Beaches of the Gulf Coast

This summer, like every summer, we spent a few weeks in Florida.  The kids and I also spent a few days at North Padre Island National Seashore with friends.  On the trip to and from Florida, we made stops in Ft. Walton Beach and Long Beach Mississippi.
Our trip to Padre Island is one we have made before.  It is the closest "good" beach to us, only 4.5 hours drive.  Texans measure distance in hours and 4.5 hours isn't too bad of a drive for us if there are waves at the end of the trip.  This trip we were able to do something new.  We got up very early and got to see a sea turtle hatchling release.  The rangers brought out the tiny turtles in coolers.  Volunteers created a canopy of ribbon topped sticks and a net to keep the sea gulls from feasting on all of those delicious babies.  Sea gulls are jerks.  The rangers came around with a baby turtle to show the crowd and even took pictures with peoples cameras.  Very fun morning!

Next beach trip was Ft. Walton Beach/ Destin.  We got to go on a dolphin cruise and learned all about June Grass.  What is June Grass you ask?  Every summer a large island of green algae makes its way towards the beach.  It turns the lovely blue green water a soupy shade of green.  We had fun swimming the first day, but by the second day there was a little too much ick in the water so we stayed by the pool.  We had a nice walk in the evening and watched herons catch their dinner by the fishing pier.

Mom, Natalie, and I took a quick trip to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  It is on the Atlantic coast and has lovely views of the launch pads at NASA.  Natalie earned a Junior Ranger badge and we got fabulous views and crappy pictures of spoonbills.  The beach is lovely, I just wish for showers.

Our last beach stop on the way home was in Long Beach Mississippi.  I will admit that growing up in Florida has made me a beach snob.  I confess.  I may have mentioned it before in my post about Galveston a few years back.  I appreciate the different colors of sand at the beaches I love.  Some are sugary white like Destin and Siesta Key.  Some are more gray like North Padre and Cocoa Beach.  Some have a pink tint like Matanzas Inlet and Flagler Beach.  I am a beach comber and chair sitter, not a swimmer.  I like the sound of waves, but they are not required.  So what is it that makes a beach "good"?  To me it is a beach that isn't littered with trash of the human or garbage variety.  If the beach is covered in tar balls or dead marine life, I'm out.  Driving on the beach is not my favorite either.  Give me clean, with birds, nice sand, and not too many people.  So the first time we went to Biloxi, I liked the sand until I stepped in it and found lots of broken glass and kinda icky water.  It is protected by a few barrier islands off the coast, so the waves are pretty nonexistent. But they did have something you don't really see at the other beaches and that is a ton of hermit crabs.  Fast forward to Long Beach, just down the road from Biloxi.  Same water and sugar sand with a little less glass and same crab population.  Not a beach I would go out of the way for, but a fun beach to walk at sunset and play with crabs.

 In Orlando, we got to sneak away for a date and go canoeing at Weikiva Springs State Park.  It's  close to my parents house and a very pretty place to canoe or kayak.  We saw a gator and quite a few egrets, cormorants, and herons.

Fairfield Lake State Park

 April 15-17, we camped at Fairfield Lake State Park in East Texas.  We got site 23 right next to the lake and enjoyed a beautiful view with shore access for fishing.  This park is very similar to another park we camped at a few years ago, Ft. Parker.  Both have a lake, both are smaller parks, and both have a cemetery to explore.  We arrived on Friday late afternoon and got everything quickly set up.  It was not busy at all with only a few sites taken in our loop.  Shawn had been traveling for work nearby earlier in the week, so he stopped by the park and was able to check us in two nights early by paying for a site ahead to guarantee we got a good one. It got a little busier the next night, but it was still not full.  There was rain in the forecast but we decided to chance it after the lack of rain on the Huntsville trip.  It was a bit buggy being by the water, but the sunset made up for it.  
Saturday morning Shawn went down to start fishing and I took the kids on a bike ride.  Our first stop was at the bird watching trail.  It was a short loop with good views of the lake.  There weren't many birds, but we did see a couple wild hogs.  There is quite a bit of hog damage in the park, but that is typical for East Texas.  We rode all the way up to the headquarters to get a patch for Romer (my vintage military bag) and a few cute t-shirts.  Patrick decided to head back to fish while Natalie and I explored the cemetery.  It might sound strange, but I spent many vacations visiting cemeteries.  My parents are history buffs, particularly Civil War, and they took my sister and I to many battlefields and historic sites all over the south.  Natalie has discovered the story telling possibilities that cemeteries hold and she has a deep appreciation for Texas history.  So we spent some time reading headstones and historic markers, cleaning up graves that had been covered by grass clippings, and learning more about the family that once owned the property.  We made the long ride back to camp and had lunch.  After lunch, we stopped back at the bird loop to find the first geocache on our way to the swim beach area.  Normally April is a little early to be swimming, but there is a power plant on this lake which makes the water temperature warmer year round.  The kids had a great time swimming while I found the second geocache and took a short nap on a picnic table.  Afterwards I brought the kids back and I took off on a solo hike.  I hiked about 3 miles of a trail near the north side of the park. That evening we were tired, and once the fiesta next door died down (per my request at 11pm) we slept well. 
Sunday morning, we packed up fairly quickly as the drizzle was getting heavier and we knew the rain was coming.  Sure enough, as soon as we pulled out of the park it began to pour down rain. 
This was a nice park for fishing and swimming.  There were not many trails, but they were well maintained and marked.

campsite

campsite

path to the lake

visitors and wannabe thieves

lightening damage

path to the marsh on the bird loop

armadillo hole

fixing up the headstone and flowers

geocaching

lake swimming with the power plant in the background

rain clouds building