Enjoying the Beach at Gamble Rogers State Park in Florida…

We left the Golden Isles of Georgia and made our way into Florida. Normally we stop for a stay at Hannah Park in Jacksonville Florida to visit the Mayo for our checkups but we both have had everything done this year (except our flu shots which we need to get ASAP) so we drove on through Jacksonville and a short while later pulled into our oceanfront site at Gamble Rogers State Park in Flagler Beach Florida.

This is one of our favorite places to camp along the east coast of Florida because of the laid back attitude. There never seems to be any hustle or bustle and everyone always seems to be happy whether they are tourists on vacation, travelers like us or locals who have relocated from colder climates. While we have only four nights booked I will be watching closely for cancellations to extend our stay.

Being situated waterfront means easily spending some quality beach time and there is a great 1/2 mile stretch of beach within the state park. Before long our beach routine set in involving our daily walks along the beach slowly walking along looking at shells and the birds. Some days while walking in one direction we will pick up plastic trash pieces on the beach and at a boardwalk about 1/2 mile up the beach we will deposit our beach trash then turn around and slowly walk back this time focusing on shells rather than trash.

If each person who strolled the beach would do this I am pretty sure we wouldn’t be picking up much trash at all. I would encourage all to pitch in if you aren’t already!  It is a good feeling ridding the beach of the seemingly endless water bottle lids, straws and other plastics which are not only an eyesore but are not good for the wildlife.

On a lighter note, the east coast beaches are also a great place to view sunrises for those of us that are early risers. Of course that means I see them alone because Sharon has never been an early riser as she is the night owl in the family. I have been greeted most mornings to some truly spectacular sunrises which has been a real treat .

There is also a small nature trail inside the park meandering through what is often described as Old Florida because it is jungle-like with palm trees, red bay and wild coffee growing all along the trail. Ferns abound and we even spotted a small gopher turtle munching on grass along the trailside. Sharon also spotted a black racer snake but it was moving pretty fast so no picture of it this time around. Also on the trail is a humorous totem made from an old dead palm tree that was put in the ground upside down to where it looks as though the totem has a head full of hair… too funny!

With three days of our stay zipping by we actually were lucky enough to score a riverside camp site in the state park for an additional four nights… perfect.

NOTE: We are now in Gamble Rogers State Park in Flagler Beach Florida…