Chattahoochee and Fort Pickens are two completely different places, but for some reason we like them both.
Just as the name suggest, we stayed in Florida’s outback for a couple of nights. We’ve left Jacksonville on Friday morning, just on the brink of an upcoming storm. As we learned later, it was a rather large one, therefore I’m glad to report that our timing was impeccable once again. We escaped west far enough to stay dry and we left Chattahoochee just before the storm caught up with us. We’ve packed the car last night and after folding the tent, we’ve left before breakfast. When we stopped at a nearby Micky Dees for a bowl of cereal at a curb, it started to rain.
08-Oct-2011 01:13, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 108.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400
08-Oct-2011 01:14, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 45.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 400
08-Oct-2011 15:55, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200
09-Oct-2011 00:55, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 200.0mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 800
09-Oct-2011 00:37, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 135.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 800
09-Oct-2011 01:29, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 200
08-Oct-2011 15:56, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 8.0, 28.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200
08-Oct-2011 15:56, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 200.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200
09-Oct-2011 00:55, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 6.7, 55.0mm, 0.022 sec, ISO 800
09-Oct-2011 00:55, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 400
09-Oct-2011 01:20, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.25 sec, ISO 800
09-Oct-2011 01:30, PENTAX Corporation PENTAX K100D , 3.8, 28.0mm, 0.7 sec, ISO 800
Couple of hours later, we got out of the wet zone. The sky started to clear out as we approached Pensacola, but the wind picked up a bit. Right now it’s blowing so hard that our mesh tent is bending over half way down to the ground each time there is a harder blow from the bay. We are straying at the Santa Rosa island, at Fort Pickens State Park. We plan to stay here for the entire week, which according to weather.com is supposed to be sunny and warm.
I think there is really no need for us to complain about the weather at all. Yes, we got wet, real soaking in fact, but only once in Rocky Gap near Cumberland, MD. We also didn’t time properly our departure from Cheraw, SC and left the campground in rain and in a hurry. We’ve learned from these mistakes and now we’re packing the night before departure and keep observing the weather forecest changes to react appropriately. In fact, rain and sun dictate the direction and speed at which we’re moving. After all, our journey is a a true wander…
If I was to rank the places we’ve visited so far, I would have given Smith Mountain Lake State Park in Virginia most points for their interpretive programs, their facilities and very friendly, dedicated and knowledgable staff. Hunting Island ranks best for the weather and the overall vacation-like setting. Buckaloons in Pennsylvania still holds the 1st position for their bathroom standards. In fact, I have to say that in this category, the cleaningness and features are adequate to park’s latitude. North ranks much better than the South.
All the places we’ve visited so far had their own highlights and all of them had their problems. Too moist, too hot, too many raccoons, ants, skuns, armadillos, you name it. But all of them were really fascinating and I’m glad we had a chance to visit them all.
This morning, we’ve crossed a timezone line. We are leaving the East and will be travelling along the gulf coast. If there only was a ferry from Florida to Yucatan, it would have saved us a lot of time, and probably money. In fact, apparently there used to be one, back eight years ago. Unfortunatelly it failed to attract enough interest to stay in business for too long and left the owner with a USD $Million hole in his pocket. There might be another one launched as soon as early next year, but it’s not sure. We’ll take the long road and start learning Spanish along the way.
