St. Andrews State Park

This morning we made it our goal to get to a church service that was literally one block from our trailer by 10 am. Before leaving for church, we also needed to have the trailer ready to go except for hooking up to the Yukon so that we could pull out right after church. We couldn't find a check-out time anywhere at the campground, so we assumed it was noon ;o) and we made it just in time.

We made it to the church with time to spare. The service at First Baptist Church of Mexico Beach was really sweet. The people were very welcoming and friendly. It was fun to see a couple who were our next-trailer neighbors from the campground sitting one pew behind us across the aisle.

We pulled out of Rustic Sands and headed down the highway. We stopped at the same Walmart that the kids and I had hit on the library day and picked up some groceries and then we drove another 15 minutes or so to St. Andrews State Park.

Our campsite, #15, is right on the water of Grand Lagoon. It is a little sloped and the water spigot is placed a little forward so we had a bit of a hard time getting parked just right. We have the least amount of clearance for the jacks that we've ever had. As in, I couldn't turn the handle of the crank because it hit the ground. But we got it, and right as we were getting settled in, the kids started excitedly yelling about seeing hermit crabs at the water's edge. A few moments later, we saw a great blue heron standing in the shallows and Sky and I watched as he snatched up a fish(?) or a little crustacean(?) in his beak and because we were making him nervous, watched as he glided a little further away to eat his meal in private.

We were all really hungry because we hadn't eaten lunch yet, I had the Walmart stuff to finish putting away and so when that was done, we ate a quick meal of french dips. We cleaned up from our meal and Brock took Sky to see how far away the bathrooms are. We do not have sewer hookups here so we will need to use the campground bathrooms as much as possible during the day and do all our showering there also. Thankfully, they are nice bathrooms and they aren't too far from us. Also, the dump station is fairly close, so I might be able to make some trips to dump out dish water to save space in our gray tank and make it last the three days.

Brock took the foldable bike and the little boys on their scooters and went exploring and found that there is a playground here near the boat launch. I took Heidi and started out for a walk, thinking I would find the beach because the sun was starting to get low. Soon, those three explorers caught up to me and we all made our way towards the beach. (Bri and Bryn stayed at the trailer with their own quiet activities.) We explorers came up on a little family of deer that were grazing along the road and they showed no fear of us or of the cars on the road that were stopping to take their pictures. One deer saw Heidi and stopped and looked at us, but didn't seem too concerned. We continued our trek down the road. We saw a sign for Gator Lake and walked on the boardwalk for a little closer look, but we saw no gators tonight. We might have heard one move loudly in the water, but we're not sure. The big birds were all coming in to roost in a bushy tree across the water and they were noisy.

Posing on scooters with the deer

"Gator Lake" - gorgeous even when we don't spot a gator

We kept on toward the beach since I was really wanting to see it and catch the sunset. We did and it was awesome! Same white super soft sand and the water was so pretty and clear. More so than the beaches we've seen so far. We didn't walk on the beach since dogs are not allowed, but we stood on the boardwalk which goes to the top of the dunes and looked down. The sunset was gorgeous and it's hard to believe, but I think the beach was even more beautiful than the ones we've seen before. I can't wait to check it out some more. We are only here until Wednesday so I'm motivated to lighten our school schedule a bit. ;o)

On the way back to the trailer, we saw more deer. This family had a little one that seemed like it might've just lost it's spots and a buck traveling with it. Very cool!

Blurry because the one looking at me right now got spooked by Heidi and bounded off.

The buck looking regal - and cautious.