weeks ago I looked again and found space at Collier-Seminole Park SW of Naples.  We've never been there, but looking at it, there wasn't alot to do, AND that area got whacked a bit by hurricane Ian.   I looked at Jonathan Dickenson SP and in some miracle fashion. found a spot.  It said it was for a 20' and we are 23', but I know the park well and could tell from the site pic, it would not be a problem, So I booked it!

I decided to bring my smoker and smoke a turkey on the campsite.   Lucy pointed out that spatchcocking the turkey would make it cook faster.  Here she is crushing its ribcage to flatten it out after removing the spine.

I have a great smoked turkey receipe that I found about 7-8 years ago.  Here it is.  I tweaked it a tiny bit due to some comments that were posted.   I prepare as described, but replace half of the apple cider with cranberry juice, and instead of oranges, I use a carton of fresh OJ instead.  You can see the OJ and the cranberry in the pic above.  I was just about to dump the ice on top of it and let it marinate for 36 hours.

The receipe is foolproof and once again we wound up with a turkey that tastes like bacon.

I'll spare the drama, but we left the house almost 3 hours later than I wanted to (wanted to kayak the first afternoon).   The short 1 hour drive up to the park was uneventful and we arrived at the site around 15:45.

The site, 123 on the river loop, was VERY sandy.  Good thing we have a big mat to knock it off your shoes.  The 10' kayak fits pretty easily inside during travel, but blocks the walkway a bit as it sits on the floor there.  Last thing in, first out, lol.

You can see the mat is already out on the ground.  Pretty sure it was park, plug in the AC (for the fridge), pull the kayak, put the mat out, then unload chairs and accessories.

With the late arrival the sun was going down in an hour, so we set up and pedaled the bikes over to the concession stand with the rentals.  You can rent canoes, kayaks, little John boats, or take the pontoon boat upriver to visit Trapper Nelson's homestead.

Back at the site in the twilight hour got this nice shot off the back of the campsite looking toward the river (a few hundred yards away).

Lucy bought some new LEDs that came in the mail that morning so she strung them up to play with them as they are programmable.  You can see I strapped the kayak up to the ladder which was good to get it out of the way.

Another  shot of the campsite, while waiting for the coals so I could cook our steak.

Thanksgiving morning.  Many of the spots were open overnight. It was obviously foggy around  6:45AM.   I enjoy mornings like this.

Took a brief wak around the campground enjoying the serenity.   Also a great time to catch animals out and about.

Looking east toward what is the Boy Scout camp in that far line of trees.  They have property that borders the park right there and you can hear them when they have a jamboree over there.

Fog burned off before 10, and I set up the tent as there was no shade on the site.  You can see the smoker is already working so this was just after lunch.

Tommy and Hugo went out for a bike ride, he may have done a phot shoot, I was tending the turkey.

Sunset and the smoker was taking longer than planned.....Didn't actually take any food pics, but it was all delicious.  After dinner we drove up to Hobe Mountain and climbed the observation tower to look at the stars.  It was a nice clear night out and a nice breeze up top.

Black friday.  We did go out to a shop only 3 miles from the park.   Pleasure Tikis in Tequesta, FL.  Have been wanting to stop there for a long time, but it's never been convienant. Well today was the day.   Picked up a T-shirt and Lucy got a pin for her pin collection..    We came back and Naya wasn't feeling well so she took a nap.   Lucy and I biked over the the Kitching Creek Trail.

My intent was to kayak up this creek from near the campsite.  Then we found out there were elevated bacteria levels in the river AND we just had a tropical storm 2 weeks ago so there is alot of runoff going into the river.

As not to tempt fate, decided to stay out of the water this trip.

The ranger said the trail was pretty wet.   It's a loop and right at the beginning there was about 6-7 inches of water.   We backtracked and used a ranger vehicle path to circumvent the first bit of trail, maybe a 1/4 mile.

After that we tried to make the full loop, but it got pretty soggy do we doubled back and took the other way around the loop as it was close the to riverbank (and higher).

As you can see we made the creek and here Lucy is relaxing listening to the birds and enjoying the soloitude as NO ONE was around. 

Back at the campground looking like another great sunset.

So we pedaled over to the boat ramp and got this nice shot.  The no-seeums were thick so we didn't stay long.

Pedaling back to the campground we saw 4 or 5 bunnies out eating and hopping around.   We came around the corner and saw the very early waxing cresent moon.   It reminded me of the state flag of South Carolina, so I had to stop for the photo.   

Short trip, pretty lazy days, but was nice to get away.  Saturday AM we were out early for us as Lucy had to go to work.   Naya took off to visit her school friends, and I was home by 10:15 AM.

More Prairie Camping

 Lazy day Saturday.  Nothing planned and love that.   Writing this a week later, I can't even remember what we did all day Saturday...

Took this shot around 8AM leaving the bath house.  Notice the waning gibbous moon above.  Mostly Turkey vultures, but may have been a couple of Blacks in there as well.   Oddly, this was my first trip ever in 15 years out here where I did NOT see a Cara-Cara.

Saturday afternoon and only two other campers showed up.  Loved it had the whole place to ourselves.

Another day coming to a close.  Absoulutely stunning out here.

9PM ish moon rise.  Congregated at the end of the camping loop with the couple of other campers awaiting the moon's arrivale.   Again, pics don't do it justice.  You could easily see the Milky Way overhead and thousands of stars before it came up.

The park got a new buggy!  It was brand spanking new.  Ranger said it had 38 hours on it!  Taller than the old one and holds twice as many people.   I think they were 42" tires but not 100% on that.  Had ROyce military axles too, so they were screwing around with it.  A very SOLID buggy!

One of the natural depressions they used to use for bombing practice.  each circle is a slightly different height so different plants grow.

Thought the reflection in the water of the sky was pretty cool.

This one reminds me of a living Highway men painting.   Me trying to be artsy fartsy...

We got back to the campground and packed up and headed home.  Made a stop to say to Mike again as he didn't make it out to see us Saturday night.    The rig ran great all the way home with no issues.

As I type this we are getting ready to head out again tomorrow for Thanksgiving camping (a first for us).