Seriously??????back in my flannels!!!!

MacGyver and I left last Monday and headed North (bad idea) to Ft. Walton Beach, FL..in the panhandle. Yep, we went from pretty nice weather to “not so nice” weather in 230 miles.  We are staying at Fred Gannon State Park, which is actually located in Niceville..I find this a rather humorous name for a town, especially when they turned off our park water for 4 nights due to freezing nightly temps..Tonight, 28 degrees, tomorrow  a high of 51 and low of 30, Saturday a high of 63 (HEAT WAVE) and low of 41..and finally we have Sunday…a high of 54 and low of 35.  We loaded up with water onboard, so we are all good.  Soooooo,it’s back to my flannels for the next few evenings.  Heck I just might have to wave good bye to my summer ensembles if this keeps up!

This is our new diggs here at the park.

This park has 36 sites, most of them are very sandy. We do have some gravel in ours though. They have a huge day use area along the Choctawhatchee Bay…I had to copy and paste that name…couldn’t remember how to spell it…and DON’T  ask me to pronounce it! The park has 2 washers and 2 dryers, and we happened to be parked just once site away…SCORE! I chose this park because I know my Uncle Walt was stationed down here at Eglin Air Force Base when I was little. We drove from Northern Illinois in a 1953 Chevy down here to visit him. I still have the memory of me and my brother and sis stuffed into that car for the drive…and this was before the interstate system. We left home about 10PM and Dad drove it straight through. I slept up in the back window, my sister, Darlene, got the back seat (she was 12 and I was five…I guess I fit better in the window than she did.) My brother, Michael, was only 2, so he sat on mom’s lap..(before seat belts too). Uncle Walt lived in a trailer with his wife and 2 kids in Ft. Walton Beach. 

We cannot get on base, of course, but we do have those wonderful military aircraft zooming overhead…AND there is a munitions range near hear, which rattles the ground on occasion…I don’t mind the noise, in fact I love those sounds..Yes, I am a bit strange…no surprise, right?

We have made a change of plans for the first couple weeks of March. Instead of going to Grand Isle State Park at the “boot tip” of Louisiana, we are splitting it into 2 separate parks…WHY did we change our plans? you ask..Because I am tired of having either no phone or no internet..We researced Grand Isle and it is pretty remote, sketchy service again..and it would have been for 2 loooooong weeks…Nope, Nada, Nix, NOT!!!Our first park will now be St. Bernard State Park in Louisiana…I chose this because it is only 18 miles to New Orleans, and I really want to go there…but NOT for Mardis Gras!! The second week will be spent at Tickfaw State Park. I chose this one so we can tour Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, LA.  I have this passion for history and cannot pass this up while we are down here!

As for now, we are freezing our butts off here in Northern Florida, but it’s still better than Illinois! Here are a few more pictures from our last place, Manatee Springs State Park..

At Manatee Springs they had a little place by the springs where you could get BBQ!…and wine and beer…

Here’s their menu…There was no place inside, just picnic tables outside overlooking the springs…We didn’t eat there, but they were always busy working that big smoker!!

Aaaaah, yes…I remember sitting outside catching some rays…those were the days!! Hopefully, I will be able to do it again soon…HOPEFULLY~

Sorry….I just could NOT resist!!