We’ve got a family wedding in Florida to go to, which is going to involve lots of driving. If we’re lucky we’ll get a chance to do some hiking in Florida.
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Ginger and Lanie at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
Spring Break 2013 – Day 1 Drive to Cheaha Mountain State Park, Alabama
No backpacking for us this Spring Break – we’ve got a family wedding in Florida to go to, which is going to involve lots of driving. If we’re lucky we’ll get a chance to do some hiking in Florida.
To save cash we’re camping in State parks while we’re travelling, pitching our tent in Ginger’s brother’s backyard and one night in a cheap motel while Lanie gets to stay in the swanky hotel with the wedding party 🙂
The rest of the days drive went off without incident – apart from the omission of not checking which timezone our campground in Cheaha Mountain State Park was in. For a moment there we thought we’d arrive after it had closed for the day. The drive up the mountain in the dark was fun, lots of sharp and sweeping curves. Had we arrived during the daytime, so that I was able to see the steep drop-offs we’d probably have taken it a little bit more slowly…
The camp-hosts, knowing we were arriving late, had already picked a spot for us. Next to a light so we could see to put up our tents! Not what we’d been looking forward to, but, oh well, they had good intentions. At least it meant we were also near to the showers for the morning.
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Lanie sees a Muskrat at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
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Muskrat at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
The first stage of our drive took us past Mammoth Spring Arkansas, and we couldn’t resist stopping to take a look. A short stop became extended when Lanie spotted, and proceeded to run to ground, some poor muskrat.
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Ginger and Lanie look over the weir at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
Lanie wasn’t the only one who was distracted. We found an old hydroelectric plant that was open to the public, so of course, we had to take a look.
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Gary and Lanie at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
Taking a picture of me standing by the car has become a bit of a tradition – if you can call doing so on two separate occasions a tradition, so we took another picture this time too.
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Cheaha Mountain State Park, Alabama
Spring Break 2013 – Day 2 – Our camp for last night.
Lanie couldn’t be bothered to pitch her tent and slept in the van.
It was a pain being camped right near a light, but it worked out well being close to the showers in the morning.
We were camped near a light because the camp hosts picked our spot for us. Normally we’ll drive around and select the most secluded spot we can find. We let the camp hosts know we’d be arriving late, and not knowing that we are seasoned and fully equipped campers, they put us in a spot with a light so that we would have light to set up camp.
Part way through the drive we realized we didn’t know what time-zone the campsite was in, so we had to pick up the pace in case we had an hour less to get there in time to check-in. Had it been light I might have driven a bit more slowly up the mountain, because, as we discovered on our way back down, some of the roadside drop offs were impressive.
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It was when we saw this view that we realized how far up the mountain we’d driven last night
Spring Break 2013 – Day 2 – The view from Cheaha Mountain State Park, Alabama.
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An evening on the lake
Our second evening in Florida and we get to go out on the lake in Sam’s boat.
Lanie and Mia really enjoyed the tubing. We enjoyed a nice cold beer and watching them have fun.
Click on any of the photographs for a bigger picture.
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Lanie and Mia
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Sam and Kat’s Wedding