Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Fort De Soto Continued

So, if you are ever interested in camping, Fort De Soto is a must! I wouldn't classify it as "hard-core" camping, but it is a lovely place to be. There are many campsites - I believe over 200 - so you are in no way secluded. But there are sites on the water and sites that allow pets. There are bathrooms and hot showers. There is a little store at the front in case you forget anything. AND there are many beaches to explore, all unique and beautiful in different ways. Here we are at our site on the water.

When we arrived, Brittany and I set up our cooking area and then relaxed a bit with some reading materials. To the right of this sidewalk is the water. As you can see there are many campers here. It didn't bother us one bit though! Here is my tent. I forgot an extension cord for my lights. So pretty Brittany! While we set up, Travis checked out the waters (quite calm considering the storm the day before). Here the boys are discussing their fishing plans over some percolated coffee. Brittany and I were very excited for the preparation of meals. I don't know why, but it is really fun to cook outside. The first morning we made a breakfast called the Shipwreck. It was sausage, onions, potatoes and eggs. Delicious and filling. Brittany was quite happy with her new percolator. The next morning we had chocolate chip pancakes. In no way did we rough it this weekend folks! It was nice and cool at night. Here I am after a nice hot shower. Dinner was a bigger process but it worked out pretty well. We had fish tacos the first night. The boys did not catch any fish by the way ;) WARNING! If you do not like insects then you should quit reading this now or close your eyes and scroll down. Brittany learned a valuable lesson this weekend about ALWAYS keeping her tent zipped up. You never know what is gonna creep up in there. Perhaps it will be a giant, disgusting wolf spider! Bad picture but you get the point. I don't know how she slept that night. Aside from that - we did encounter plenty of non-creepy wildlife. I found these two little starfish in an oyster shell. And we saw many little horseshoe crabs pushing their way through the sand.


And raccoons. We were warned about them when we checked in. We never had a problem with our food, we kept it in the car. But they were not afraid of us. They had no problem coming up to our table in the middle of the day while we were sitting right there. Here is Robber Raccoon in our tree. We had a lovely woodpecker couple in this palmless tree. And this guy...not sure what he is, maybe an oystercatcher? We also had a cardinal couple that flew around our site both days we were there. And seagulls. They are on every beach but this guy was particularly close to me. One of the greatest amenities that Fort De Soto had to offer were fire pits. It seems that you are never allowed to have campfires while camping anymore and we were so excited to find that you could rent these fire pits for only $3 a day. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on our last night. I would definitely camp here again and of course I recommend it to anyone looking for a nice place to camp in Florida. If you have any questions, please ask. I will answer to my best ability!

3 comments:

  1. Ummm, I have some questions. When and where are we going camping next? Also, how old is Fort Desoto? Do raccoons eat oysters? How long does the hot water last in the showers? And why would anyone ever leave their tent open? What an idiot. ;)

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  2. Looks like fun was had by all. Ft Desoto is the best camping evah for a beach-lover. I love the spots on the north side where your site sits right on the water. Those raccoons are skallywags out there. I've seen them open a rubbermaid tub to get to the food inside.

    Take good care,

    Karen

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  3. Happy to have found you! My family would love to camp there- I'll be checking in to that!
    http://seashellsandsaltyair.blogspot.com/

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