To say I was thrilled to be leaving Torreya State Park would be an understatement. I was up at the butt crack of dawn getting the inside jobs completed so that we take off asap. Though I relished the R & R, even for me, enough was enough. I felt so disconnected from everyone and everything while staying at Torryea State Park. Even going to "town" was depressing. Just not a lot to see or do and though many people may love that atmosphere, I do not. We did meet a couple of other campers last night making our last night at the park rather enjoyable. She was 48 years old, her husband 66. They both were from Brooklyn now living in central Florida traveling with their two huge German Shepherds, Bear (138 lbs) and Shadow, who was just a little smaller. Both have their own beds....Bear and Shadow, that is.
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| This is Bear. A real sweetheart. |
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| Shadow is giving me a little kiss. My face says it all. YUK! |
We had a great evening last night just sitting around chatting. But they were leaving today too so one more night at Torreya would have been about as boring as watching paint dry. The park was so dark at night you couldn't go for a walk safely. We forgot to take a bag of trash to the dumpster one night and some critter decided to have a looksey in the bag. The only thing disturbed in the bag were two Diet Pepsi cans. And those were both punctured with two HUGE teeth marks leaving me with little doubt that there were creatures in "themtherehills".
They called the area we were visiting "the real Florida!" Not sure who THEY are but a billboard along the road proudly said so. I'm here to tell you that if that was the real Florida I want no part of it. It was if the whole world was moving forward BUT that area didn't get the memo. You can drive for several miles and not see one house or car. Creepy. To me, it was creepy. It was weird too to see so many gated houses. And I'm not talking about million $ homes. Small homes, some of which would be hard pressed to appraise for $20,000. Everywhere I looked though people had their "stuff" gated. Some of the gated places were no larger than an outdoor garage. Gated...for the love of God what the heck were they afraid others might steal? I didn't see a whole lot of anything I'd even take the time get out of the car to steal, let alone take the time to bust their gates. It's very interesting to see how other people in the country live; I'm pretty sure if they came to Warsaw they'd think we lived pretty weird too...homes so close together, too many people at the grocery store, no Piggly Wiggly's.
We made it to Jacksonville without incident. Claire, our GPS, evidently was having a good day cause she took us directly to our "via point." That, and the fact Jack didn't call her names couldn't hurt either. The campground is very beautiful and we are a short walk from the ocean. This evening we had both Sydney and Tanner wading in the ocean. Of course, Ms. Pris didn't want any part of it. No sand burrs for her little paws and how dare anyone think she should get her paws wet or dirty. Tanner seemed to enjoy it.
Below are a few of the pictures Jack took yesterday and today:
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| The lake in our campground. We were told that a gator was seen here Sunday. |
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| Two fishermen at our campground. |
