Life on The Crazy Train: St George Island Day 3

Today was another awesome day. We actually got off the island today. But first, we started off at the St. George Island State Park. For anyone that is looking for a great camping experience, this is it. It didn't appear that each site had a sewer hook up, but they had 30/50 amp and water. The bath houses looked great and also got a thumbs up from the Mrs. from the women's side. We have yet to have a bad experience at one of Florida's state parks.

We got some great wildlife shots in today. There was a nice boardwalk to a waterway that we caught a couple of birds but the best shots actually came right along the road from the car as you will see.

Slough picnic area

sand dunes

Picture is a little muted, but these grasses have the prettiest red tufts

Several herons relaxing around this little pond headed back toward the camping area

Heron no. 2

Heron no. 3

Turtle getting its sun on

Mockingbird, I believe

After the state park we drove into Carrabelle. We were hungry at this point and for whatever reason, Dar and I can communicate without words and we were both subconsciously thinking, pizza. There just happened to be a little joint called Water's Edge Pizza. Now, for those of you in our inner circle that have a higher OCD than mine (Mine was pegging the red line), your first thought would be "Oh, hell no." At some point in my life, someone gave me a life lesson to not judge a book by its cover and this was the perfect example of that lesson. This place had the best calzone that Darla and I have ever had. And the nicest people eating lunch. We have been invited to more events in the last 48 hours that I have been in the last 45 days. Today was a day of 5-Star events. This place looked like a .1 star, but I can truly say you are missing something if you don't try their pie. Also, the super nice gal working there was named Starla. Darla and Starla were having an Arla moment. Yeah, close to Darla, but I immediately went to Napoleon Dynamite. There was also a neat public dock where Dar got to fool around.

Shrimp boat getting her deck washed

Marina area of Carrabelle

Dar enjoying the kid's area

Another local fisher

Darla was playing here on porpoise

Captain Ben shrimp boat

After lunch we went to the Crooked River Lighthouse. They weren't open, but a volunteer opened up the stairwell to the lighthouse for us and gave us a pseudo-tour. Again, the word Fray-NEL came up. This light house had a 4th Order lens. The volunteer was also showing us some recent work of arsonists that burned down their mini pirate ship that kids would play on. If you've got $5 to spare, consider helping them out at https://www.gofundme.com/wkrhm8. I just can't understand what kind of asshat screws with kids, or for that matter a house that cares for sick kids. The lighthouse association was hosting a Lantern Fest in hope of raising some funds to rebuild the pirate ship.

Crooked River Lighthouse

Crooked River Lightkeepers House

A fellow visitor pointed this dude out. She thought it was a bearded dragon.

On our way back to SGI, we were driving along and found some cool old stumps along Carrabelle Beach. The historical marker stated that WWII D-Day training was held here. Also the highlight of the day was the eagle that we spotted fishing along the shore. What an absolutely astonishing creature. We had difficultly getting a shot because we were chasing him down the road and dodging cars along the highway.

Old stumps

Ta-da!

Hollywood special effects

Eagle

Yeah, it's blurry but I was trying to capture how large these birds are

Missed attempt at grabbing a fish. Coming around for a second pass garnered a payload.

We relaxed for awhile back at the beach with Foxy for awhile and then went to dinner at Paddy's Raw Bar, a sunny place for shady people. We had poor man's caviar (beans), crab legs and shrimp. We also played a riveting match of trivia. I will be posting a review of this place on trip advisor. Another 5 star eatery for us. Cheers!