St. Joseph Peninsula State Park – Riveted

St. Joseph Peninsula State Park Wilderness Area

Laura Domela — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:57:06 +0000

This afternoon we went for a nice hike up in the wilderness area of St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. (You do need a permit to get into this area, but they just give 'em out at the park office free.) We parked and took the path over to the bay side of the peninsula and hiked up the bay a bit. Lots of hermit crabs, sea urchin shells, horseshoe crab shells, and herons. No people.

We walked for a while and eventually found a place where we could cross over to the gulf side of the peninsula, and we climbed a few pretty big (white) dunes to get there. It rained kinda heavy for about two minutes, so we were nice and wet for the last half of our walk. No big.

There are a ton of shells up this way on the gulf side:

And little birds:

And still, no people.

I love these ghost crabs! They blend in so well with the white sand, don't they? Here's a little one (little bigger than an inch across maybe):

And here's a little larger one:

The teeny ones are what make these little white sand tufts all over the place. There was a whole giant stretch of beach that was covered in them…it looked like an abstract chenille beadspread my grandma would have had:

Oh yeah, and parts of (big) sand dollars all over the place as well…

For dinner we grilled up the fresh red snapper we bought at the fish market. We marinated it in a mixture of lime/lemon juice, olive oil, coriander, cayenne, garlic, pepper, oregano, and achiote seeds for a few hours in the fridge first. Delicious.

In the morning we head for Miami (the fast, boring route, because we need to be there by Friday), but we could easily spend a week or more here.

Long Walk on a White Sand Beach

Laura Domela — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:33:25 +0000

After work and just before sunset yesterday we headed out to see the beach. Whoa. And before you tell me: I know. I took too many photos of the sunset. Whatever. There were about 20 more, even, that I'm not posting. You're welcome.

Shadow self portrait:

Wet white sand:

A much tinier white crab than the one we saw last night at Grayton Beach:

Crab hole in the sand:

For dinner we grilled some of the fresh grouper we picked up at the fish market. We seasoned it in a Creole style with parmesan and olive oil and butter and herbs, with some of our usual bbq rub (modified with extra paprika and garlic). It was awesome. We served it with a basic mixed green salad dressed with white balsamic, olive oil, pepper, a little shaved parmesan and sunflower seeds.

St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in Port St. Joe, FL

Laura Domela — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:52:05 +0000

Here's where we are now: St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in Port St. Joe, Florida.

Our campsite is rough and tropical (but completely level!) and has a ton of space and privacy. Not all the spots in this campground are like that, but this one is. Love it. The beach is just over the dunes from us (we haven't explored yet, will do here shortly). We drove from our non-spot at the Grayton Beach boat launch parking lot to Port St. Joe, taking the scenic route the whole way. Here's last night's spot in front of the white sand dunes (waves crashing on the other side…you can't hear 'em, but I'm telling you they're right there):

And a few pics from the drive:

Many of the houses along this route that are across the street from the Gulf build up these view spots on top of their homes so they can see over the houses right on the beach:

This is out on the St. Joseph Peninsula, before you get to the state park. There are so many gorgeous beach houses out here, and a TON of them for sale:

We parked and got set up and did some more work for a bit (nice to get a two hour head start here on Central Time!), then went out to grab some lunch at the Indian Pass Raw Bar. (Thanks Doug, for the great tip!) We tried both the raw and baked oysters, a cup of gumbo, and some crab-stuffed gulf shrimp. It was ALL good. The place is super casual and friendly…you walk in and help yourself to drinks in the coolers, order up some food, then when you're done, you tell the cashier what you had and pay up.

After lunch we headed back to Port St. Joe and picked up some fresh red snapper, grouper, and gulf shrimp for our meals for the two nights we're here.

Now we're back at the Airstream working and will probably head out later to take a walk on the beach and explore a little more.

Here's another shot of our sweet campsite office: