St. George Island and Southern Comfort

We really enjoyed our 4 night stay at St. George Island SP. We were wishing we could have stayed longer, but it was Thursday night and the park was full for the weekend. We are learning that the Florida SP's this time of year are much more full than most places we go. You have to make reservations for most weekends. I have been doing some checking and it does not seem to be the case in Georgia. Just over the border, they have plenty of availability. Certainly something to be aware of and plan for. 

Before we left we wanted to take one more walk on the beach to see the sunset. It was a beautiful evening.

Small lake at the front of the campground. 

We were about an hour before sunset, so we walked on the beach for a while.

Kim, in her element. 

Calm gulf water on a nice day.

Sun setting over the island.

Kim decided that she wanted to see the sun setting over the water. The problem was that we had to walk to the other side of the island to see that. We walked back through the campground to the bay side and just caught the end of the sunset.

Nice View. You can see the bridge in the distance.

Same view, different angle. Smoke from some forest fires up in Tates Hell State Forest. 

That was the perfect end to a great stay at St. George Island SP. This place will be one of our top parks we have ever stayed in. We have stayed in 12 campgrounds on this trip. This one is in the top 5 and we have had some great places to stay.

On Friday, February 12, we left St. George Island and drove around the coastal bend of Florida into the main part of the peninsula. I looked on Passport America for a campground and found Southern Comfort. It was about $20 per night after taxes at the PA rate. The overhead view on Google Earth looked ok. It was pretty close to the highway, but we decided to give it a shot. It is about halfway between SGI and Orlando.

Southern Comfort is an older campground with a significant number of long term occupants. The owner was very nice and invited us to come to the "bar" for a drink and to join them for a Valentines day party on Saturday night. We opted to stay home on Friday night. On Saturday, I went for a long walk on the bike path that runs along the road on the far side. It is very nice and would have been a good place for a long bike ride.

We did go to the Saturday night "pot luck" dinner and Valentines party. We spent some time with our neighbors in the park. Dick and Kim are from Portsmouth, NH and are trying out full timing. They sold their house in one day. So, they had to get ready in a hurry and get on the road. They are unsure if this lifestyle is for them. We talked for a long time and offered any help they might need. Really nice folks. Unfortunately, I forgot to get their picture.

Here is my Valentines Day card to Kim:

Southern Comfort is not the type of park we would normally stay in. Clear evidence of that is that I did not take a single picture of the park or the town of Cross City, Florida. It is not far to Fanning Springs or Manatee Springs State Parks. We would certainly opt for one of those sites if we had the option. The good news is that it was overall a good experience and it set us up for a Monday departure to head south to Orlando. It was there, that we would get even further out of our comfort zone. I will write all about that in my next entries.