States – Page 36 – Wandering Dawgs

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Alabama

January 2, 2017October 14, 2017Posted in Alabama, RVing, Wandering around AmericaTagged Alabama River, America the Beautiful, Gunter Hill, Oak Mountain State Park, Prairie Creek, Spanish Moss17 Comments

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 — 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.

We love it when we discover a pretty, peaceful place to spend the night.

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.

Best Campgrounds of the year – 2016

December 19, 2016June 25, 2017Posted in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Parks, RVing, State ParksTagged Favorite Campgrounds, Fifth Wheel, Fort Pickens Campground, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Oak Mountain State Park, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Stephen C. Foster State Park11 Comments

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

Early Morning at Tranquility Lake — 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.

Read more about our stay at First Stop on our Fall Football Road Trip .

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.

You can read more about our stay at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

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?

Read more about our stay at Gulf Islands National Seashore .

Honorable Mention:

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…

December Caterpillars in Coastal Georgia

December 15, 2016Posted in Butterflies, Georgia, NatureTagged Butterfly Garden, milkweed, monarch caterpillar13 Comments

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, 2016 — Monarch Caterpillar on Milkweed – December 15, 2016

SEC Football at Ole Miss in Oxford

November 5, 2016March 10, 2018Posted in Mississippi, Restaurants, RVing, Sporting Events, State Parks, SunsetTagged City Grocery, College Football, Georgia Bulldogs, James Beard Award, John W Kyle State Park, Ole Miss, Oxford, SEC Football, Tailgating, The Grove9 Comments

We had just returned home from our fall football road trip when three days later we evacuated for Hurricane Matthew. This post has been on hold ever since.

If you follow SEC college football you know that our favorite team, the Georgia Bulldogs, are not having a good year. That’s all I have to say about that.

I have to say that except for the game on September 24, we had a great time in Oxford during the weekend of the Georgia – Ole Miss football game. The people of Oxford were gracious, the Ole Miss fans friendly, and the atmosphere in town on Friday and as we wandered through the Grove on Saturday before the game was like no college football game I’ve ever attended.

Our home for the weekend was John W. Kyle State Park on Sardis Lake, about a 30 minute drive from downtown Oxford. All through the campground were RV’s displaying their team colors. We didn’t spend much time in the campground but I was able to get a sunset picture over the lake on the first night.

Friends of ours were staying in Oxford within walking distance of downtown and the stadium. We met them Friday afternoon to browse the shops around the courthouse square and have a fabulous lunch at City Grocery. As we were enjoying our meal we noticed not one but four James Beard Awards on the wall! The food, service, and company were all excellent.

City Grocery on the square in Oxford, Mississippi

Two of the Four James Beard Awards at City Grocery

Kickoff was set for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday so we left the campground early in hopes of beating the traffic. We planned it perfectly and met our friends in time to eat a quick breakfast before heading to the Grove.

The Grove is a large area in the middle of the University of Mississippi campus. On game days it is transformed to a sea of tailgate tents lined up side by side with fans from both teams walking elbow to elbow on the pathways between the tents.

Tailgating Tents as far as the eye could see

A few Georgia fans were tailgating in the Grove — Fans from both teams were tailgating side by side

The Ole Miss band marched by before the game

Georgia and Ole Miss Fans getting ready for the game — Georgia and Ole Miss Fans in the Grove before the game

Did I mention it was HOT the whole time we were there? The temperature was in the upper nineties on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday.

If your favorite college football team ever plays against Ole Miss in Oxford, get some tickets and go! It’s a one of a kind experience. And hopefully, your team will do better against them than my team did. And I hope I never hear the Ole Miss Hotty Toddy cheer ever again!

Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew

October 22, 2016October 23, 2016Posted in GeorgiaTagged Alabama Power, downed trees, Evacuation, Georgia Power, good neighbors, Huricane Matthew, hurricane cleanup, Hurricane damage, photo essay, volunteer24 Comments

Category 2 Hurricane Matthew passed offshore close to our coastal Georgia home in the early morning hours of Saturday, October 8, 2016. We were safely evacuated in middle Georgia and we returned home to find our house in good shape with no damage. We were among the lucky ones. Many houses had some damage, mostly roof damage and flooding. Some residents had to move out of their homes so repairs can be made. Many other homes, like ours, were spared. Everyone we know was safe.

Many thanks go out to the volunteers who gave their time and/or money to help out those who needed it the most after the storm. There are many volunteer stories throughout the areas affected by Hurricane Matthew but these are a few that I personally know about in our area.

A huge thank to our neighbors who rode out the storm and immediately started clearing the roads as soon as the storm had passed.
Friends who evacuated to a motel in a small Georgia town and waited out the storm by volunteering in one of the shelters housing fellow evacuees.
The owner of a moving company in Atlanta who brought some of his moving trucks and crews to help people move out when they were unable to remain in their home while repairs are being made.
A couple who drove down from Indiana to help people move out while repairs are made to their home.
Volunteers from churches and organizations such as the YMCA who helped clean up yard debris for those who were unable to do it themselves.

Roof from a neighbor's deck landed across the street from our house — Roof from a neighbor’s deck landed across the street from our house

Big trees were blocking roads in our neighborhood

Neighbors walkway to dock landed in the marsh

A familiar site in the neighborhood — A familiar sight in the neighborhood

Downed power line in a neighbor's yard — Downed power line in a neighbor’s yard

Cranes were brought in to lift the giant trees

What's left of one of the giant trees — What’s left of one of the giant trees

Its been more than two weeks since the storm and there is still a lot of work to be done. The sound of chainsaws and nail guns will be around for a while and it may be weeks before the debris can be cleared from the sides of the roads. Blue tarps on roofs is a common sight while the homeowners wait their turn for their new roof.