Update 52: St. Marys GA

Update 52: St. Marys GA    Dec. 30 to Jan. 4, 2011

Happy New Year 2011!

St. Marys GA is home to Kings Bay Sub Base.  The USS George Beaufort makes a commanding entrance to the base. Our RV destination the Crooked River Campground, a state park, sits just north of the base along the...what else?...Crooked River.

We were more than pleased with this campsite. Large sites sit below the tall long leaf pines.

Low growing, green palm bushes create the undergrowth. Except for the occasional bird call, the air is free from noise. The peacefulness of this park permeates every part of the visitor.

We spent one day taking down Christmas decorations and  cleaning the rig.

We found downtown St. Marys   as quaint as it gets. 

 Even the street signs are novel. This classic small town church sits proudly on one corner.

 Antebellum homes sit between retail shops.

The riverfront park looks inviting even with the warning signs.

 Besides the usual NO Swimming or wading in the fountain, no skating, skateboards, or bikes,  $500 reward for people prosecuted for damaging the park, and at the bottom, my favorite:  NO PROFANITY.

At the boat ramp this private sloop caught my eye

St. Marys GA is also the home of our good friends Diana and Paul Moseley. They moved from Bremerton to the warmer climate about two years ago. We were delighted to have time to visit with them again. The warm weather is agreeing with them. They are healthier and happy. They fixed us great dinners two nights of our stay. For one meal we had Amberjack which is an Atlantic fish that Paul had caught while deep sea fishing with his dad. The fish is whitish and may be somehow related to the tuna family. It was very tasty.

On New Year's Day we all piled into their RV and Paul drove us to Fernandina Beach which is in Florida. Since St. Marys is nearly on the border, we only drove about a half hour to the beach. Their dog, Rocky, had to check every once in awhile that Paul was headed in the correct direction.

The white sand of Fernandina Beach glistened in the sunshine. We left our lawn chairs propped into the sand as we walked to the water.  Paul, Derrille and Rocky had walked north while Diana and I visited and waded in the cool Atlantic Ocean.

 We sat to just drink in the rays and the view for a while. Then Diana needed to walk. She headed south. Derrille went to accompany her.  Paul and I got concerned when we couldn't see them down this flat expanse of sand. Maybe we would have to drive down and pick them up!  Pretty soon they ambled back into sight. WOW!  I was impressed. In Bremerton, Diana's joints wouldn't have let her go that far.  Yea Georgia!  We went back to the RV and had lunch. Next we drove south along the beach road enjoying the sights. We saw the usual house on stilts and the mansions. The road ended at the bay to Jacksonville, so we turned around and headed home. What a great day!
Happy New Year!

 I thought you might get a chuckle out of this gas chain of the Southeast. 

We took one of our days in St. Marys to drive west to the Okefenokee Swamp. The environment changed from tree lined roads to the swamp environment.

We had hoped to take a boat tour through the swamp; however the tours were cancelled by lack of rain. The canals contained too little water to float a boat, so we started our visit at the Nature Center.

On our way to the Nature Center we saw these residents.

There a nice young man with a heavy Southern drawl gave us information on local snakes.

Then he showed us two baby alligators and talked about their traits. The smaller one is 1 year old. The larger one is 2 years old.

I learned that a sensor in the alligator's palette identifies the possible food and then triggers a quick and automatic reflex to snap the jaw closed. Alligator gender is also determined by egg temperatures just like turtles. I'll tell you more about alligators in the blog with the Everglades.

A small exhibit area had three lazy black bears, and other swamp critters to view. They may have been hibernating in the enclosure.

A little train provides a ride through the park. Bill, our engineer guided us through the park delivering lots of facts.  Bill could be a good ole boy candidate. With his heavy drawl and the train's sound system, I missed some of the information.

 Park staff was taking down the lighted Christmas displays. This would have been a great Christmas Lights ride! This display had Santa's sleigh being pulled by three alligators. Engineer Bill commented that the gators aren't going to like the cold North Pole much!

We drove by a "still" with a don't drink and drive message which I thought was interesting.

We also saw a replica of a Cherokee log cabin, and a Seminole Chickee. A Chickee is a 10' by 12' raised platform in the swamp or glades. It keeps people high and dry above the water when camping.

The train also passed an exhibit of old time turpentine production. Several trees have the taps in them. The big sap boiling pot was there. We learned about this at the Cotton Museum out of Raleigh.

The train stops at Pioneer Island. People get off and explore the late1800's for early 1900's furnished cabin and the out buildings.

There were several out buildings: a smoke house, hen house, shed, etc.

The main room had a couple in rocking chairs. 

The bed and spinning wheel were in front of them on the other side of the room.
Animals are out in the yard. They used to have more chickens but a rouge bear got to them. 

They have the big barrel bear trap out in hope of capturing him and relocating him/her to another part of the swamp. Frequent visitors were amazed at the lack of animals. They said usually they see goats, sheep and other farm animals.  Derrille and I figured they moved them to a warmer barn, since the nights were dipping below freezing.

An attached kitchen was well stocked for the time period.

Just beyond the house a small island surrounded by water holds about 20 alligators. Alligators are almost dormant this time of year, but today they were enjoying the heat of the sun upon their backs.  The large alligator is dubbed "Big Momma".

One turtle chose to lie on top of an alligator. Perhaps that isn't the best snoozing place. One of the staffers went home for his camera proclaiming he'd never seen that before here.

At the end of the train ride we walked over to some animal exhibits. The big pool enclosure held one alligator. The frequent visitors said they saw 20 alligators here on their last visit. We also saw an otter.

We enjoyed our visit, even if we were a little disappointed about the boat tour. We didn't realize that the swamp depended on rainfall that much.

Our visits with the Moseley's will be a trip highlight.

Next:  St. Augustine, FL