Suwannee River State Park

We’re home from our recent camping trip.  This is one of our favorite parks.  It’s in the northeast portion of Florida, near the city of Live Oak. It’s one of the few Florida State Parks will sewer hookups!  Boy am I getting used to that.
We arrived Sunday afternoon and got set up on site number 10. 
Rain was predicted Monday, so we just hung around the campsite most of the day.  We took a few short hikes.  We got rain one day and had problems with both slides leaking!  We thought we had that problem resolved, but apparently not. Our slide toppers ripped and we took them off, so that doesn’t help, but still there is a problem  We ended up bringing in both slides for the evening.  We need to go up on the roof and figure out what the problem is, or God forbid, take it to Camping World.  I don’t have much faith in the CW in Tallahassee, but there is another one in Dothan, Alabama and it’s not too much further.
Anyway, we finally got two good days of kayaking in.  This part of the Suwannee River has very high limestone banks.   This part of Florida used to be under the ocean and that’s why you see limestone.  There are also lots of artifacts that are thousands of  years old.  It’s kind of fun looking for them.  Al found a Mastodon tooth when we were diving in the river many years ago.
Here is Al, digging and sifting for treasure!



You just sift through the stuff and hope for the best.  We were hoping for some shark teeth or arrowheads, but unfortunately didn’t find any of those.  He did find some old Sea Biscuits and a few bones though.  I never got any pictures taken of his treasure!
The spawning Sturgeon Fish are known to be in the river and have injured and even killed people.  The worst problems with them is in April!  They can be 6-8 feet long and hundreds of pounds.  They like to jump straight up in the air.  That can be a problem if you are flying down the river in a boat, or even just gliding along in a kayak.  I guess I’m getting to be a coward in my old age, but I am always a little nervous on this river.

We paddled VERY close to shore to avoid being hit by a flying fish. There are a LOT of them too, it’s not just something you occasionally see.  This was the first trip that both of actually saw one come all the way out of the water right in front of us.  Usually we just look in time to see them going back into the water.  Both of us got a good look at them in the air this year.  Unfortunately, no pictures..it just happens too fast.
The huge oak trees grow on the bank of the river and the roots grow right into the limestone rock.  It’s amazing they can live. 


Here’s a cabin, I was a little afraid to paddle under.


The weather was nice and warm and was a great kayaking day.



You can see here, we’re definitely staying close to shore :)  If we were any closer, we’d just have to walk!




The campground was pretty full.  There were a lot of returning snowbirds coming and going.  Usually when we go on a Sunday, the campground is pretty empty.
The kitties enjoyed watching squirrels.  This is Little Noogie.

and here is Squeaky.

This is our little pregnant friend, who will miss us (and our peanuts).

We  really enjoyed our new Bed In A Box Mattress.  It is 3 inches of Memory Foam on top of 8 inches of support foam and is wonderful!  It was our first real camping trip since we got it and we both love it. We took a gamble on this mattress.  We usually don’t order comfort type items from the internet, but I had a hunch this would be good and boy was I right!  We LOVE this mattress!  If anyone is in the market for a mattress for your home or RV, give this a try.  We have a fairly new mattress at home which is pretty comfy, but if we had a spare $600, I’d order a new king size BedinaBox mattress!
We came home, unloaded the motorhome some, and then came in and made reservations to head to Keaton Beach next Tuesday.  We have a Gulf front site for 4 nights during the FULL moon!  Can’t wait!