Sunday, April 18, 2010

St. Mary’s, GA

Thursday, April 15th, we drove from Charleston, SC, to St. Mary’s, GA, where we had 3 nights reserved at the Crooked River State Park.  I am still not brave enough to drive to an area on a weekend without having reservations.

IMG_0015

I’m glad we did this since we found out  when we reached the park office shown here that the campground was going to be full over the weekend. 

They have an interesting way of handling the reservations.  They take enough reservations to cover the sites but you don’t actually get assigned a site.  You simply go back into the park after you’ve signed in and take a site that is available (one that doesn’t have a tag) and tag it. 

This is also for first park where we’ve encountered a 50 amp site actually being a site with 2 30 amp plugs.  This isn’t common up north and so Ken doesn’t have the appropriate pigtail to tie in this way.  Not a problem though since it is not warm and we don’t need 50 amp if we don’t need both A/C’s.

IMG_0002

 

We ended up choosing a huge site that allowed us to back far under the pine trees, pretty much totally on our own.

 

 

 

 

IMG_0005

 

 

After we were set up we drove back in to St. Mary’s for dinner to get a taste for the area.

On the way, we drove by the Naval base where they have a full-size submarine ‘submerged’ by the front gates.

Based on comments from folks in the campground office and a sample menu, we decided to try to ‘Lucky Dawgs’ restaurant.

They had live music that night which was excellent and all-you-can-eat ribs which were good but not ranking with some of the greats we’ve had.  It was interesting to see the different makeup of this crowd.  Like Folly Beach, we weren’t far from the ocean but this was a naval base crowd versus a beach crowd.  We stayed for quite a while for drinks and to enjoy the music.

Friday morning Ken and I took our laptops up to the park office where they had wifi available. We sat on the outside porch and did emails, facebook and I published my latest blog post. 

It was our 29th wedding anniversary and we got lots of well wishes from family and friends….thanks to all!!

We had a lazy morning at the rig, enjoying the lovely weather.  The ‘No-See-Ums’ didn’t seem to be swarming in the morning so we enjoyed being out under the awning.  I cut Ken’s hair and we went for an extended walk with the dogs.

We drove in to the St. Mary’s historic district. 

IMG_0020

 

There was a nice little cafe overlooking the water, called aptly the Riverview Cafe where we stopped for a late lunch.  Ken and I each had the day’s soups.  Ken had a lemon chicken rice soup and I had a crab, zucchini soup both of which were absolutely marvelous.  We shared a greek salad.

 

IMG_0023

 

This was another restaurant where we enjoyed just setting back, taking our time and enjoying the scenery.

 

 

 

IMG_0029

This well manicured park overlooked the water as well.

 IMG_0024

 

One of the gardeners even offered to take a picture for us, so I guess this is our 29th anniversary portrait!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_0019

We walked out on the pier to get a closer look at some of the unique sailing ships docked nearby.  Ken decided that since just being over the water on the pier was still giving him some feelings of dizziness, we’d better forego the 45 minute ferry ride over to Cumberland Island for our next visit.

Back at the motorhome, we took the dogs for another walk and, as usual, got to know some of our neighbors better as they came out to see the dogs.  It’s amazing how often our dog walks can end up taking an hour or more and really not be much walking!

IMG_0036

We did one of our better collaborative efforts on the grill tonight with Rosemary Butterfly Chops with Honey Mustard Sauce, Cheesy Garlic Red Potatoes and Grilled Cabbage.

 

 

 

IMG_0037

I leave you with our view of the night sky through the pines.

Hoping for at least another 29 more wedding anniversaries as wonderful as this one!

Hugs, C

5 comments:

Laurie and Odel said...

Don't you love that sub?? I took a dozen photos of it (you can park in the lot just behind it, before you go in the base gates, and climb all over it), but didn't get even ONE that shows the impact of that huge sub breaking through the grass!

Have you noticed the little sign to "Tabby Ruins" on the right hand side of the road as you head from the state park towards town? Worth a short look, I think.

Grilled cabbage! What a great idea, it looks delicous. How long do you grill it? Put anything on it? A little oil and seasonings, maybe?

Unknown said...

Hi Laurie and Odel, Drat-we saw that Tabby Ruin sign and forgot to go back. If u have any suggestions on sites or eats around HoHum let us know...about halfway there right now. The cabbage is easy...1/8 head individually foil wrapped takes about 20 minutes on medium grill. I spray foil with Pam. Spray the cabbage with spray butter and sprinkle generously with garlic salt and then close the wrap. This is the healthy version. It's great with real butter too!

Tumbleweed Dee said...

What a great area! I love the sub. That's going on the list when we head back to Fla this fall.

Laurie and Odel said...

Near Ho-Hum: it is really worth the trip to St. George Island State Park (nice campground there, BTW) and the little vacation town of St. George. We spent a wonderful day at the state park, and picked up some good fresh fish on the way home. Read about it here:

http://laurieandodel.blogspot.com/2010/03/along-forgotten-coast-carrabelle.html

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your anniversary,Renea and I will make it 35 tomorrow. I have enjoyed keeping up with ya'll since the ralley. I really enjoyed spending time with Ken on the golf course.
Hope to see you both soon.
Wayne Joiner