Gulf Islands/Fort Pickens

December 29th, 9 PM, 42 degrees with an expected low of 30.....not the way I planned to start the first post from sunny Florida.
But we can't change the weather, so I might as well embrace what we have.

Packing was finally finished and we got on the road heading south by noon on Thursday.  It was cloudy, cold and we were exhausted by the time the bikes, cooler, food box and kayaks were loaded.  By dusk we had found a wonderful COE park, Gunter Hill Campground, just west of Montgomery.  Recently remodeled, it had lovely wooded level sites, very nice, warm bathhouse and a sewer on site....all for $11 with the senior pass.  Sorry that I did not think to take a picture, we were too involved with trying to dewinterize the camper.

Debating back and forth about whether to keep the antifreeze or go ahead and dewinterize, we decided to go ahead because of the convenience of the sewer hookup.  (I was envisioning us trying to do it at a dump station with campers lined up behind us.)

We made it to Fort Pickens by midafternoon, finding lots of little white fiberglass trailers sitting under a gloomy overcast sky.  We headed for the beach, could not remember when I'd seen the ocean, but rain drove us back to camp within minutes of our arrival.

Last night the wind howled all night...I could have been out west with the way it carried on!  Just knew that my little ten dollar TV antenna would be out in the bay; surprised when I found it right where it was left, sitting on the spare.

Today has been one of survival....it may have gotten up to 50 degrees but the wind chill must have been around zero.... I am exaggerating, of course, but that's how it felt!  We drove over to the fort, looked around, and into town to buy canned chili for tonight's chili dump.  I did take a hike while David napped and managed to get a little lost winding up in the wrong campground!  Probably walked twice what I planned but it was good exercise.

It was great to see JerryC and Wanda again!  We both do love to take pictures...after reading his blog tonight, I'm amused that we are drawn to the same subject matter.  I do believe that this must be the same heron.

This is my expensive digital TV antenna....incredible that it stayed put!

It was too cold to stay long and explore the old fort...plan to see more of it on a warmer day.

This is our site and some of our neighbors.

After the sun came out, the water took on a special glow and my spirits lifted.

I have a few more pictures but Blogger will not cooperate and it is getting late, so they will get saved, for now.

Happy New Year to everyone!