Grayton Beach, Florida (continued)

While staying at Grayton Beach, we took a ride over to Pensacola on Veteran’s Day to catch the Blue Angels homecoming show.  This guys was loud:

Check out the guys in the cockpit on this one:

And many more performed before the Blue Angels:

The Blue angels were on for 1.5 hrs . . . awesome! Check these guys out side by side, one upside down:

These guys are 18” at most away from each other:

Couple more cool shots:

Several other days we hit the off road bike trails – well marked and maintained – challenging too!

I know we’ve mentioned the sunsets before but every night it’s another beautiful one:

The sunset looking over the lake behind our camp toward the beach dunes:

Those specs in the water are ducks checking out the sunset too:



Back to the beach with sailboats doing sail-bys:

Look close and you can see hundreds of fish in the wave:

Did I mention the sunsets?

We found a great little Irish bar just down the street.  Bar’s owner is a huge Steelers fan . . . he sat next to us at the bar for a while we watched the Pats whoop up on the Steelers . . . Great food, drinks and game . . . 7-2!

Another day we hit the beach after some nasty storms the night before . . . hard to believe this is the same beach we’ve been at the last 2 weeks:

So we hiked the dunes trail instead:

some of it was a wash out from all thee rain the night before . . . we'll be back!

We did hit the links 1 day so far.  Both shot bogey golf so we're off to a good start!  We've packed up from Grayton Beach and are now at Port Saint Joe State Park (still on the panhandle).  Made a pit stop at RV Connections to have the tin can serviced.  If you ever need it, great place, great people, Cliff in Service and all the guys in Parts - very helpful, great attitudes!

At Port Saint Joe State Park we have no cell or wireless service.  Have to drive a ways to get it.  We have a great site with the bay in our back yard and the ocean in the front yard.  Nothing to do around here except explore, hike, bike & relax - should be good!

Grayton Beach State Park Florida

We headed out of Pigeon Forge for the Florida  panhandle driving through TN, GA and AL before stopping and spending our 1st night at a WalMart Superstore parking lot just south of Montgomery Alabama.  Several other RVs and trucks camped out there - wasn't too bad (for free)!  The next morning we headed out early and made Grayton Beach State Park in Florida by noon.  The beach here is beautiful:

and empty this time of year. . .

The flags are warning of hazardous waters and dangerous marine life:

But all we found were a few washed up jelly fish:

and herons on the hunt:

We got a great site with the lake in our back yard and the beach a short walk away:

and a tree gecko guarding our lot:

Weather was a little cool at first (low 60s) but found it's way to the upper 70s this week.  One afternoon we caught a great sunset over the dunes near our campsite:

Another day we drove to Panama City to check out an area that was being developed a couple years ago when we were last here - Pier Park.  Many restaurants and shops - it really turned out nice:

A lot of the city has been rebuilt along the waterfront since we were last here after a hurricane - looking good.  We had to stop at our favorite baked oyster hole, Dusty's to have a dozen Dusty Baked & Rockefeller oysters - Awesome!  This place has come a long ways on the outside since we 1st visited 8-10 years ago but inside, same decor and same good food & drinks!

One night we went back to Pier Park to catch a free Clint Black concert outdoors - not bad for "free" country . . .

Some beautiful sunsets even when there's not a cloud in the sky:



even the sandpiper was checking it out . . .

Even though it's beach weather during the day, when the sun goes down it's campfire weather!  Still burning NH wood - thanks Paul!

We've been doing a lot of walking the beach and biking trails every day (great biking trails on and off road here).  You really can get to everything you need on bike here.  But most importantly, when in Rome . . .

more to come for Grayton Beach before we depart next Thursday . . .

Great Smokey Mountain National Park - TN & NC

Next we landed a couple hours north west of Asheville in the town of Sevierville, TN at a very nice little place called Up The Creek RV Park.  We have a beautiful lot right on the creek which looked more like a river when we arrived:

Check out our neighbor sitting on a branch over the creek in our back yard:

Sevierville is right next door to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN.  The first night here Dad & Alice stopped by for a visit and some cards - Dad & I let the ladies win.  The next day we drove to Clingmans Dome in the Park.  Again the scenery going through the park was breathtaking:

We hiked to the peak of Clingmans Dome (highest point in the park and 3rd highest point east of thee Rockies - very close to Mt Mitchell in height).  The hike was paved but very steep - the views all the way up and at the top were beautiful:

On the way up we passed these folks resting and enjoying the view from one of the benches:

Later that night we were visited by Ron "I'm soo cold" Stratman - lots of beers & laughs (no pictures).  It was great seeing you Ronnie!

Another day this week we headed through the park and a Cherokee reservation to go to Maggie Valley to see the elk.  The only elk we saw there were bronzed.  So we headed for Catalooche Valley to again see the elk.  Aside from the 10 mile 2-way single lane winding dirt road we traversed on the way, we saw tons of elk!

Some were bathing in the creeks running through the field:

There were many young ones too:

And many with impressive racks!

We decided to take a different 18 mile 2-way single lane winding and much rougher dirt road back even though we ran into young kids who warned us "you have no idea what's ahead of you".  Seeing all the elk made the white knuckle trip worth it!

Another day we hiked to Laurel Falls in the Park - hiking was good and the falls were beautiful:



Another day we hiked Metcaff Bottom  Trail.  There were many switchbacks over the creek along the way:

We hiked up the to Greenbriar School House:

Suze put on a class but no one showed up:

We continued up the trail and made a pit stop at the Walker Sisters house – very old, very cool house.  Incredible old 2 room house with loft and 2 fireplaces – this may be where we decide to settle down in 17 months . . .

5 mile hike, our longest so far, not too difficult but interesting sites along the way.  Later we stopped by Dad & Alice's to meet friends Ronnie, Shirley & Frank - very nice folks from NC.

We had an excellent home/trailer cooked meal and watched the Patriots win another game! 6-1, best in the NFL so far!!!

Another day we drove to Cades Cove in the Park.  We did the 11 mile scenic drive there and saw all kinds of dear:

We stopped along the scenic drive and did a moderate hike to Abrahms Falls:

Later that night we went out to dinner with Dad & Alice for Dad's birthday and then had a nice fire back at our campsite:

On our last day in Gatlinburg we drove the scenic Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail - short drive that was well worth it.  We saw more deer today but they were hiding in the woods from the cameras.  Several houses from the 1800s.  Many little bridges that crossed over a river all along the way:

Tomorrow morning (Weds) we start heading for Santa Rosa Beach on the Florida pan-handle.