Newport Campground, Crawfordville, Florida

 We arrived at the Newport Campground which we had passed by many times which is right across from entrance to St. Marks Wildlife Refuge and a short drive to Wakulla Springs. We set up camp and enjoyed happy hour as we were right next to another birder camping in a tent. We cooked dinner out and ate inside as the temperature was dropping close to freezing. 

Leaving St. Joseph at sunrise

Cooper's Hawk at the boat ramp

Kingfisher on the rail

Roosting turkey vultures

Bufflehead duck

Racing kayaks heading out

Rare hummer

Monarch butterflies loving the bottlebrush tree

Another rare hummer

At the St. Marks Welcome Center

Observation deck at Newport Campground

Our campsite next to the birder tenter

We took a shower at the campground before cooking breakfast and taking our coffee to go when we headed over to the Welcome Center to meet the Bay County Audubon group leader Pam. We birded around the welcome center and then parked at the twin dikes parking area to walk out to look for several rare birds that had been spotted day before. We then stopped at Headquarters Pond and the observation overlook before going to the lighthouse. We walked out along the shore to get a closer look at all the shorebirds with the spotting scope. One last look at Headquarters Pond before we left the group heading to St. Marks to Cooter Stew for a burger and a beer. The rain started as we finished up eating outdoors and then we drove over to Wakulla Springs State Park, It was gray and rainy as we walked towards the boat docks at the springs and then walked back through the lodge restaurant and gift shop before heading back to the campground. The rain stopped for a bit and we hitched up ready to go in the morning. The group was going to go on the tour boat and each lunch at the lodge but the weather forecast looked miserable so we were glad to be headed up as we saw sleet and snow on the weather radar towards Valparaiso.

At the observation deck at the St. Mark's Welcome Center

Otters following along the dike hike

Female vermillion flycatcher

Night heron in the weeds

Those are all birds not rocks

Very shallow water

White pelicans soaring

Lighthouse hidden behind the trees

Pair of nesting bald eagles along the road

Several roseate spoonbills in the bunch

T.H. Stone Memorial Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park, Port St. Joe , Florida

 It turns out we had a dead battery on the Toyota Highlander so we had to install a new battery before we left the house on Thursday afternoon so we got a late start. We got to our campsite at St Joseph State Park just before sundown. Our site overlooked the boardwalk to the dunes so we watched the sunset over the gulf before jumping back in as it was windy and chilly. We got up at daybreak to meet Pam and Bob at Sister's Bistro in Port St. Joe for breakfast. We then met up with the Bay County Audubon Society group at George Core Lighthouse Park in Port St. Joe. It was sunny but cold. Our next stop was near the church and then we headed towards Lafayette Park in Apalachicola stopping at a hummer hot spot before the park and spotted two rare hummingbirds on the feeders. Next stop was the Chocolate Shop for ice cream lunch in Apalachicola before heading to Battery Park and then over the bridge and stopping on the other side in Eastport. We continued on to stop at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve and walked the boardwalks and saw the inside aquarium exhibits. We stopped one more time to try to get a better look on the sandbar and skipped the last stop since there was not a good turnaround. We headed on to Newport Campground where we stayed for two nights.

Inside St. Joseph Park

Screened in porch tent campsite across from us

Shady Pines Campground not so shady after Hurricane Michael

Beautiful boardwalk to the gulf beach

Sunset over the gulf

Dune restoration

Looking back to campground from the beach

The view from the front window of Cutie towards the beach