Folly Beach to visit friends

Heading home after our winter in Florida, but first a stop to see our friends, Lauri & David.  They've rented a house right on the bay in Folly Beach.  We planned to drive down the 100 yard dirt drive to the house, but low branches stopped this plan.  Fortunately we were able to pull along side the drive without ending up in the marsh.  A great stop, and what a nice place to spend the winter with great bay views, and walks on the beach across the road.



During our short visit, we went out for a great seafood dinner at Bowens Island Restaurant.  Had planned to just get some drinks and oysters while watching the sun set; but our outdoor table was perfect to enjoy the evening onset, so we stayed for an authentic fish dinner.

We also checked out the oldest tree east of the Mississippi, the Angel Oak.  Wow...…………
The age is estimated at almost 500 years old.

The oldest city in America....St. Augustine

We pulled into Anastasia State Park and took a primo campsite, #94.  Super deep, heavily shaded, and level -- always a pleasure to be level.  Having camped here a couple of times earlier, we knew our way around.

We biked into historic St. Augustine, after first waiting on the Lion drawbridge for a large sailboat to pass underneath.  We enjoyed the walks around the old town as well as the fresh seafood, especially fresh caught shrimp.  This year we were in town for the annual Celtic Music & Heritage Festival; so we checked it out.  Could Morey outdistance the Stone Throwers?
-- Also listened to some Celtic music and had some Irish beer and some kind of Irish meat pastry.

We also biked to St. Augustine Beach and the local farmers market.  All in all, a nice week in sunny and warm Florida.

Beach Scene.(again)... Gamble Rogers SRA

Never having camped here at Gamble Rogers, Morey got lucky 11 months ago, when he was able to book 8 days at this beach park.  We're right on the Atlantic with views of the waves, the beach, and all of the birds and sea creatures.  With the town of Flagler Beach just north of us, we made use of the over 18 mile bike trail that parallels A1A, checking out the towns and restaurants along the way.

 

We stopped one day at the center of Flagler Beach, at the Funky Pelican.  We had a great lunch; in fact we liked it so much that we went back for another great seafood meal.







Ruthie wanted to check out the Bulow Plantation ruins, one of the few sugar mill plantations in Florida.  Established in 1836, it unfortunately didn't survive the second Seminole War.  We were able to bike along a very country road to check out the ruins.  Very impressive, even today.

We'll definitely be back to Gamble Rogers!