Eastpoint, FL

Mon., Nov. 29, 2021 thru Sun., Dec. 5, 2021

Monday we left Dunnellon, FL and Rainbow Springs State Park and traveled 218 miles mostly west on 98 to arrive at Coastline RV Resort in Eastpoint, Fl (panhandle). Very nice campground with a view of St. George Bay across from us. Couldn’t ask for more! Tuesday I had a haircut scheduled. The first one since we left NH. Apparently showing a picture of what my hair is supposed to look like was not a sufficient plan. Oy. Lesson learned. I will be more explicit next time. Half a can of hair spray later and lots of curling iron bouffantness I left the salon looking like I had a helmet on my head. No difference the next day after I slept on it… rather amazing actually. I’ve never experienced that before. Thankfully. 

Moving on…. after the trauma at the hair salon, it was laundry day. Gary also had to fix a water leak we were having. And Joe, bless his heart, cleaned dead bugs off the front of our RV. He was cleaning his rig anyway, and offered to do ours. Then we all imbibed in an adult beverage.

Wednesday, Dec. 1st, we all enjoyed an airboat ride in Apalachicola, FL. A first for all of us. An awesome experience! So much fun. We saw a few gators, a few bald eagles, and some gorgeous unspoiled scenery. We also were entertained with stories from our Captain. He was a native boy and talked about wrestling gators out of swimming pools in the area. Yikes. We would all do another airboat ride in a heartbeat!

After the airboat ride, we explored the charming historic town of Apalachicola with it’s great galleries, boutiques, waterfront area, and historic architecture. This is considered the “Forgotten Coast.” It’s the quiet part of the Florida Coast and completely enchanting. We had a “linner” (lunch/dinner combo) at Seaside Grill followed by picking up dessert at the Chocolate and Coffee Company to bring home. Yum!

Thursday, Dec. 2nd, we explored St. George Island State Park. It has 9 miles of beaches that were mostly empty. We had the beach to ourselves and made good use of it… walking on the beach and taking over a pavilion to sit, relax and have lunch. Afterwards we did a 2-mile nature trail over a combination of sandy trails and boardwalks with water views. We saw a pair of eagles, a few jelly fish, and a star fish.

Friday, Dec. 3rd, we headed back over to St. George Island to visit the lighthouse and climb the 92 steps to the top. Gary opted to pass on the climb. This is the 4th version of this lighthouse as the previous 3 were destroyed, but they saved 22,000 of the original bricks from 1852. Volunteers cleaned the old mortar off, and the bricks were used on the inside of the current lighthouse. So cool. The vertical climb at the very top thru a small opening was a trip! (Thank you, Joe, for your help getting me up there.) Afterwards we headed to the state park at the end of the island for a cookout in our own private pavilion. That was Gary’s wonderful idea. He’s full of them! We had the beach to ourselves once again! After that we saw an amazing sunset and got to see a golf cart Christmas parade on St. George. Then finished the night off with a campfire. Another great day.

Saturday, while driving through Apalachicola, we stumbled upon a holiday craft fair. I love seeing work from local artists. So much fun. I bought some nuts (no wise cracks) and a shell decoration for our tiny home. I got to chatting with the woman who created it. She was a full-time RVer for a few years and loved it. Then her husband passed, and she settled in Apalachicola. It is a charming town! 

Then we drove up to St. Joe Peninsula State Park and walked along the bay side. No one there. Beautiful. Just to reiterate… this is Florida’s “Forgotten Coast,” and it’s blissfully empty of tourists. Unfortunately the damage from 2018’s Hurricane Michael is in evidence at the state park and the town of Port St. Joe. Such a shame. But it was nice to see many thriving restaurants in Port St. Joe. We enjoyed lunch at Provisions. And we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the “Joe Center for the Arts” and seeing so many trees decorated for the Christmas Tree contest. A lovely day. 

Sunday was a quiet day of getting odds & ends done before leaving tomorrow for our final stop in Florida… Destin. Although Cheryl & I did manage to get a 2-mile walk in.