Sunset – Page 8 – Wandering Dawgs

A Few of our Favorite State Park Campgrounds

September 16, 2014January 1, 2015Posted in Florida, Georgia, South Dakota, State Parks, Sunset, Washington, WildlifeTagged Cape Disappointment, Custer State Park, Floridas Forgotten Coast, Iron Mountain Road, lighthouses, Needles Highway, Okenefokee Swamp, St. Joseph Peninsula, Stephen C. Foster State Park12 Comments

We love camping in state parks. Most state parks we have found have big sites, beautiful surroundings, and wildlife.

We didn’t discover state park camping until the only place we could find to stay in Arkansas on our way home on our first RV trip was Lake Dardanelle State Park in Russellville, Arkansas. Our site was big, we weren’t lined up like sardines next to our neighbors, and we had a nice lake near our site. From that night on, we have looked for state parks whenever we travel.

Here are just a few state parks we love.

Custer State Park, Custer, South Dakota – the Black Hills, scenic drives and wildlife.

Mama bison with baby on Custer State Park Wildlife Loop Road in June, 2011

Custer State Park Game Lodge Campground Site 12

Mount Rushmore as seen from Iron Mountain Road in Custer State Park

Along the Needle Highway in Custer State Park

Needle’s Eye on Needles Highway in Custer State Park

Cape Disappointment State Park, Ilwaco, Washington – 2 lighthouses, a path to the beach behind our full hook up campsite, a dog friendly beach on the Pacific Ocean, and a Lewis and Clark museum. What’s not to love?

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, WA

North Head Lighthouse seen from beach at Cape Disappointment State Park, Washington

Blondie enjoyed the beach at Cape Disappointment

A path to the beach was behind our site at Cape Disappointment State Park

Henry enjoying a beautiful sunset at Cape Disappointment

St. Joseph Peninsula, Port St. Joe, Florida in Florida’s Forgotten Coast – beautiful uncrowded white sandy beaches, nature trails, and sunsets.

Enjoying a January day at St. Joseph Peninsula

We could hear the waves from our campsite

We had the beach almost to ourselve

Deer at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park

We watched the sunset every night

Stephen C. Foster State Park, Fargo, Georgia – Huge sites in the middle of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Boat ride through the Okefenokee Swamp

Big Pull through site at Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia

Alligator in the Okefenokee Swamp

Other state parks that stand out are Itasca State Park in Minnesota, Claytor Lake State Park in Virginia, Beverly Beach and Humbug Mountain State Parks in Oregon, Kentucky Horse Park in Kentucky, and Cattail Cove State Park in Arizona. We’ve also camped in many Florida and Georgia state parks and love them all.

If you are an RV’er or tent camper and never stayed in a state park, give one a try on your next trip. And if you don’t camp, many state parks have cabins for rent and a few even have lodges.

Staycation

July 11, 2014June 20, 2015Posted in Birds, Georgia, Sunset, WildlifeTagged barrier island, Egret, red-bellied woodpecker, ruby throated hummingbird, salt marsh, Staycation14 Comments

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of staycation is “a vacation spent at home or nearby.”

There are so many fun things to see and do near where we live that we decided to stay home this summer instead of wandering in the RV. Here are just a few things we’ve enjoyed so far this summer.

Egret Preening

Red-bellied Woodpecker on Palm Tree

Ruby Throated Hummingbird Taking a Drink

Remembering our 2013 Travels

December 31, 2013June 20, 2015Posted in Birds, Florida, Georgia, RVing, State Parks, Sunset, United States Forest ServiceTagged Egret, Little Ocmulge, Ocala National Forest, Salt Springs, Stephen Foster, Suwanee River5 Comments

Happy New Year!! 2013 was a great year for wandering!

This year we checked off one of the biggest items on our bucket list: from May to September we made the trip of a lifetime to Alaska and back in our RV. In the fall we visited a beautiful COE park in West Point, Georgia. I’ve already posted about those trips in previous posts on this blog so here are a few photos from our January 2013 journey to south Georgia and North Florida.

We started 2013 with a short trip to three different parks. The first was Little Ocmulgee State Park in Helena, Georgia.

Little Ocmulgee Lake, January, 2013

View out back window Little OcmulgeeState Park, Georgia

Cypress Swamp on the Short Loop Trail at Little Ocmulgee State Park, January, 2013

Our main destination was a week in the United States Forest Service campground in Salt Springs, Florida.

Egret at Salt Springs, January, 2013

Fish jumping at Salt Springs, January, 2013

From the boat ride through Salt Springs Run, January, 2013

A great place to beach the boat at the end of Salt Springs Run, January, 2013

Sunset at Salt Springs, January, 2013

Our final stop was at one of our favorite parks, Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida.

The Carillon at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, January, 2013

Way down upon the Suwanee River at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, January, 2103

So where do think we will be off to in 2014? Stay tuned for more.

Wandering Dawgs Wander Again

November 13, 2013June 20, 2015Posted in Birds, COE Park, Georgia, RVing, Sunset, WildlifeTagged autumn, fall colors, fog, geese, Nature, R Schaefer Heard, West Point Lake14 Comments

Not all of our wandering is to far away places like Alaska or the Yukon. Sometimes we wander close to home. On Monday, we hitched up the Titanium for a road trip to Auburn, Alabama to watch the south’s oldest football rivalry between Georgia and Auburn this coming Saturday. We decided to take a few extra days and explore a new to us Corps of Engineers park on West Point Lake in West Point, Georgia just off of I-85 near the Georgia/Alabama line. It’s great traveling during the week during the off season. We are almost the only ones here.

R Schaefer Heard COE Campground on West Point Lake Site 113

View out the back window site 113 R Schaefer Heard on West Point Lake, GA

We spent three relaxing nights in site 113 in the campground with no other campers in our loop. The trees were wearing their fall colors and the sunsets were spectacular.

West Point Lake, Georgia

Fall Colors on West Point Lake, Georgia

Beautiful Fall Colors across from our campsite

Sunset on West Point Lake, Georgia

Foggy morning on West Point Lake

Morning Fog

West Point Dam is a short drive from the campground

Looking at our campsite from across the lake

Floating dock next to the boat ramp

Another beautiful sunset on West Point Lake

Our only neighbors were the geese.

Gathering of geese behind our campsite

Geese on West Point Lake

The geese swam by our campsite

We watched the geese in front of our campsite

R Schaefer Heard Campground on West Point Lake is one of three Corps of Engineers campgrounds on the lake. Our site is about 40 feet from the lake and like most COE parks we have a large site with plenty of room between our site and the ones on either side. Our site is a paved, back in site with water and electric hookups, a tent pad, fire ring, picnic table and a beautiful lake view. For more information about the park or to make reservations you can go the Recreation.gov site for R Schaefer Heard

Day 71: More exploring around Ninilchik

July 26, 2013June 19, 2015Posted in Alaska, Birds, Sunset, WildlifeTagged Bald Eagle, Kenai Peninsula, Mt. Redoubt, Ninilchik Village, sunset4 Comments

Day 71: Thursday, July 25, 2o13

Blondie and I started the day with our usual early morning walk by the marsh behind the campground.

The marsh behind the campground

View of the marsh and the bluff at the mouth of Deep Creek

Wildflowers everywhere

Later I went for a long walk on the beach away from the campground and boat launch area. It was a beautiful day and many boats had gone out fishing. I passed by many people digging for clams, walking along the beach, or four wheeling by the water. The tide was low so there was plenty of beach.

My hope was to find flocks of eagles feasting on the fish carcasses that end up on the beach at low tide. The only birds dining on the carcasses were hundreds of gulls at waters edge. I managed to find a couple of eagles sitting tucked away high up on the bluff overlooking the water.

Lots of trailers lined up on the beach

There were trickles of water coming down the bluff by the beach

There were several downed trees at the base of the cliff

Razor clam shell. Digging for these razor clams is a popular activity along the beach.

People strolling along the beach at low tide with the sea gulls in the foreground

Shell and rocks on the beach

Eagle on the bluff overlooking the water

This eagle was hard to spot behind the grass

Later in the day Henry and I took a drive to see the Russian Orthodox church which sits on a bluff overlooking Ninilchik Village. Ninilchik was first explored and settled by Russians and there are families who have lived here for many generations. I met two women at the church who manage the gift shop and maintain all the graves. They grew up in Ninilchik together and lived with relatives in Anchorage to attend high school because at the time there was no high school in Ninilchik. They graduated together in 1950.

There was an eagle soaring over the bluff as I looked down into the village.

The Russian Orthodox Church in Ninilchik

Gorgeous field of wildflowers across the street from the church

Russian Orthodox Church

Eagle soaring over bluff at Russian Orthadox Church in Ninilchik

Looking down at Ninilchik Village from the Russian Orthodox Church

We enjoyed relaxing with Ted and Ruth Ann and feasting on clam chowder that Ruth Ann made from the razor clams that Ted had dug that morning. Henry cooked hamburgers on the grill to finish up a great dinner. As we sat by a campfire after dinner we could see about 2 adult eagles and 4 or 5 young eagles soaring over the bluff by the mouth of Deep Creek.

I went to bed early and was sleeping soundly when Henry woke me up about 11:00 pm and said to come outside to look at something. I couldn’t imagine what it was but put on a jacket over my pajamas before going outside to see the most spectacular sunset I’ve ever seen. It was so out of this world I felt like I was on Mars!.