That late August morning, Steven and I had left Knoxville, Tennessee, and stocked up at a Sam's in Montgomery, Alabama, before driving to Grayton Beach State Park on Florida's Panhandle, a place we discovered by accident well over ten years ago. We have been returning every year as it brings us such peace and contentment from our otherwise busy lives. When we first began coming down here, we had a 35-foot-long travel trailer we pulled behind a full-size van and stayed in the camping section of the park.
We didn't even realize then there was an altogether separate cabin area of the park located a couple of miles away. Since we sold the trailer about seven or so years ago, we have begun making reservations eleven months in advance, the earliest time possible, for a cabin for the following year. Our reasoning has always been, we've got the reservation in our back pocket so to speak but can always cancel if something comes up and we want to go or do something else entirely different.
Each cabin has an enclosed screened porch and a BBQ grill and a small picnic table out back.
The cabins were comprised of two bedrooms but the beds are never made up in advance.
This was a 'sign of the times' we live in during Covid-19 that we saw as we approached the beach for the first time last August advising everyone to stay a safe distance apart.
Our tradition has been to always take a picture of ourselves when we first arrive at the park each year. This was the 2020 version. I think it might be fun to look back through the archives and do a montage of us through the years at Grayton!
Because of the recent hurricane and resulting high winds and undercurrents, the flags indicated no swimming was allowed. That remained the case for the first few days we spent at the park.
Since the horrific BP oil disaster way back in 2010, we have seen what appeared at first look to be rocks but were rather clumps of oil. This was the largest chunk of oil we'd ever seen in our yearly visits to Grayton Beach.
This area had been set aside to protect the turtle nesting sites from April until October.
Over the years here at Grayton, I have happily spent untold hours watching these small shorebirds skittering along the shore but never going into the water.
I wish I knew what type of bird this was. It was fun watching him pick up the fish, drop it and then pick it up again, time after time. I don't know whether it was too big for him to handle or what the issue was but it was very entertaining to watch!
8/28: Our first full day at the beach, hooray! There was no need to social distance or wear masks at this beach!
The tire tracks had been made by park rangers who regularly patrol the beach.
It got a little dicey that afternoon when a storm rolled in. We reached the car with just moments to spare. I always walk back and forth from our cabin to the beach to get in some extra steps and it's often the best time to chat with family or friends. I was sure glad I didn't tempt fate that day as I would have been soaked.
Later that night, we walked along the road just outside the state park to Little Redfish Lake. It was one of three coastal dune lakes, a natural phenomenon only found in four countries around the world, and only two states in the US, the other being Oregon. Here in Florida's Walton County was the only place in the state where we could witness this rare phenomenon.
I read that the lakes are fed from several freshwater sources such as rainfall, groundwater, and streams. However, when the water levels in the lake reach a certain height, sand berms along the shores of the lake will become breached, and water will travel from the lake to the Gulf of Mexico in channels called outfalls. This isn’t a one-way street, though: Saltwater from the Gulf as well as plants and animals will travel up the outfall into the lake, and the two types of water mix to form brackish water. No two lakes are the same, as the amount of salt and fresh water in each will vary.
8/29: Since discovering Grayton Beach State Park so long ago, Steven and I have always stayed on two separate occasions because you can only stay at any Florida state park for a maximum of fourteen nights before leaving for a minimum of three nights and then returning again.
In all those visits, Steven and I had never noticed any size group of birds 'swarm' together over such a small area of water. We guessed that they must have found an area with a large number of fish.
The lagoon was just a ten or so minute walk west of the state park. Huge homes bordered the lagoon with priceless views of the beach.
I always love looking at the sea oats on the dunes.
This was the first time I recall seeing this color of jellyfish. It was rather insidious as it was so hard to see in the water compared to the usual violet-colored ones we were used to. In case you were wondering, Steven and I have luckily never come close to being stung by a jellyfish.
When the weather cleared later that afternoon, Steven and I drove into the adjacent communities of Watercolor and Seaside so we could walk through the charming areas that are among the most walkable of any planned community we've seen.
In the 'old days' when we had our trailer, we used to bike to Seaside and Watercolor so we could enjoy the many miles of walking and bike trails.
As this was the first time in about a dozen years we've visited the Panhandle in the late summer, we'd never seen these flowers before. Unfortunately, I had no idea what they were.
These were also new to us, not only in the Panhandle but anywhere.
An unusually pretty sewer cover!
I am sure that the community's HOA must have a very specific combination of color choices available for its homes to be painted. I loved the cheery combinations as they seemed absolutely appropriate in the beach community.
All the homes in Seaside had signs out front with the homes' cutesy names, and also normally the family's and pet's names, and home locale. I can imagine some people being uncomfortable with such a public display of information but it did lead to the area's charm quotient! This house was called Ooh La La!
Next post: I hope you've not yet had enough of 'our' Grayton as there's more to see in the next post?
Posted on March 20th, 2021, from our home in Denver on what will be another gloriously warm and sunny day with temperatures in the mid-60s. Steven and I had better take advantage of the beautiful weather before more snow descends on us tomorrow. I hope wherever you are you and your loved ones are safe, healthy, and will also soon have access to one of the vaccines.
Great storm pictures!! I enjoy Storms if I am close to a safe place!!! Janina
ReplyDeleteJanina,
ReplyDeleteI could have taken a zillion storm photos as there were so many fast-moving storms that came in our first few days at Grayton. Having not been there in the late summer before, I don't know if they were a seasonal thing or not - perhaps because it was the beginning of the hurricane season? We were also glad to be just a two-minute drive from the beach or a five-ten-minute walk depending on which of the park's three loops we'd been assigned a cabin.