T. H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park - 2016 - Introducing Suzy

We get the itch to return to the T. H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park every Spring. That is the same time thousands of college students head to Florida's Gulf Coast for Spring Break. Fortunately, college students don't pick Port St. Joe, a park that is full of families, not parties. That means this is a great place to visit in Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, during the Spring.

At the entrance to the park

Port St. Joe Peninsula State Park is a place that is special to our family. We have made it a point to camp here every year during the Spring for the past 15 years. So, what draws us to Port St Joe?

One of the obvious answers is the Gulf. You will find some of best beaches in America in this park. We love the soft white sand, the dunes and the waves.

The beach at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park

Another draw is the bay side of this park. This is where the Pelicans love to roost and where you will find star fish.

The bay side of the park

Our third reason is special to us because we both grew up in Florida and fondly remember the days before condos starting dotting the coastline. The scenic views here are what many call the "natural Florida." You will see dunes and white-sandy beaches, wonderful sights to anyone who loves the natural Florida.

The dunes

There are two camping loops in this park and we go back-and-forth between the two. We returned to the Shady Pines loop this year and were lucky enough to get a site with a concrete pad. No, the pad wasn't level and we had to use our tools to help with this problem.

Rosie's site in the Shady Pines camping loop

We didn't know it when we booked this site, but it would be perfect for Suzy, our new puppy. Yes, we have a new member of the family and she is a four month-old Yorkie.

Suzy joins our family

Annie, our Yorkie who passed away last year, was a good camper and we hoped that Suzy would also take to camping in Rosie. Since Suzy had her last "puppy" shot a week before our trip to Port St. Joe, we were anxious about how she would adapt to living in a RV, meeting new people and other animals. It turned out that our concerns were unfounded as Suzy quickly took to living in Rosie and she loved meeting new people and dogs. In fact, it appeared that Suzy wanted everyone she saw to stop and pet her, especially children.

Suzy meets Henry, the poodle next door

Suzy loved walking around the campground, walking down the boardwalk to the Gulf and riding in our kayak. In short, she loves camping.

Suzy loves going for a walk

Suzy on the boardwalk between the two camping loops

Suzy loves her mommy

Suzy inside Rosie, our Airstream trailer

Speaking of the kayak, we added an inflatable tandem kayak to our camping goodies. We spotted a bald eagle during our first trip in the bay. Some other memorable moments in the kayak include floating amid several pelicans and seeing a mother dolphin and her baby about 25 feet in front of us. We also took the kayak for a spin in the Gulf. The waves were fun until we were headed back to shore and they crashed over us. While we ended up very wet, we enjoyed riding our kayak in the Gulf and look forward to more adventures with it in the future.

Suzy in the kayak

Getting ready to launch the kayak

Here are some specifics about T. H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.

• Our site had 30 and 20 amp service. From talking with other people in the campground, I don't think 50 amp service is available in this park.
• Campsites have water but no sewer connections. The main dump station is close to the Gulf Breeze camping loop. There is a dump station in the Shady Pines loop, but it is for emptying sewer totes. There is no vehicle access to this dump station, so you will have to pull your heavy tote across some soft sand to use that dump station. While it sounds difficult, it is easier to use than dragging your sewer tote to the Gulf Breeze dump station.
• There are two restrooms with showers in each campground. They are well maintained and cleaned by the park's volunteers. The restrooms in the Shady Pines side are starting to show their ages.
• Expect to see a healthy number of children in this park. For some reason, parents love to bring their families here. From our perspective, we love seeing and hearing children play in this park.
• AT&T placed a marginal 4G voice and data signal (one to two bars) over the park. We ended up having to stand on our picnic table to complete a phone call.
• The only TV signals we reliably saw were CBS and NBC. We saw FOX for a moment or two and ABC dropped in for an occasional visit. Digital channels were limited to CW and a little ME-TV. If you want to watch TV, this isn't the best park for you. On the other hand, you can bring some DVDs you have been meaning to watch and catch-up on some movies while here.
• This is a pet friendly park. Suzy enjoyed meeting many new four-legged friends while we camped in the park.
• There is a campstore in the park. It has basic supplies plus you can rent canoes and kayaks there. If you decide to bypass the campstore and head to town for some milk, the next grocery store is more than 30 miles down the road.

We have been a regular in the park for more than 15 years. In talking to other campers about the park, we discovered that they either love it or hate it. Ironically, both groups give the same reasons: the park is 30 miles from anything, cell service is spotty and it is hard to snag a decent TV signal to watch.

I guess it is all a matter of perspective. Some people enjoy camping in the woods next to the Gulf while others prefer camping closer to fast food restaurants and amusements. We will take the peace and quiet in a natural setting over being in the center of things every time. We are already planning our 16th trip to Port St. Joe Peninsula State Park.

Becky and Suzy in Apalachicola

Steve and Suzy inspect the shrimp boats in Apalachicola

Family selfie in Apalachicola

A pelican flying over the bay

Getting ready to head out in the kayak

Overlooking the bay

Area between the two camping loops

A bald eagle perched on top of a tree

Sunset

The boardwalk between the two camping loops

Original watercolor painting by Becky of fishing boat in Apalachicola

Original watercolor painting by Becky of the rental kayaks

Anastasia State Park - St. Augustine, Florida

We left the Canopener Rally in Topsail Hill State Park and headed east on I-10. Our next planned stop was Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine, Florida.

Near the water in St. Augustine

This is a park that keeps coming up in our conversations with other campers. Several people said it was one of their favorite places to camp. We decided to investigate for ourselves and reserved a site for Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer.

Rosie at Anastasia State Park

Our first impression of the park wasn't positive. Two very rude drivers practically ran us down as we entered the park. Maybe they were hosting a road-rage rally that day.

Once we were checked in, we started looking for our campsite. We were thankful that Rosie wasn't any larger because some of the turns are very tight in this park. We camped in the Coquina loop, which probably has the larger individual sites in the park.

All of the Anastasia sites are dirt based and the dirt in our site was softer than I would have liked. That meant the blocks we used to level Rosie would slowly sink into the sand during our stay. That just meant that Rosie would slowly start to lean to one side.

We think the big draw to this park lies outside the front gate. Sure, the beach is a nice Atlantic shoreline, but St. Augustine is just outside the park's front gate.

Lighthouse outside the park

Old St Augustine

Flagler College

Flagler College in St Augustine

Another view of Flagler College

St Augustine

A church in St Augustine

St. Augustine is a positive childhood memory for us. It was a school field-trip destination for us as children. Although we attended different schools in Florida, we both made the trip to St. Augustine with our classmates to see the fort, old school, old jail and the Fountain of Youth. In talking with other campers in the park, the main topic is always St. Augustine. The nation's oldest city still has the same draw that beckoned Florida elementary school teachers back in the '60s to schedule field-trips there.

The old school

The fort

In case you are wondering, St. Augustine has much to see and do. We enjoyed exploring the town without worrying about having to stay in our group with our teacher.

But what about the park? It is smaller than I imagined. It is very close to a busy highway, meaning you can hear road noises. The sites in the Coquina loop were very shady and larger than most state park campsites. And while the park was nice, we still prefer our favorite parks along the Florida and Alabama Gulf coasts.

Here are some specifics about this park:

• It was a challenge to level Rosie in our campsite. We had to use lots of leveling blocks to help erase the left-to-right slope in our site.
• Staying level was impossible. Our site had lots of soft sand and the leveling blocks simply sunk into the ground.
• Our site had 50, 30 and 20 amp service. Several times while parked here, our electrical service stopped for a moment and that was long enough for our surge protector to cycle through a two minute restart cycle.
• Be careful with your electronic gear. We noticed that the park's power would occasionally dip below 100 volts and this can damage your electronics and your air conditioner unit.
• Our site had a water connection. Unlike some parks we stayed in, the water tasted good here.
• Our site did not have a sewer connection.
• There was a dump station in the park.
• Some of the camping loops shared a bathhouse. Our loop had a bathhouse in the middle of it and it was a hike to get there.
• The bathhouse was not heated. With "freeze warnings" all around us, that meant the bathhouse was very cold.
• AT&T placed "two-bars" of service for voice and data over the park.
• The park provided Wi-Fi service near the camp store.
• Speaking of the the camp store, it had a limited stock of camping and beach supplies.
• We were able to watch CBS, CW, Fox and PBS using Rosie's TV antenna. We also received Bounce, Decades, Get-TV, H&I, ME-TV, Retro and THiS digital channels.

We are glad we finally made it to Anastasia State Park. While we enjoyed being there, I don't think this will be added to our "Frequently Revisit" list.

The beach at Anastasia State Park

A manatee warning sign

This would look great inside Rosie!

French onion soup

Trees inside Anastasia State Park

Having a Cuban sandwich from the Columbia Restaurant

Canopener 2016, Topsail Hill Preserve State Park - Destin, Florida

We attended our first Canopener Airstream Rally in 2015. That was when we learned about the WBCCI's (Wally Byam Caravan Club International) Southeastern Camping Unit. This is a very active unit that loves to spend time camping in their Airstreams. That was a good match for us and we joined that unit.

Look at the Canopener through Rosie's window

One of our memories from the 2015 Canopener was the cold weather. Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer kept us warm that weekend and we enjoyed our time at the rally.

Weather would play a role in the 2016 Canopener. Instead of being cold, we found ourselves dodging rain storms. This time Rosie kept us dry. Just as before, we found that the weather was inconvenient, but not a "show stopper." We were able to enjoy the rally with our growing circle of camping friends.
Topsail is not your typical state park. It was a resort style RV Park that the State of Florida purchased and continues to maintain in the same style. Topsail is famous for its manicured lawns and concrete pads.

The rain fell at the 2016 Canopener

We understand why the Canopener Rally is held in Topsail. It is a large park and able to support 100+ Airstream trailers. It has a good clubhouse and the sites are very nice. (More than 100 Airstream trailers and motorhomes were at the 2016 Canopener Rally!) These are things that rally planners love. It is also a nice park to walk around and visit fellow campers.

Nothing like seeing a park full of Airstream trailers

Rosie at the Canopener

Last year we camped in the outer loop and most of the Canopener events took place in the inner loop. We reserved our site early and were lucky enough to get the last available site in the inner loop this year. Somehow most of the events for the 2016 Canopener took place in the outer loop. I guess we will always be out-of-sync with the center of "action" at the Canopener.

Rosie's camping site at the 2016 Canopener

More Airstream trailers at the Canopener

One of the things we are starting to notice is that we are recognizing other Airstreamers when we attend rallys. There were more than half a dozen couples we knew from the Cajun Caravan or the WBCCI International Rally. That helps make attending Airstream rallys special.
Here are some specifics about this park:

• There are two main camping loops. We think the inner loop has the nicer sites.
• Our site had 50, 30 and 20 amp electrical service.
• Our site had water and sewer connections.
• There is a dump station in this park. It may be one of the least used dump stations in the Florida State Park system since the Topsail campsites come with sewer connections.
• Our site had a cable TV connection. Our track record with campground cable TV connections is not great, but it worked this time.
• AT&T placed a good 4G signal for both voice and data in this park.
• There was minimal Wi-Fi service near the laundry. For some reason, I only saw the Wi-Fi signal for a fleeting moment while we were in the park.
• There is a camp store and a coin-operated laundry in the park.
• There is no need to panic if you run out of milk and eggs. There is a Publix grocery store a few miles outside the park.
• We found that we needed to buy drinking water at the Publix grocery store because the park's water didn't taste too good.
• There is a tram that takes campers to the beach at Topsail. It ran every two hours during our visit. I imagine it runs more frequently during the summer months. This may be the only state park on the Gulf coast that we have never made it to the beach.

Will we return to Topsail Hill State Park? Probably, but not before the 2017 Canopener.

Topsail is close to Grayton Beach and its famous trees

Slipping away for lunch

Enjoying the 2016 Canopener