The Intentional Tourist Part 3

We left the Lost Coast a day early than planned. It was raining. It was 37 degrees. Why not sit around in a moving truck rather than a stationary trailer. Our next stop was over to the Atlantic side of Florida. Beth has an uncle we were planning to visit in Palm Coast. Our camp ground was Faver Dykes State Park just North of there. When we got to the camp ground it was pouring once again. I have gotten very practiced at setting up the trailer in a cold, driving rain. To get to the camp ground one must go down a long dirt road. Most of the road was plastered to the trailer when we backed into the spot. Once set up, I proceeded to give Anna a bath. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting a tyrannosaurus rex or a velociraptor to come charging from the saw palmetto.

This is a very natural place. It has a very primal forest feel to it. I imagine most of Florida looked like this at one time.

The campsites are very generous and fairly private due to the thick Jurassic growth. The sand drains the rain fairly quirky though it rarely let up. We only slept here so our needs were minimal. The bath houses were clean, though unheated like all the state park campgrounds.

Hopefully someday we will return and explore the park a little more. It really is a very beautiful place.

We needed some indoor entertainment. We found a tourist trap. 

All over Florida you see signs for Florida Citrus Centers. They have big bowls of oranges to try. They are all incredibly sweet and tasty. Then they sell you a bag of nasty oranges that taste nothing like the sample. They usually have guys who smell of liquor and use friendly but high pressured sales techniques to persuade you into purchasing things you do not want. 

They all have multiple bins of shells you can buy to make your house feel more beachy.

They all have numerous signs you don't need but feel tempted to buy.

Some people still use ash trays. Less people are smoking tobacco, but more and more are smoking pot. They all need a place to put their ashes.

I really wanted one of these mugs. I was on the verge of the purchase.

Halle wanted one of these until she realized it was a real alligator head coated in varnish.

An aligator jaw bone knife anyone? I bet these are very popular with 13 year old boys. They probably go out into the woods with these strapped to their belts. The first time they whittle with it, the handle snaps. Yeah, I have been there. They still are cool.

And who does not need some highly priced fireworks? We managed to escape with a pound of boiled peanuts and 4 sticks of alligator jerky. It was mixed with beef and tasted like a typical dollar store beef stick. They were $2.50 each and not a dollar.

Beth's uncle lives right by the ocean in Palm Coast. The waves were crashing on the beach. The wind was blowing water and sand fairly hard. No beach time here either.

We played 9 holes of miniature golf in the rain. When I was asked if I wanted to play mini golf, I pictured windmills, water falls, and a church you had to drive the ball through. I had no idea it was going to be miniature golf. Beth's Uncle Lester uses the mind over matter technique to deal with the cold. Even though it was 52 and raining, he wore shorts.

Everyone took it very seriously except Halle and me. She played along, but wondered when it was going to be over. She asked out loud twice. I shot 4 over par. We made the best of it even though it was raining.

The Intentional Tourist Part 2

From Savanna we made a direct bolt over to The Florida panhandle. Google maps said it was a 5 1/2 hour drive. For some reason it became a 7 1/2 hour drive. Most of it was at 75 mph so I do not know where we went wrong. It rained, was windy, and cold the entire way. I once again set up in the rain. It was 42 degrees. 

The first morning in Florida we woke to the sun. It was 36 when the sun came up. 

We headed up to the beach first thing for a walk. We were told it was going to cloud up and rain later in the day. 

The temperature got up to 51 that day. It was the warmest day of our stay in the panhandle. It was also the last day we saw the sun until we left Florida.

There were some creative sand castle builders at St Joseph's Peninsula State Park.

The beach was absolutely spectacular. Covered with shells and zero man made trash.

The park is set in a very natural area. There are two camping areas connected by a boardwalk through the dunes. 

After this day the weather changed. Very few photos were taken. It was warmer than back home but the rain, wind, and cold made it hard to do the beachy things one normally does at the beach. We played lots of board games. We read a great deal. In general we relaxed a great deal. We just had to run the heaters and keep inside the trailer

One day we did manage to leave the girls at the campsite and find an oyster shack. Maybe they call it a fish house. It was a place to eat some oysters. Texas oysters were being served.

We also got to spend some time with Michael and Deshawn.  They spent a couple of weeks here. Before we came it was in the 80's and sunny. 

We left a day early. It was spitting and rain, windy and cold. The temperature was 37.

The Intentional Tourist

I need to apologize for the long delay since my last post. Blogging has not fallen out of favor with me(as it has with most). I still look at my extensive list daily, hoping someone has made a post for me to read. In all honesty, there has just not been anything to write to you about. 

For the past 20 years Beth and I have stated that we wish we had run away for the Christmas break. This year I was truly in the Christmas spirit, but come the 26th I had crashed and regret the whole experience did last the entire year instead of a few debrief weeks. This year we did take full advantage of the Christmas break by heading to Floor e Dah.  It was a sort of spur of the moment trips. This will take a few posts to tell you about so here is the first one. 

We escaped the cold and headed South down 95. It was 27 when we left Baltimore mid day, our first day on the road. Usually we stop before the sun sets, but I had somewhere I wanted to be the first night out. Getting there meant getting through Virginia and North Carolina. BTW, do not expect to negotiate Northern Virginia in a timely manor. They keep building places for folks to live and people keep moving in. They all drive cars and those cars clog the roads where ever you go. Northern Virginia has become a dreadful place to tow a trailer through. It took us 2 1/2 hours to go from Dale City to Fredricksburg. From there on out it was 75mphs via the cruise control.

Around 8pm we pulled into my intentional destination. I am a complete sucker for a tourist trap. Now this campground rates among the top three I have ever been to in all my camping. It was off season, but for $24 with full hook ups. It could not have been better. The bath houses were absolutely spotless. The water was super hot and the heater was going on 11. The temperature outside, 27. 

A good tourist trap has copious amounts of neon lights. Neon lights draw the true sucker in like a moth to a flame.

When I was really young my parents stopped here. They probably just needed some gas. For me, I never forgot the magic of the best tourist trap in America.

Once the trailer was set up, I went and wandered around. How people on the high way were able to not get off I could not understand. A good reason, "the truck stop"had diesel for cheap. Of all the tanks of diesel I pumped into my truck, South of the Border sold it to me by 10 cents cheaper a gallon.  

Pedro was happy to see me come back after all these years...

I wanted to take this photo in the dark. Unfortunately I had already unhooked when I saw the opportunity. Maybe next time.

Another aspect of an excellent tourist trap is their ability to offer you items that you do not need, but absolutely cannot resist buying. 

Every guys needs a peter meter and a switch blade comb.

An excellent tourist trap will make you put things on to see what you look like even though you would never be caught dead in it. Well, in all fairness, Halle would ware this hat a great deal.

Beth would wear this one if she got the part go the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

Yeah she would wear it once even though she wanted it.

I wore mine in.

An excellent tourist trap needs lots of bright colors to over stimulate your eye. When your eyes get over stimulated you lose your ability to focus on the main picture.

You end up hyper focusing on things you just do not need.

I almost could not resist the Sirens song. In the Airstream community, an SOB is "some other brand"or "same white box"

We walked out with a deck of cards(that make 6 sets in the games cabinet. At least this one is complete), A key chain(Halle has about 40 of them adding 20 pounds to her school backpack), A bumper sticker(I wish it were available as a water slide decal), and a snow globe bottle opener(it opened about 15 beers before it broke)

An excellent tourist trap makes you want to come back. We did come back on our way home to fuel up at the "truck stop." When we left. 37 degrees.

The next day we drove to Skidaway Island State Park near Savanna Georgia. South Carolina is 181 miles long via 95. This is how the entire State was. We averages 32 mph. You do the math. Now once we arrived at Skidaway Island it began raining. As I unhooked and set up the trailer, it continued to rain. The temperature was 37 degrees. When we woke up the next day, it was raining even harder and the temperature was 37 degrees. Thus the lack of photos of Savanna. I hear it is great city. Maybe next time we will see it.