Florida in February

Well... It's been a little while, but your favorite Camera Couple is back at trying to catch up the world on their travels. Living and working on the road is a wonderful time, but it does leave a lot of room for "I'll get to that later..." aka these blogs.

With the main 2022 goal being our three-month cross country trip, we decided to take it easy and do longer trips less frequent leading up to our summer trip, whereas last year we were camping almost every weekend. February was an east coast swing starting in Georgia and making our way to Alabama and then over to Florida and ending in South Carolina for Cameron's birthday. It was the perfect working on the road test for this summer.

TIME ZONE ZOMBIES 

Sunset night 1

Our first stop was a fun one because we landed right on the Georgia/Alabama line, which happened to be on the time zone line. We stayed at R. Shaefer Heard campground and got to experience our phones being unsure which time zone we were actually in, which made it quite fun for work calls. We had a stunning waterfront site that provided some of the best sunsets. In between work, we filled our days with skateboarding, hikes, fires, good cooking and some hammock time enjoying the views. This trip was already treating us well! 

AGAIN TO ALABAMA

Cameron and I always joke we are old souls, and our stop at Prairie Creek Campground in Alabama is more proof of it. We spent a week among the friendliest bunch of retired folks, and we couldn't have loved it anymore. Not only was our camp site fantastic along the Alabama River, but we were also able to go back to Montgomery, Alabama which was so special to us. In 2016, after a year of dating, Cameron and I started the Camera Couple to capture our first cross country trip. One of the stops was Montgomery and we absolutely loved it! (You can read that journey here.) We revisited the town and had fun all over again. Alabama is always a great stop for us and it was fun to experience it camping this time around. 

party in pensacola 

A fun Florida fact for you all, is that Cameron and I actually have never spent much time in Florida, and it was actually a state we had never been to together. We were excited to camp in Florida and experience the sunshine state in winter. The only problem with this plan was... apparently so was the rest of the world.

Turns out Florida was hard to find campgrounds because everyone was booking far in advance. We stayed at two Florida State Parks. Blackwater River State Park was our first stop and was a little hidden gem in what they call "the real Florida" because it is nothing like your typical Disney/ Orlando area. The park itself was a somewhat small but had some neat boardwalks for alligator viewing and a beautiful river running through it.

Cameron and I landed at the park on a weekend so we decided to take a day trip into Pensacola and enjoy lunch at an adorable waterfront marina area, followed by a beach  hike and some skateboarding at the Blue Wahoos stadium, which was a super cool waterfront stadium that had fun sidewalks that overlook the inner harbor channel. We also found the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Plaza which was a wonderful tribute to our veterans. 

fun florida

Our second and final state park in Florida was Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park (try saying that 5 times fast). The park was the definition of southern charm, filled with history and plantation-style buildings. We spent a few days hanging out in the park while we worked and explored the different trails. Cameron was still on the lookout for an alligator but sadly, none were found. 

SIMPLY SAVANNAH

As we made our way back up the east coast one of our final stops was Savannah, GA. For some reason whenever we visit Georgia, we always hit the west part of the state. We decided it was time to get some salt water in our souls! We stayed at Fort McAllister State Park for a few days and got to enjoy a waterfront marina restaurant that was at the entrance to the park, which obviously made happy hour a daily must. There was tons of wildlife in the park that we saw on our evening walks. We saw deer, raccoons and even an armadillo!
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We took a day to explore the city of Savannah, which was fabulous. There were so many shops, weepy trees (As Cameron calls them), and a riverwalk area that had cargo ships coming to port. Savannah quickly became a favorite of ours on this trip.

STOP IN SANTEE

We were back in the homeland, good ole South Carolina! And it was Cameron's birthday weekend. Needless to say, we spent the last days of our trip at Santee State Park celebrating the most wonderful human being. We hiked, sat by the fire, skated, and enjoyed a waterfront seafood restaurant at sunset. It was the perfect ending to our month on the road and enjoying the simple way of life!