We finally took our first overnight trip (for the blog… we have all spent time away from home…)!

We have been planning this trip to Cumberland Island for a while. I started probably around the time I made the blog 10 Places to Visit in Georgia, it was number 1 on my list. I convinced A that we needed to go (it wasn’t very hard…she loves the beach), and we started searching for places to stay on or near Cumberland Island. Of course right away I found Greyfield Inn. unfortunately it is a little -a lot- out of our price range (which right now is little to none). The only other way to stay on the island is to camp.

I thought camping on the island would be great! We would have the entire weekend to take pictures and see everything on the island. But then I thought about it a little more. You have to pack everything on to the island. Food…Water….Tent….Clothes….all of A’s camera equipment. It was just a lot to take and have a great trip.

So we started looking at other options… I was still stuck on camping, so we decided to do it in a different way. My in-laws let us borrow the camper and we looked for a camp ground near the island. We settled on Crooked River State Park. I made reservations and we set out.

We needed J to drive us and take care of his parents camper, and M tagged along because the more the merrier…. The four of us loaded up and set out for St Mary’s, GA (about 5 or so hours away). Now, I don’t know how to get there and for some reason I was supposed to give J directions… Thank goodness for phones… I used my phone for directions. I wanted the quickest route to the campground… my phone didn’t find it that way. It wanted to take us the scenic-ish route.

Thankfully we had a good time along the way. We came up with a new idea for A’s photography… it’s a good one…. Divorcement pictures….. I don’t remember how that came about…but it did. So whoever wants to be the first couple to have their divorcement pictures taken contact us!

We may have gone a little out-of-the-way, but at least we had a fun and pretty drive! We finally made it to Crooked River State Park, and I went inside to check in. All the campsites are first come, first serve. Which sounds like a great idea right? You get there early and you get a better camping spot. Well it’s not so great. They don’t differentiate between tent camping and RV camping. We couldn’t be there at 1pm (check in time) and the campground was full. The few camp sites that were left would not fit a RV, and we had a pretty big one.

We drove around a few times and finally found a place we could park. It turned out to be a pretty good spot. I just feel really bad for the three other campers that came in after we did. I’m pretty sure at least one of them had to find a different camp ground for the night. I understand that if you are tent camping you want a great spot… but the campground really needs to think that through.

The campground was beautiful though, which made up for the parking issues! Our campsite was a short walk to the river, and by the time we made it the sun was setting. I would have sat here all day if it hadn’t been for one little problem….

There was a cliff right next to the river. A fence sat a couple of yards back from the edge…..with a sign “Dangerous Cliff STAY BACK”… The view behind the fence was a little lackluster… As you know here at Full Tank of Gas we are rule breakers if it means seeing something that is worth it! And the sight was worth it. So of course we went under the fence, and walked the little path to the edge.

Next thing you know, here comes a little golf cart with two “park rangers” (they had to be in high school… I they just volunteer). They weren’t too thrilled with us and told us to “respect” the sign. I know they were doing their jobs so we just told them sorry and promised not to do it again, and they were on their way… Or so we thought. Two minutes later here comes the little golf cart again to make sure we hadn’t broke the rules again. Thankfully, we hadn’t crossed back over. I really think they put the fence a little far back… but I’m not the boss and probably won’t visit again, so I guess they can do whatever they please!

We called it an early night on our first night. We were tired, had already got in trouble, and were really excited for our day trip to Cumberland Island the next day!

-B

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