Memorial Day Weekend

We went camping for the Memorial Day weekend at Gold Head State Park in Keystone Heights, Florida. We chose Gold Head because we like the rusticness of it, but to be honest, we really chose it because it is close and gas prices are so high right now. Since we pull our trailer with a diesel truck and are paying $4.75 a gallon right now, we are trying to stay pretty close to home.

My sister KD and her husband Bobby also went camping with us. This was our first time camping with them. KD actually camps quite a bit since she bought a horse trailer with an air conditioned sleeping compartment. She goes out with her horse friends and camps alot more than we do. So, they pulled their horse trailer (no horses) to the campground and set up camp near us.

We had a really nice weekend. KD & Bobby arrived at the campgrounds earlier than we did so they fixed dinner for us the first night. Chili-cheese dogs - one of our favorite camping foods! They also fixed us a hot breakfast 2 of the 3 mornings we were there. We normally eat cereal, so eggs and sausage were a welcome change! I cooked dinner Saturday night - Carribean Jerk Chicken, rice & green beans. On Sunday, KD's daughter Jenny came to visit us and brought some fresh grouper she had caught to grill up for us. She did a great job grilling up 3 huge grouper fillets with some excellent seasonings. Sometimes I think we eat better camping than we do at home.

During our weekend we took several little hikes through the woods, in the ravine and by (and in) the creek. We brought both of our dogs, Balto & Kobe. They brought their two dogs, Jesse & Sarah. So they dogs had a great time being walked more than usual and getting attention from fellow campers. I think every campsite had at least one dog and for the most part, all were well behaved and not too barky. (I just made that word up!)

There are a few lakes in the park. All the lake levels are low in this area, but the sad thing is there was a lake there called Big Lake Johnson. As you can see from this photo, it's pretty much nothing but a huge field now. It's really sad to see the lakes all disappearing.

The weather was nice for the weekend. A little hot in the middle of the day, but that's the beauty of having an air conditioned travel trailer.... nap time! :)

JT made some friends with a bunch of kids in a couple of the nearby campsites and stayed pretty busy playing with all of them. They rode bikes, skateboarded, scootered, shot each other with water guns and just plain had fun. I always feel guilty when JT doesn't have anyone to play with when we go, but he usually finds someone to play with.

The mosquitoes weren't too bad this trip, but the ticks were. I don't think any of us got away without a tick bite or two. Poor Balto had one stuck deep in between his toes. Something bit me on the finger and it swelled up pretty bad... I don't know what it was, but it gave me a large red bump and is quite itchy.

We had a great weekend and look forward to camping again with KD & Bobby sometime. It might be awhile before we head out again since gas prices are so hight and the weather is hitting the 90's already.

You can read my sister KD's blog here.

You can see more photos here.