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You might be able to guess where we will be for several days before we arrive at the Lake.
We were greeted by a rainbow. We moved up to Lake Stone near Century. Still in Florida and will start our move west Tuesday. Our last few days to visit with family here for a while.
We have had so many dentist and doctor visits along with enjoying being with family that we had not been in the Gulf so far. It was a very pretty but hot day but still perfect day for the beach.
It was lunch time so we stopped at Peg Leg Pete's. We had some great seafood platters.
Time to walk and swim off that lunch. We drove down to Fort Pickens and stopped at Langdon beach.
We swam in the Gulf several times and walked the beach in between.
We found a few shells.
I made a short video of the beach.
We moved from one RV park to another about a 1/2 mile down the road.
We like Azalea acers and the monthly rate is great but we only needed a few more days before moving to Lake Stone in North Escambia County. The daily rate as Azalea is very high compared to the rate at Wilderness RV which is nearly across the road. Wilderness has a couple of advantages. It is quieter being farther off the Interstate and shade from trees which is helpful as hot as it has been. Downsides are smaller sites, pine cones from trees. We have arrived back in the Pensacola area for at least a month possibly two.
Visiting family, doctor appointments,... Home for a little while. We love this RV park. It is right on the Mississippi River. We get to watch river traffic and occasionally a paddle wheeler riverboat. So far we have not seen any of those pass by. The local squirrels are interesting. Most here are "red" but they also have black squirrels and I mean completely. Most have no other color at all. This is the only place we have seen these. So far we have not seen even one gray squirrel. There are some great restaurants. like 'Craws, Claws & Tails Restaurant Patio, Bar & Market' where we usually get Cajun style (SPICY) boiled (boult) shrimp. Just across the river is Natchez Mississippi and Old South Winery that specializes in Muscadine and Blueberry wines. It is a place we always visit when in the area. It is exclusively family owned and managed. They are working on a piece of property just north of Natchez for both new vines and a new tasting room. Maybe next time, we visit they will be moved to the new location. We always buy several bottles of their wine. Natchez Brewing is a great place to get pizza and beer. Like most small breweries they have some very interesting names and types of beer. We like resting here and Wednesday will be a long drive all the way across the state of Mississippi to Alabama. Where our next RV park is near Coffeeville.
We stopped off for a couple of days with our close friends Bill and Kelly.
Loved visiting and playing cards. We will miss you while we are away. We are back at the lake for a few weeks. The weather has been very different. Lots of rain. So much that the lake gained several feet.
Lots of time was put into planning future cruises. The trip back to Pensacola will take us several weeks so time to get going. We have several doctors appointments coming up next month. Our last look out the picture windows over the Grand Canyon. The canyon is pretty in the morning. We pack up, took our packs to the truck and checked out. There was a small café with coffee and pastries right there. We started our drive to Backcountry Office where we could ask for a hiker credit for the 2 nights we didn't stay at Cottonwood campground. The Ranger was great and submitted a request for the credits. A list of statistics of the fatalities in the canyon posted. If we had seen this before the hike, would it deterred us? Nope. Now to explore the Eastern side of the Grand Canyon. We had not been to that portion of the park before. There are several impressive overlooks and we stop at many of them to take pictures. Grand View Point was impressive and a possible starting point for a future multi-day hike. Our final stop is Desert View Watchtower which is another Mary Coulter structure. It is styled as if it were used by the native people who lived in the area of the canyon but in reality it is only a tribute to those cultures. The tower was built in 1932 to look as if it were much much older and even has “repairs” as part of the original design. It stands at 70 feet tall and a 30-foot base. The tower has a concrete foundation and a steel framework which are hidden in the stones both inside and outside of the tower. On the interior there are drawings to represent each of the tribes that have lived in or around the canyon. They were copied from known prehistoric designs. The views of the canyon were our last this trip but still very impressive. Some statistics of the canyon: The canyon is 277 miles long and 2,600 square miles or slightly large than Delaware. An average of 10 miles across and about 1 mile deep. The Colorado river averages 300 feet across. In 2022 the park received 4.7 million visitors. Of those 240 people, staying 2 nights at the Phantom Ranch which makes us part of a VERY exclusive group. There is a café here and they have Ice Cream! Finally! Finally at noon, we head towards Winslow AZ for fuel and late lunch/early dinner at our favorite resturant Relic Road Brewing. They have fantastic sandwiches and Shawna likes the beer. The hike has been amazing, exhausting, challenging, beautiful,… It is hard to believe just yesterday we were deep in the canyon. We are both looking forward to getting back to our little house on wheels. Things we learned:
Pack less snacks Bring muscle rubs for pain Magnesium oil for leg cramps Lysine is necessary Melatonin needed Need open-toed camp shoes Should carry 15% of body weight instead of 20% Mountain House meals we liked: Spaghetti dinner Chili beans and Mac Biscuits and gravy Chicken teriyaki |
AuthorWe are a couple who have started on a new adventure... Archives
August 2023
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