Hey all! It has been tooooo long! Much to my chagrin, I have not been keeping up with my writing and blogging over the past 6 months. I have had some very fun and exciting adventures, and I am committed to catching you up and filling you in on all the fun. Let’s start with my home state, Florida.

Despite spending most of my life in the Sunshine State, I had never visited the Panhandle. And wow, I had no idea what I was missing. After spending the holidays with my family and all 3 boys I headed north to explore. I spent a night at Johnathan Dickinson State Park which is one of my favorites. The campsites are big, the bathrooms are clean, and the nature is breathtaking.

Sunset at Johnathan Dickinson State Park.

My next stop was Jacksonville to drop off some furniture at my son Conner’s apartment and visit one of my oldest friends. It was a quick stopover, but it was great to see them both. I got up early the next day and made the long drive across the state from Jacksonville to Pensacola. Florida is sneakily large. The drive took about 6 hours and I was so happy to make it to my oceanside destination.

I spent several weeks at Fort Pickens National Seashore. This hidden gem is located west of the Pensacola Beach peninsula. The campground is managed by the National Park system and is a simple facility with paved spots that have water and electric. Getting a reservation anywhere near the beach in Florida during the winter can be tough, but Fort Pickens has a ton of spots making reservations easy to come by. The campground itself is well kept with clean bathrooms and even a laundry facility!

The most spectacular part of the park is the access to the ocean. The Gulf of Mexico is a just a short walk from the campground over a long wooden boardwalk. The beaches on this section of the panhandle have fine white sand, turquoise blue water, and if you are lucky dolphins. It was winter during my stay and the beaches were relatively quiet, but I am sure they are bustling when the temps are a bit warmer. The nice thing about Fort Pickens, however, is that the beaches are separated from the busy city of Pensacola Beach by a long 4 mile drive through the National Seashore. So, unless you drive into the park it would be a very long walk to get to these isolated beaches from the city which means less people use them. There is some visitor parking for beach access, but not a ton.