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| Any closer to the water, we'd be wet... |
In our travels, we have big adventures and we have tiny adventures. Our first 9 days in Carrabelle FL at Ho Hum RV
Park have been a series of delightful micro-adventures. Ho Hum is a small patch of sand between Route
98 and St George Sound with about 50 campsites.
If our campsite was any closer to the water, we would be wet. Here we watch the world float by as the intense
Florida sun glints off the water.
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| Hooray for Cracker Barrel - note our rig in the distance |
We left Pirateland in Myrtle Beach SC on a Friday. We know better than to try to find a new campsite
on a weekend (too many people have discovered this marvelous way to travel),
especially a Spring Break weekend. But
that is the way it worked out, and not surprisingly every campground we called
was full, until we called the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Waycross GA and they
welcomed us. We had heard about boondock
“overnight parking” at Cracker Barrel, but had never tried it before. It was wonderful and quiet. We were one of three rigs in their large
parking lot. The staff was welcoming and
helpful. Dinner and breakfast from
Cracker Barrel were delicious and super convenient (just a short walk across
the parking lot…). We will definitely do
this again.
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| What a view out our front window! |
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| Our rig is second from the right |
Our waterfront campsite at Ho Hum sits on a ledge of rip rap
overlooking a sliver of white beach that grows and shrinks with the tides. There
is a half mile or so walk down the beach – your feet get wet at high tide and
stay dry at low tide. Most of the beach has
remains of trees whose roots were exposed by erosion. There are wet patches of grasses with egrets
and herons stalking their prey along the edges and sections of sand with busy willets,
sandpipers and plovers poking about for food.
Pelicans put on an aerial display diving for fish from great
heights. A wet oyster reef exposed at
low tide in front of our campsite attracts a pair of Oystercatchers pecking for a meal. We have even seen a bald eagle.
Snowy Egret 
Great Egret
Carrabelle is part of the Forgotten Coast of Florida, an
area East of Apalachicola that is basically undeveloped. Route 98 runs along the coast, and most of
the inland side is National or State Forest (one forested area is called Tate’s
Hell). There are no high-rise hotels or
chain restaurants. Quiet and delightful. If this sounds familiar, we camped here in
March 2022 and returned again this year.
Do you see the crown on the Florida Crown Conch? 
Sunrise
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| You know how much we love photographing pelicans... |
One of the highlights of our stay has been three days spent
with a family of 5 children (ages 9-1) who camped next door. The older children were very interested in
the natural world and foraged wonderful treasures for us to admire and also to
help identify - brown anoles with bright red dewlaps, and Florida crown conch, pear
whelk and (the left-handed) lightning whelk shells with hermit crabs in residence. We had started getting interested in learning
about shells in the Carolinas, so this became a crash course in shell
identification. They also captured blue
crabs (using a racquetball racquet no less).
When they finally got one of legal size, we showed them how to cook it
up and eat it.
Gorgeous ancient dunes - St. George State Park
We took the bicycles out to St. George State Park on St.
George Island. The park road travels
between rows of active dunes along the Gulf of Mexico and ancient dunes along
the center of the island. A spectacular
view of miles of dunes with small outcroppings of grasses and shrubs.
Exciting ride back
On another day we pumped up the kayaks and paddled along the
coastline. After days of calm conditions,
the wind and waves kicked up as we paddled.
We had set off paddling into the breeze, so we rode the wind and waves
back home, using our paddles to steer (and not propel) our boats.
Our morning walk 
Schooner loves to watch the pelicans 
Another sunrise shot
The slogan of the campground, “Another Ho Hum Day in
Paradise”, is appropriate. What a
wonderful place to slow down, appreciate the beauties of nature and the simple
pleasure of sitting in the shade on a warm, sunny day.
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