Atlantic Sunrise

Atlantic sunrise

One of our goals while in Florida was to see the sunrise on the Atlantic ocean. We stayed at Wickham park and the closest beach parking was Canova Beach, the only dog friendly beach in the county. So at 6am on Sunday morning, we loaded the dogs and headed to the beach. I fully expected to be one of very few there, and when we got there, we were one of 2 cars in the parking lot. My guys were forced to meet an off leash dog while we were going down the steps and we stepped out on to the empty beach about 20 minutes before sunrise. I was glad Roudy was staying with his best friend. We were just the first to arrive. By the time the sun rose around 7:15 am there were around 40 people with their 30 dogs. Who knew? Sunrise on the beach with your dog is a big deal. It was nice. There were a few big dogs who were off leash (against the rules) but I was able to keep my dogs right at my feet and fend the loose guys off. Tippy did have to snap at one. I let him because the owner failed to retrieve their dog. None of my dogs like the ocean but they all enjoy the beach and they were fascinated by the dogs playing fetch in the water.

So in September we saw sunset on the pacific and in February we saw sunrise on the Atlantic! 6 months apart.

Mom and I did go back to the non dog side of the beach a couple days later. There weren't as many birds as I hoped and the water was cold. I did go knee deep and enjoyed bird and people watching.

Next beach trip, hopefully will be late spring and we will boondock on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas.

Suwannee River State Park, Florida

 

Our second state park on our Florida 2021 trip was Suwannee River state park. Mom has wanted to go here for quite a while so it was one of the first places I looked for reservations for. We stayed here for 3 nights. This park in about 30 minutes from a town of any size, although there is a convenience store about 15 minutes away according to maps. We stayed in the park the entire time and weren't tempted to go anywhere. There are not a lot of roads in the park, basically one that takes you through the day use area, to the campground and the boat ramp and a dirt road that takes you to the group camp area. There are many miles of trails, but due to river flooding, we were only able to do the high ones. I really wanted to walk the river trails, but the water at the beginning was almost waist deep. So I didn't. The river rose the whole time we were there because of storms up river in Georgia. The campground was in no danger of flooding. I really enjoyed the campground. The sites were a bit challenging to back into, so watching neighbors back big rigs in was amusing and amazing. It did reconfirm my desire to keep my small rig. We had a campfire every night and enjoyed just watching the fire and seeing the moon rise. I found trees in our campsite to put my hammock up and intend to read in my hammock, but it was hard to read when I was so comfortable. If I get to the point where I can repeat state parks in Florida's panhandle, this is one of my 3 favorite parks there. The others are Falling Waters and Blackwater River. We still have not stayed at Florida Caverns or Suwannee River music park.

The first trail we walked was the earthworks trail. There are dirt mounds left from the civil war when they were getting ready to defend the railroad bridge. This trial takes us to the confluence of the Suwannee River and the Withlacoochee River. There is a beautiful deck over the river giving a great view. There is also a little building with steep steps that the ranger said is where they measure the river height and take samples of the water.

The second trail was the sand hill trail. This trail is not so scenic because it takes us through sandy piney woods. The woods are lovely and feel very isolated. It goes through an old grave yard with very interesting tombstones.

We tried walking down the Suwannee River trail but were blocked by the water, so hung out on a swing overlooking the river and watched people and birds. There was a man there with his kids teaching them to slingshot the sweet gum pods into the woods.

I followed stagecoach road and found part of the balanced rock trail. The bridge was underwater so I continued along the river to the group camp. There was a group there, so I turned around and retraced my steps. It is amazing how the views change when you are going the opposite direction on the same trail.