Since the home is no longer on wheels, day tripping is going to have to be the way to see new sites.
Yesterday was check out the area day. This time we hit up a few of the city parks for the first part of the journey(I was looking at all the lights). We didn't bring the camera because we didn't know that this day would morph into a much bigger road trip.
Bessant Park appears to be just a festival park. There is an amphitheater and restrooms as far as buildings. There are a few hiking trails. The theater area can hold up to 10,000 people. I doubt you will catch me in a crowd that large down there.
Next stop was Frank Brown Park. This is similar to Chancellor's Run Park. If it had a big swimming pool. This summer I saw a lot of families in the campground with kids that played in baseball tournaments. I'm sure this is where they played all their games. I saw some people fishing at the ponds back there. The only down side for us is that it's located past a major shopping area where the traffic is always jacked up. There are no short cuts we can take to get out that way. In order to fish there, you need to fish with someone 16 years old or younger. So I guess I won't be fishing in this place any time soon.
After lunch at a place on West Bay, it was a 30+ mile drive to Ponce DeLeon State Park. The attraction in the park is the freshwater springs. They built a swimming hole around the springs. It's a popular place. Once the parking lot fills up, it's 1 car out then 1 car in. I wasn't sure if we would be able to find a parking spot on a holiday weekend. We were just going to look, not to swim. Anyhow they closed the swimming area due to the recent heavy rains. So hardly anyone was there yesterday. A few people were picnicking. I'm sure they wanted to swim and had plans to grill out. 1 out of 2 ain't bad I guess. You can see fish swimming around in the clear water. It was slightly cloudy but it was easily 99% clearer than most lakes and ponds in the US. 14 million gallons of clear, fresh 68 degree water comes out of the spring every day.
Not my pictures, I poached them off of the net.
Since we were already up that way, we drove over to the town of DeFuniak Springs. To get there we drove through downtown PDL,FL which is a wide spot in the road. DFS isn't much bigger but it had an actual downtown. DFS population is around 6,000. It's the Walton county seat.
What is unique about this town is 1 particular street. Circle Street goes around the town pond. It's a bunch of 100+ year old homes. Most of them are in great shape. A century ago a lot of people earned substantial money with cotton & peanuts. Enough money to buy some big ass home on the town's pond.
Here's a video that someone made of their trip to the town. This is a good way to view the homes and not have me post a bunch of pictures.
On the way back we stopped in at Red Bay market. The lady behind the counter said they've been the owners for 3 years. They have music there on Sunday. It's not really a bar. But a lot of people buy single beers out of the cooler and drink them on the store's porch.
I hope they do well. There really isn't much out that way.
We got back just in time for the dark clouds to roll in. Thankfully it didn't rain here. But I'm sure close by someone got really wet.
Yesterday was check out the area day. This time we hit up a few of the city parks for the first part of the journey(I was looking at all the lights). We didn't bring the camera because we didn't know that this day would morph into a much bigger road trip.
Bessant Park appears to be just a festival park. There is an amphitheater and restrooms as far as buildings. There are a few hiking trails. The theater area can hold up to 10,000 people. I doubt you will catch me in a crowd that large down there.
Next stop was Frank Brown Park. This is similar to Chancellor's Run Park. If it had a big swimming pool. This summer I saw a lot of families in the campground with kids that played in baseball tournaments. I'm sure this is where they played all their games. I saw some people fishing at the ponds back there. The only down side for us is that it's located past a major shopping area where the traffic is always jacked up. There are no short cuts we can take to get out that way. In order to fish there, you need to fish with someone 16 years old or younger. So I guess I won't be fishing in this place any time soon.
After lunch at a place on West Bay, it was a 30+ mile drive to Ponce DeLeon State Park. The attraction in the park is the freshwater springs. They built a swimming hole around the springs. It's a popular place. Once the parking lot fills up, it's 1 car out then 1 car in. I wasn't sure if we would be able to find a parking spot on a holiday weekend. We were just going to look, not to swim. Anyhow they closed the swimming area due to the recent heavy rains. So hardly anyone was there yesterday. A few people were picnicking. I'm sure they wanted to swim and had plans to grill out. 1 out of 2 ain't bad I guess. You can see fish swimming around in the clear water. It was slightly cloudy but it was easily 99% clearer than most lakes and ponds in the US. 14 million gallons of clear, fresh 68 degree water comes out of the spring every day.
Not my pictures, I poached them off of the net.
Since we were already up that way, we drove over to the town of DeFuniak Springs. To get there we drove through downtown PDL,FL which is a wide spot in the road. DFS isn't much bigger but it had an actual downtown. DFS population is around 6,000. It's the Walton county seat.
What is unique about this town is 1 particular street. Circle Street goes around the town pond. It's a bunch of 100+ year old homes. Most of them are in great shape. A century ago a lot of people earned substantial money with cotton & peanuts. Enough money to buy some big ass home on the town's pond.
Here's a video that someone made of their trip to the town. This is a good way to view the homes and not have me post a bunch of pictures.
On the way back we stopped in at Red Bay market. The lady behind the counter said they've been the owners for 3 years. They have music there on Sunday. It's not really a bar. But a lot of people buy single beers out of the cooler and drink them on the store's porch.
I hope they do well. There really isn't much out that way.
We got back just in time for the dark clouds to roll in. Thankfully it didn't rain here. But I'm sure close by someone got really wet.
