Saint Joseph's Peninsula, FL: Part 1

[mellymell]

For those that don't follow it or my Facebook and because I'm lazy (and SHUT UP that's why) this is the synopsis for the trip down, via Twitter:

• Headed thru Bham on our way to FL. *waves hi to @cleolinda * 7:50 AM Sep 10th from mobile web


• Half done tacking up brim of my pirate tricorn hat. Hats are fun to make. 7:56 AM Sep 10th from mobile web


• Coming into Montgomery. Hat is done. :) 9:06 AM Sep 10th from mobile web


• On the road after a stop 4 lunch. Just south of Montgomery & seeing moss dripping from trees. 10:28 AM Sep 10th from mobile web


• In the heart of LA (lower Alabama). About 30 miles to Dothan. 11:10 AM Sep 10th from mobile web


• And yes, since I finished the hat, I have nothing better to do but tweet. :p 11:12 AM Sep 10th from mobile web


• Crossed the FL state line. This is where the trip always feels so freakin' long. 12:18 PM Sep 10th from mobile web


• The long slow drive the drive thru Tyndall AFB. 1:44 PM Sep 10th from mobile web


• Wonder if that's really an explosive disposal range or if that's more effective than just "keep out". 1:47 PM Sep 10th from mobile web
  
  
  
  After which point I was going to tweet about how much Mexico Beach had grown up since the last time we were down there and suddenly discovered OH NOES! no cell reception past Mexico Beach. I had hoped since there were three times as many beach houses and condos there might be better cell reception, but nope. Granted, Port St. Joe and Saint Joseph's Peninsula didn't look a whole lot different, just a sprinkling of new developments really. But still! Chris still had reception at the campsite, but he was pretty sure he was roaming (he has Sprint, I have T-Mobile, he thought maybe Verizon was there and that's what he was roaming on).
  
  We made a quick stop off at St. Patrick' Seafood which is a little spot obviously run out of an addition on a guy's house just off the main road. Out of all his offerings (including $3 lobsters!!) we opted for about a pound of "large" shrimp (which I would have called medium and he didn't know the count, which I forgive because he probably caught them himself), a pint of shucked oysters (since after all, we were right around the corner from Apalachicola) and three HUGE red snapper fillets. YUM!
  
  Then, we continued on to the State Park on the peninsula, checked in and got to our campsite and arrived at our destination a little after 5pm EST. So no, those times above are obviously not correct. We didn't leave the house until about 7:30am and I know we were going through Dothan right at 3pm or so.
  
  We got our site set up, tent, screen house, etc. then wandered down to the beach to watch part of whatever there was of a sunset (was really cloudy and hazy). Jonah kept running into the little shallow waves as they'd wash up, but he fell a couple of times as the sand washed out from under his feet and was quickly a mess. As we went back to the campsite, we saw several bucks crossing our path. It was hard to explain to Jonah as quietly as possible that he shouldn't get all excited and run after them like he seemed to want to do. But, Chris did manage to get some pics of them before they bound away.
  
  Chris got dinner started and I took Jonah to the bath house so we could shower. We had grilled asparagus and red snapper sandwiches for dinner, YUM! Then we headed back out to the beach to take a look at the stars and on our way saw and armadillo. The sky was AWESOME! We could see the Milky Way and all. At night you're not allowed to have flashlights or build fires on the beach because the sea turtles come in to lay their eggs and get confused if they see light (sea turtles, mate, heh). After a short while, we went back to the campsite, put Jonah to bed and built a fire on the leftover coals and sat around not too late drinking beers and smoking a cigar.
  
  Unfortunately, in the middle of the night, we were visited by a raccoon. We were careful to put everything away and back into the car except for the cooler. We thought, surely the cooler would be fine. But then I awoke to the sound of the lid of it slamming and the distinct sound of Ziploc bag rustling off into the marsh that bordered the site (yes, we were camped right next to the Dead Marshes, or rather the marsh where the last temporary residents dumped all their scallop shells and some of their trash). So, I sit up, grab a flashlight to see what it is that has robbed us and noticed the little bastard coming back for more. He sees my light, stops, looks straight at me, then heads to the cooler. As I hear it shut a second time, I wake up Chris (who's already awake at this point, I think) and we both got up to scare him off and put the cooler in the car. In the morning we inspected and aside from making a mess by trying to scratch his way into Jonah's juice boxes, he mostly just made off with 1.5 heirloom tomatoes from our gardens, which pretty much pissed us off more than anything else he could have taken. Blood, sweat and tears went into those tomatoes! You don't steal a Tennessean's homegrown heirloom tomatoes, damn it! We'll gladly share them, but stealing them is just wrong!
  
  Even worse, Jonah was so wound up by the experience that he spent the rest of the night, SERIOUSLY, the REST of the NIGHT, looking out the mesh windows of the tent and leaning on either me or Chris in order to do so (he was between us). Periodically he'd start talking about hearing bunnies bouncing and then the deer bouncing we saw on the way back from the beach earlier and then how mommy and daddy got up to scare the raccoon away with our flashlights. Let's just say, the morning came all too soon.
  

Comments

[baka-san.livejournal.com]

ha ha ha. i love the raccoon bit.

i'm glad you guys got at least one good day of playing there.

[yocepha.livejournal.com]

LOL @ "I awoke to the sound of the lid of it slamming and the distinct sound of Ziploc bag rustling off into the marsh..."

Great description! I could hear it from here! ;-)