Preface: It is December, and I am just now writing this February blog entry. I only have a very short written note about the trip and no pictures, so we’ll see how my memory is. The delay in writing and poor notes are on me, the lost pictures are because of theft and loss by Microsoft OneDrive.
February 2024
As I remember it, winter 23/24 was long and cold. Up until the end of February we hadn’t gone south to escape the cold. The cancellation of our winter snowbird trip was because of my new eye doctor. He was a rather strange character, and our relationship was a short one, but in that short time he kept us from traveling. I had been on a six-week schedule for eye injections, and I could work that into our travel plans, this new doctor would look at my eye and say we’re not doing it today come back next week or call me when you think your vision is getting worse.
I left that eye specialist office and went back to the doctor who originally diagnosed my problem and took care of my eye until he had moved south to Pauley’s Island. We now feel that it is my best interest to travel to him for eye care.
Anyhow it’s now February, I am satisfied with my eye care. RaeAnne is coming for to visit the 3rd week of the month and I’m thinking about a short trip to Florida. I have found a couple openings in the panhandle of Florida right after RaeAnne leaves. They are in much sought after state and Federal parks, probably only available due to last-minute cancellations, I booked them!
February 23rd
RaeAnne flew to her home in New Mexico this morning and our plan was to leave in the RV the same day. This was because the first reservation I had at Topsail State Park started on the next day. Our plan was to drive to Valdosta Georgia on Friday, spend the night at the Cracker Barrel, which is an RV friendly restaurant and continue to Florida on Saturday morning.
Unfortunately, this was one day after my first eye injection with my new/old doctor and I had a painful reaction to the shot, so we delayed departure. Note: we later discovered it was a hypersensitivity to an antiseptic eye wash he used. They use a different antiseptic now and I don’t have any problems with it.
We departed at seven AM on Saturday and had decided we would drive all day and get as far as we could. We drove carefully, took short breaks at our fuel stops and even shopped and ate pizza at a Sam’s Club. Towards evening, we were so close that the Beeline Express Syndrome kicked in and we decided to continue to our destination. The last hour and a half of night-time driving on unknown roads wasn’t all that fun, but at 8:30pm we arrived at Topsail Hill Preserve Park near Destin Florida. It was a journey of 600+/- miles and we were relieved to finally be parked in the campground at Loop 103, site 158.
February 24-29
North Florida was cold, it was about the same temperature there as it was home in South Carolina. This prevented us from spending a lot of time on the beach, but we enjoyed several long walks around the campground and surrounding nature preserve. We explored the surrounding area where we of course visited all the thrift shops and enjoyed several good restaurants. Time went by very quickly and soon it was time to move on.
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| Campsites at Topsail |
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| Boardwalk to the beach at Topsail |
February 29-March 4
Our move on the 29th was only about 40 miles east to St. Andrews State Park which is located at the eastern tip of Panama City Beach. The land is mostly natural dunes and scrub pines, much like Topsail, but the campground felt more like a commercial RV park than the natural environment of a typical government park. Actually, I think this was a commercial campground before being bought by the state. It was also recently damaged by a hurricane and pretty much completely rebuilt. Our site number 117 was in the West loop of the campground.
Our time here was along the same lines as our stay at Topsail, cold weather prevailed. We did venture out onto the beach, but didn’t stay long, this was not sunbathing weather. The main thing I remember was our trip to a restaurant that we enjoyed when we were here last year.
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| St Andrews campground |
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| St Andrews Pass |
From the tip of the peninsula if you look across St. Andrews Pass you could probably see Big Mama’s on the bayou if you knew exactly where to look, but to get there required a drive through town. First, we had to go back through Panama City Beach and across St Andrews Bay bridge to Panama City. You have to drive through the city to the eastern edge to get to Big Mama’s.
Panama City is a rather old tired looking place, much bigger than PC Beach but strangely different. You’d expect some high-rise buildings in a city but it doesn’t have any, whereas the gulf shore at PC Beach is lined with high rise condos.
Big Mama’s restaurant sits in an industrial area, it is across the road from the bay with a swamp bordering it on the land side. The ramshackle building is sided with corrugated tin and stucco and looks very much at home here on the bayou. The parking lot is packed sand and there is no doubt it floods on a regular basis.
It’s a good old country cooking kind of place, all the daily specials start with “one meat and two sides”. The portions are generous, and the food is pretty good, especially if you like everything fried! It’s the kind of place that is a favorite of the locals and the parking lot is full of work trucks at lunch time.
I don't recall how we originally found this restaurant, but we like it!
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| Big Mama's on the Bayou |
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| Good eating! |
March 4-7
From Panama City we drove back to South Carolina, just across the Georgia border to Hunting Island State Park. This park is east of the town of Beaufort and is one of the few places left with miles of unspoiled ocean beach. It used to be a well kept secret but know days it is almost impossible to get a reservation in the campground.
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| To borrow words from Rhonda Vincent, The last best place |
Both days we were there we did walk on the beach, but like Florida it was cold and windy, not exactly good beach weather.
March 7
Our trip was short, but the weather wasn’t welcoming, so we were ready to go home. Myrtle Beach is only about a 4-hour drive so we arrived early in the afternoon, we love to travel but it’s always good to return home.
