Abita Springs Resort and Abita Springs Brewery

       Our next stop is Abita Springs Louisiana, and the Abita Springs Resort. This is a Coast to Coast RV Park, so our cost is only $10 a night.  On the way a large gravel truck passed us, and some gravel flew off the truck and put a nick in our windshield. When we got set up at the RV Park we called our insurance and made arrangements for the chip to be fixed at the RV Park.  The fishing in their lake was not as good as it was 4 years ago when we were here. Don't know why this is called  resort with dirt sites ad gravel roads.   The Davis Bayou National Seashore in a previous post is called a campground and it had paved sites and roads with nice grass spacing.

Part of 150 lbs. of crawfish.

     We then visited the Abita Springs brewery. We took the tour which was $5.00 per person. The tour fee included 4 coins each for a small glass on one of their beers. Since Linda doesn’t drink beer I was stuck with 8 coins. I’m not much of a beer drinker so I only used 6 of the coins and 3 were for their super sweet and super good sodas. The King Cake Soda was just like biting into a piece of cake.  The Banana Foster was super good, and the old fashion Root Beer was wonderful.  That’s where I used some of my coins, not all on beer. 

 

Belly up to the bar

 

See abita.com

2016 trip west, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Davis Bayou Campground

     Our next stop was Gulf Islands National Seashore MS., Davis Bayou Campground. Gulf Island National Seashore is in Florida and Mississippi. Stopped along the way for propane, the first time we had to fill the propane tank since we had the RV. Stopped at the visitor’s center to get some info on the area. We were headed for and signed the guest register and won a prize.  I signed into the lucky “blue" block. I Received a MS cloth bag and a large mug plus a coupon book and a few other little things.

     The RV campground started to take reservations. So we called ahead and did procure a site. Were we surprised when we arrived. The campground has paved roads and sites. We had a back in site with 30/50 amp electric and water. There is a dump station. We had a small paved spot with a picnic table.  A big thank you to Mike, the attendant who was super nice.  This is one of the nicest national park campgrounds. I shouldn’t be telling you that or it will be full the next time we want to stay there.

 

A air conditioned tent.

 

    

Escapees Park Summerdale AL 3/2016

    We spent three days at the Escapees Summerdale Alabama RV Park.  It is a very nice park with big, I mean big sites. The only drawback of the whole park is the dirt/grass sites. Each site has a nice big tree, so growing grass in the shade is a problem for the park. So we put down our carpet and all was fine. Our cost was $21. Plus tax. Not sure of a non member cost. Large club house with many activities. Full hookup back in sites.  Outdoor solar heated pool. Lots of room to walk a dog. Well lite at night

 

 

Into Alabama, the TV show Tanked, frisbee dogs and hot air balloons.

      Our next stop was at the Escapees Park in Summerdale Alabama. . We wanted to check out this park since it is a club we belong to. It’s near Gulf Shores. We had been to Gulf Shores about five years ago.  After another 200 miles we crossed into Alabama. Along the way we crossed into the central time zone. That’s 500 miles from our home till we crossed into AL. It’s near Gulf Shores, which we wanted to revisit. We spent a couple of days at Gulf Shores State Park just after Katrina. They were in the process of rebuilding the park. The Escapees park is about 15 miles from Gulf Shores.

     We also visited Gulf Islands National Seashore. The beach has a fine white sand. A nice beach area with a few large pavilions.  The super fine white sand was beautiful. The area we visited was Perdido Key.  You can check out more at their web site, www.ns.gov/guis.   On the way we had a great lunch at Lillian’s. We do recommend this restaurant. We had the pizza buffet. From here we went to Pensacola a little Black Water River State Park. A nice state park with camping.

 

While at Perdido Key we went to the visitors center and were surprise by a beautiful aquarium.  Discovered that the aquarium was built by the crew from the Animal Planets  hit TV show called “Tanked”.  

 

Copied from their brochure

 

      We were tourist for three days. We only planned on spending two days in the area, but there was a hot air balloon festival taking place and we decided to spend another day.  There were forty balloons participating.  We did get to see a beautiful “glow”.  It was worth spending an extra day. 

Setting up, in all 40 balloons

 

Starting to get dark

Impossible to get then all glowing at once.

 We found out about a hot air balloon festival and a balloon glow that evening. So after dinner at “The Shrimp Basket” rated in the top ten restaurants out of 128 listed on Trip Adviser we went to the balloon glow. 
      Before the glow there was a Frisbee dog show. We couldn't miss that. We had seen this show at a shrimp festival at Palm Coast about 4 years earlier. We knew there were border collies featured in the show. We had seen another show put on for the Dollywood employees when we worked there. Since we have a soft spot in our hearts we had to see it again. All the dogs in the show are rescues and all the proceeds from sales go toward rescuing dogs.  See www.k9frisbee.com

Note the Frisbee just ahead of the dog.

Up and over, again the Frisbee is hard to see, but it is just in frot of the dog

Looks just like our beloved blazer. Border collies have that unbelievable stare and concentration.

Beaver Lake Campground Qunicy Florida

Beaver Lake Campground, Quincy FL

A good overnight, about 1/4 mile off I 10. A Passport America park.
Rate $20.25
It is great for an overnight, but I would not make this a destination park.  It served our purpose and we felt safe. It has a bad rating, but with full hookups and 30/50 amp electric, pull thru fairly level grass, well lighted,  it is ok. Its just a bare bones campground.

Day one, our Trip begins

Wow finally on the road. We started one day late waiting for a new prescription to arrive.  So on Tuesday we hit the road.  Our first stop was in Quincy Florida for an overnight.  It was a long day of about 305 miles.  About 200 on interstates, not our favorite routes to follow, but we are just trying to get to our destinations out west. We can always visit places we passed up on weekly trips from home.  The wild flowers were in full bloom, which looked really nice.