Thursday, May 23, 2013

From the High Plains to the Gulf Coast and points in between

It was a serious debate we were having with ourselves; continue on with this trip or cancel it and get busy packing.  You see, we had planned this trip to the beautiful beach at Destin, Florida months ago and as we were leaving town we got a phone call.  We had a meeting in the parking lot of McDonalds where we received a contract on our house which we had had for sale for quite some time.
We decided to continue on with our trip, but expedite it by cutting short our stays in Destin and Gulf Shores.  So instead of a three week trip it became two weeks and two days.

Our first stop was in Lewisville, Texas where we picked up my eighty-six year old mother.  She lives alone and is very capable.  Several old friends from our high school days had put together a camping trip to Pilot Knoll Park at Lake Lewisville, just a few miles from Mom's home, so it was a perfect opportunity to take her camping.  She agreed to go as a chaperone and make sure we kids didn't run wild.  She survived and made some new friends in the process.  We had a good time visiting with old friends an catching up on everyone.

Next stop was in Flint, Texas where we spent a couple of nights with some more old friends.  While there we got some information on Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. They were leaving in a few days and going there to camp for two weeks, so we made a plan to meet them there on our return trip.

We stopped overnight at Chicot State Park in Louisiana.  Several miles off the main highway it was a nice, quiet and uncrowded park.  Quiet that is until a good old Cajun Country thunderstorm rolled through at 1 am.  Wow what a storm!  Four inches of rain and lots of lightening in just a few few hours made for a soggy departure the next morning.  There were plenty of sites there, but we had to drive around a bit to find the longer ones.



The following morning we drove on to Destin.  We had arrived a day early, but there was a site available.  Henderson Beach State Park is amazingly beautiful.  Each campsite is carved out of the dense native vegetation providing unparalleled privacy.  The neighboring campsite might be 30 feet away, but you can barely see it. This is the perfect place to enjoy that outdoor shower when you come back from the beach.  The campsites are crushed rock (not sand) and they are spacious and level.
We really enjoyed Henderson Beach State Park and will plan on making it a destination on future trips.

 
On our return trip we met our friends from Flint, Gary and Teri Gardner, at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  This park is more like a small town.  With about 400 campsites one can expect a delay while checking in. The first clue as to the park's size was multiple traffic lanes at the entrance and personnel directing traffic.
All the site are spacious, paved and level, but there aren't many trees.  Most of them were blown down by recent hurricanes.  New trees have been planted, but it will be years before they are big enough to provide any shade or privacy.