After our return from Lake Louisa State Park, Bob and I did some maintenance on the motor home, I had more doctor appointments, and we had a neighborhood get together for the Fourth of July. Then it was time to head for the Keys! As usual, Bob and I stuck to the 2-2-2 Rule for RVers. Travel 200 miles, stop by 2 p.m. and stay 2 days!
Our first stop was Patrick AFB. We wanted to stock the pantry and check out the new campsites and shower/laundry room. As we drove into the campground we spotted this family of ospreys nested on top of the loud speaker pole. I don't know how they stood the noise! We couldn't tell if there was one baby or two, but they kept mom and dad busy flying back and forth with fresh caught fish!
Once we checked in and got set up, we made a quick trip to the commissary, then we came back and relaxed. The new campsites look ready for use---they have been sodded and are watered daily by a water truck All the new campsites are pull-throughs. The shower/laundry wasn't open for use, we assume they will open after a final inspection.
After spending a leisurely two days at Patrick, we headed south to a new-to-us park that we have wanted to visit for quite some time--Port St. Lucie South Recreation area by the Corps of Engineers. It is a campground that is very popular and small! Most of the time you need reservations to get in and yes, we had reservations!
The campground has 9 RV sites, with three of those being waterfront. We had site number 2! This is a view of our site from across St. Lucie River. Yes, there were boat slips for overnighting at this park.
This is one of the few Corps of Engineer Parks where you are allowed to walk next to the lock as boats go through and you can walk across the dam to a nature trail on the other side of the river.
It was quite hot in July, but Bob and I found a nice county park where we could hike and geocache. Halpatiokee Regional Park is located not far from the campground. Our first trip to the park, we didn't find the major hiking trail we were looking for, but we did find quite a few geocaches on the smaller trails. Since it was so hot, we tried to get out early to do our hiking. One of the trails in the park was Gopher Tortoise Trail. It was properly named as we saw gopher tortoises and their holes everywhere!
To vary our sight seeing trips, we also visited Jonathan Dickinson State Park. We climbed the tower on the tallest mound of dirt (mountain) in south Florida.
This long boardwalk led up to the tower steps.
I used my phone to get a panoramic view of the area which was an army base in World War II.
Of course, on a hot, hot day the best place for lunch is a microbrewery! We found Tequesta Brewing Company in Tequesta, Florida. They didn't serve lunch, but the cafe next door delivered!
There were a lot of places to visit in this area, but the temperatures were too hot to do too many outdoor activities. We definitely want to return to do more exploring.
It was time to move on to THE KEYS!
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