Suwannee River State Park

On our way to Fort Pickens campground in Gulf Island National Seashore, we stayed at Suwannee River State Park for one night (on March 21st).  I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty this lovely little state park is.  Bob and I got a chance to walk down by the river in the evening.  The Suwannee River was running very fast because there has been some flooding and the river is very high.  In fact, rangers were telling people not to put canoes or kayaks in the river.

There are 30  campsites in the park, all of which have electric, water and sewer.  Our campsite was large and fairly easy to get into.  It was a great place for a one night stay.  We'll be staying here again on the way back home.

We really enjoyed our visit with my son Jim and his family while we were at Hillsborough State Park.  I'm sure that Mirra misses Jim - as you can see, he has a special way with her.

I'm being very careful with my Internet usage since we used almost 10 GB last month.  I use my Verizon phone's hot spot, and the data usage can really add up!  We've been at Fort Pickens since March 22nd,  but I'll catch up with that blog another day.

Hillsborough River State Park

We said goodbye to Salt Springs on Friday, March 14th, and headed out to Hillsborough River State Park.  My son Jim lives about 20 minutes away from the park, so it's a good place to stay while we visit with Jim and his family. 

We reserved campsite #18, which is conveniently located right across from the bathroom.  We have electric and water, but no sewer.  It was nice to be able to put out our solar lights.  Salt Springs has a new ranger managing the area, and he has forbidden putting anything in the ground there except stakes for your tent.  Nothing else is allowed in the ground, not even our small sheepdog flag.  He has even made campers take their American flags out of the ground.  This angered some people to the point that they actually left the park.  We still love Salt Springs, but it certainly had a much nicer atmosphere before the rules became so restrictive.  Anyhow, it's nice to be able to put our stuff out without being hassled.

Hillsborough has lots of nice nature trails and a bike path that circles the park, so we have plenty to do while we're here.  We took a hike down the River Rapid Trail on Sunday.

The rapids weren't the roaring rapids type, but fairly mild.  We stopped for awhile and enjoyed the view.

The Hillsborough River is perfect for kayaking.  The water is really calm once you get past the rapids.

We had lots of rain come through here all day yesterday and through the night.  Fortunately it should clear today, so if it looks OK we'll inflate the Sea Eagle and go for a ride.  There are plenty of alligators in the river, but I'm told that they won't bother us.  Let's hope that the people that told us that know what they're talking about.