Crooked River State Park

 We arrived at the Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort yesterday afternoon, set up and proceeded to one of our favorite spots, Charlie's L'Etoile Verte for dinner.   It's just around the corner after all.....

site 360

Normally we don't leave Beluga upon arrival,  after moving from one location to another. Breaking camp, hooking up the Jeep, going through "the check list", driving (especially on windy days!) finding our next park and site, settling in and hooking up is tiring for us.     We made an exception last night.    Charlies offers half price on their extensive wine list on Mondays.....a bargain too good to pass up!

The food is exceptional as well.....interesting preparations using super fresh seafood (probably other things as well, but we never look further!) .....we've never had a bad or even mediocre meal there.

fresh Swordfish with wild mushroom sauce.   Mmm

Crooked River State Park, near St. Mary's, Georgia.     I picked this State Park (a favorite from the past) because I couldn't get a spot at Ft. Clinch State Park near Fernandina Beach, Florida - our real destination.

Crooked River was only about 30 miles from Fernandina Beach, not too far to drive for another good meal.     This IS the FOOD, friends, family and familiar favorites tour after all.   (friends and family coming soon, I promise)   Our first choice restaurant, pretty little Le Clos, closed suddenly due to "unforeseen circumstances".      We were both very sad to see the cheerful yellow cottage shuttered indefinitely .    Sigh.      The town of Fernandina Beach is a small, quaint waterfront spot with lots of shops (tourist and otherwise) and nice restaurants.     We strolled the streets while we waited for our next choice restaurant to open.     We discovered a bakery selling Venetians and Kouign Amann.   Of course we had to buy some, you know, so we could A/B with the ones from Vilano Beach.    (note:  I liked Vilano Beach's version better, Dave chose Fernandina Beach)

 

 Espana Restaurant and Tapas more than made up for the loss of Le Clos.    We'd been there years before and hoped that it's quality and choices hadn't changed.     They haven't....choices galore.     One of our favorites was Patatas Bravas.    I took no other pictures of the table laden with our tapas selections.   We may have eaten more than we needed to....ah well.

The weather at Crooked River was on and off.    High humidity and temperature was definitely ON....Precipitation was on and off, mostly ON.  

We got out in between rain drops and thunder to explore a few of the riverside trails.

 

We saw quite a number of large Gopher Tortoises around our site, walking briskly down the campground roads and nestling down in the pine straw next to us.  

  On one of our walks, however, we spied a large one, blocking it's burrow with a baby next to it!     They are one of the oldest living species on the planet and can live to 60 years old in the wild.   They burrow into the soft sandy soil in the park and are native to the southern states, although now classified as "threatened".  

I read that these tortoises exhibit no maternal care of their eggs or young,  so we wondered about this little one.   

 Was this one of those bratty little kids that won't take "NO" for an answer?    Was it trying to claim this burrow for itself.    Was it lost?      Why was the big one blocking the burrow's opening?    Hmmmmm.

Some things you're not meant to know I guess.

So, that's a glimpse at our weekend at Crooked River State Park......Oh, and one more picture.   Sweet old Sam walking himself past our window, wagging his big plumy tail.    awwww