SewMona

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We wanted to do one last camping trip before school started (anyone else think the summer flew by?).  Some place that we could drive to in one day and then stay for several nights.  Some place with lots to do – preferably swimming, hiking, and biking.  We had visited John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo when we drove to Key West earlier in the year and knew that it was the perfect place to go.  I managed to snag a site for four nights.

According to the description, the sites are narrow – maybe 16′ wide.  So I measured our camper – it’s eight feet wide.  Even with the slide and awning out, we fit.  The site was plenty long, but we found a perfectly level spot close to the front and were reluctant to back up anymore.  We just barely got our car off the road, but no one complained.

We didn’t have neighbors most of the time which was good since the sites are pretty close together and the kids sometimes forget to not cut through other sites.  Honestly though, we didn’t spend that much time at our site.

Our campsite was right by the pond and we had lots of wildlife to keep us entertained.  These crabs are such a pretty blue, but they don’t hang around when they see you moving!

There were lots of iguanas! We would come back from snorkeling and they would be scurrying back to the pond area.

Some of them were little, but there were a few bigger ones too.

I was surprised at the different colors!

One of the things we wanted to do was snorkel.  John Pennekamp is the first undersea park in the United States.  If you have an underwater camera, bring it!  We don’t have one and wished we did the whole time we were snorkeling.  We’re thinking about this one for when we go back.

Offshore is a replica of a Spanish shipwreck complete with more cannons and an anchor.  The kids loved snorkeling out to it.

There are lots of jellyfish too.  They mostly sit upside down on the bottom, but you will see them floating through the water too.

Even though bikes are not allowed on the hiking trails, we rode our bikes around the campground – to the visitor center, to the trail head, just around so the kids could burn some energy.  The Grove Trail is a beautiful trail!  Make sure you wear lots (and lots!) of bug spray.

It ends at an old citrus grove.

While we were walking along the trail it started sprinkling and when we finally got here, it decided to start raining a little more.  We still took time to walk around the grove and made it back to our campsite without getting too wet.

The Wild Tamarind Trail is all about different trees.  The tree you are to be looking at is marked with a ribbon which is nice.  It’s always frustrating when you’re not sure which tree the sign is talking about.

We’re planning to go back again in the semi-near future – winter is a tough time to get a site!  We’ll be taking a couple more snorkels and (hopefully) an underwater camera.  🙂

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On our recent longer trip, we spent three nights at Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna, FL (in the panhandle).  When we arrived, it had been raining and our site was pretty muddy.  All the sites were back-ins and it took us a couple tries to get the trailer where we wanted it.  Happily, it didn’t rain much while we were there and the site dried out pretty quickly.  The main reason I picked this campground was because of the cavern, but it wasn’t open until Thursday (it’s closed Tuesday & Wednesday).  There was lots to keep us busy and we were definitely not bored!

 

 

The kids wanted to go through here so I went along.  It’s pretty low, but there were no bats.

These spiders (golden silk orbweavers) seemed to be everywhere!  It reminded me of another camping trip.  As long as they stay outside & don’t get in my path, it’s all good.

Can you see her?  Just hanging out, waiting for some unsuspecting bug to come along.

All along the bluff trail were cypress swamps.

The kids had so much fun exploring and the scenery is beautiful.  There were a couple geocaches too.

Any entrances to caves/caverns were blocked off, but we still tried to see inside.  One nice thing – the air coming out of them was cool!  It was really hot that day and it was like nature’s air conditioning.

The trail wasn’t all easy – there were a few spots that were steeper.

The cavern tour was definitely worth the wait and the money (admission really isn’t that much – $8/adult & $5/kid).  Our tour guide was great!  We learned about the cavern – both how it was found & excavated and how they occur naturally.  For instance, the column in this picture is cracked because at some point in the recent past the ground shifted some.  Eventually, the crack with fill in and the stalagmite and stalactite will become a column again.

There are just so many photogenic things in the cavern!

This is Blue Hole.  There’s a path to it from the campground and you can also access it from the day entrance.  We stuck our toes in – it was a cool 72.  Every afternoon, there were lots of people swimming here!  However, it’s 30 feet deep and I wasn’t comfortable letting my kids swim without any kind of floaties or life vests (I didn’t know there was swimming so we didn’t pack any swim stuff).

Just under the bridge, this little guy was swimming.  He’s little – maybe two feet long.  Apparently, for whatever reason, gators don’t swim in blue hole.  I’m not totally convinced (besides, where there’s a baby, there’s got to be a mama!).  There’s nothing stopping them except maybe the cooler water?

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Florida Caverns State Park!  If we are ever in the area and need a place to stay, we will definitely stay here again!