Happily married 55 years, retired baby boomer, mother of 2, grandmother of 4, traveler, Georgia Bulldog fan, Air Force Brat, avid reader, amateur photographer, gardener, ovarian cancer survivor, blogger. Every day is a gift!
Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride! I will be featuring the states alphabetically and next up is
Alaska
Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. The capital is Juneau and it is the only state capital that can only be reached by air, boat, or birth. The largest city is Anchorage.
We spent 50 glorious nights in Alaska in the summer of 2013.
I loved meeting so many wonderful Alaskans and hearing their stories. Wildlife, glaciers, boat trips, a flight seeing tour, eagles, halibut fishing, Denali National Park, taking the RV on the Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines, and a train ride on the Alaska Railroad are just a few of the amazing things we experienced while we were there. Our favorite place was Haines. The most exciting thing we did was take a flight-seeing tour from Talkeetna to see Mt. McKinley and land on Ruth Glacier. The farthest north we went was Coldfoot, north of the Arctic Circle.
Pullen Creek RV Park, Skagway, Alaska
Waterfalls along the Klondike Highway
Arriving at the Haines ferry dock
Watching for whales in Haines, Alaska
Bald Eagle at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK
Haines boat harbor
Deadliest Catch!
Mendenhall Glacier
The free George Black Ferry crosses the Yukon River from Dawson City to Top of the World Highway.
Poker Creek Alaska
The signposts show other towns named after chickens. Who knew there were so many?
The Pedro Dredge in Chicken is a National Historic Site.
Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska
Downtown Talkeetna.
We went really close to Mt. McKinley
Loving every minute of our time on Ruth glacier
Home of author Mary Lovel in Sherman, Alaska
The Alaska Railroad runs right behind our campsite
Such an amazing sight to see their tail
Stellar Sea Lions on day trip to Juneau
Calving on Aialik Glacier one
A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
There were Puffins in the water
Sea Otters on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
Wandering Dawgs at the Arctic Circle
A good look at the Alaska pipeline as it goes underground
Four of these fish are ours!
Mount Redoubt sunset in Ninilchik, Alaska
Anchor Point is the most westerly highway point on a continuous road system in North America
Our first moose sighting was this cow by a pond
Lukor liked it on top of his house
Polychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, Alaska
Caribou grazing in Denali National Park
Do you see the profile of a face on the right side of the rock?
Chunk of ice from the Columbia Glacier
Fireweed behind our campsite made the beautiful view even better
Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez
Every day was memorable, every day was special, every day we saw something spectacular. Was it worth driving over 14,000 there and back? Absolutely!
To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama
Welcome to the first post in our series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride! I will be featuring the states alphabetically starting with
Alabama
Alabama became the 22nd state on December 14, 1819. Montgomery is the capital and Birmingham is the largest city.
We’ve traveled through Alabama many times on our travels either at the beginning or the end of a long trip. All of our stays have been short so we haven’t been able to spend a lot of time exploring but we have enjoyed all of our visits there. Our travels never took us to the space center in Huntsville and we never had enough time to visit any of the Civil Rights museums or walk on the white sand beaches along Alabama’s Gulf Coast. We did enjoy many beautiful campgrounds and had fun cheering on the Dawgs when Georgia was the visiting team at Jordan-Hare stadium at the University of Auburn .
We spent our first ever night night on the road in Montgomery at the beginning of our cross country trip in 2006.
Our very first night on the road on July 14, 2006
We discovered camping in Corps of Engineers parks on our way home from a three month trip in 2007.
Prairie Creek Campground – Our first COE Park
Sunsets over the lakes and rivers in Alabama are some of the prettiest we’ve seen.
Sunset over the Alabama River at Prairie Creek Campground
We love camping underneath Spanish Moss draped trees.
Spanish Moss at Gunter Hill
We love it when we discover a pretty, peaceful place to spend the night.
Sherling Lake
Scenic drives and walking trails made our stays at Oak Mountain State Park one of our favorite campgrounds of 2016.
View from the top of Peavine Falls Roadgames in Auburn.
We planned a couple of fall trips around the Georgia-Auburn game in Auburn.
Jordan-Hare Stadium at Auburn University
We didn’t get to walk on the beautiful Gulf beaches in Alabama but we did stop for lunch at Flora-Bama on the state line between between Florida and Alabama.
Welcome to our third annual “Wandering Dawgs best campgrounds of the year” list.
Our 2016 wandering took us on a short trips to Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi.
We prefer staying in state and federal parks and this year our top three all fall into one of those categories.
Number 3: Oak Mountain State Park, Pelham, Alabama
Tranquility Lake was just a short walk from our campsite
We stopped at Oak Mountain on our way to Mississippi and enjoyed it so much we returned to the same site (A28) on our way back home to Georgia.
Our site was spacious with full hook ups and nothing but woods behind us. This large state park has a golf course, archery range, equestrian camping and horse stables, nature and hiking trails, lake front beach, mountain bike trails, and scenic drives. The road through the park is a popular place for bicyclists. Nearby Pelham and Birmingham have restaurants and shopping.
Number 2: Stephen C. Foster State Park in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Fargo, Georgia
Do you see the alligator behind the Cypress tree?
We love this place so much we have camped here numerous times in past 10 years. Our most recent trip was in March, 2016.
Just getting to the campground is an adventure. After turning off the highway, seventeen miles of driving through pine forests and palmettos takes you into the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. It is remote, quiet, and wild.
We camp in one of the large premium pull through sites. It is a short walk or bike ride from the campground to the marina where you can go on a guided tour of the Okefenokee Swamp, rent a boat or canoe, launch your own boat, or take a walk on the nature trail through the swamp. Alligators are often seen around the marina but we’ve never seen one in the campground.
Number 1: Fort Pickens Campground, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida
Ready for Beach Chair Sitting on the Gulf of Mexico
Miles of white sugar sand beach in Gulf Islands National Seashore within walking distance from our campsite, an historic fort to explore, a nice campsite, nature trails, beautiful sunsets, fresh seafood, fishing pier, museums and a lighthouse nearby – what’s not to love?
We returned to Mississippi River State Park in Marianna, Arkansas, our “Best Campground of the Year – 2014“. I left it out of the top three to make room for three new campgrounds
Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, White Springs, Florida
Eastbank Corps of Engineers Campground, Bainbridge, Georgia
Where do you think we will wander next year? Stay tuned…
I’ve been so busy lately with Thanksgiving, cleaning up after Hurricane Matthew, and getting ready for Christmas I haven’t had much time to look at my butterfly garden.
With all our Christmas packages and cards in the mail, I could finally catch my breath this morning so I went out to our porch to enjoy my second cup of tea. As soon as I sat down I saw a Monarch butterfly flitting around our milkweed. I abandoned my tea, grabbed my camera and rushed downstairs to get a picture. The butterfly took off but when I began to examine the milkweed I was excited to find several caterpillars munching away on the leaves.
Monarch Caterpillar on Milkweed – December 15, 2016Monarch Caterpillar on Milkweed – December 15, 2016
Wandering Dawgs 