Spring Break Getaway to Crooked River

Our early departure plans for this Wednesday morning were slightly delayed by a fire call; unattended food on a hot stove will start a house fire, and a house without working smoke detectors is asking for disaster. Make sure you have smoke detectors with fresh batteries, and turn off the stove before you leave the kitchen.  This PSA brought to you by the chief & his sidekick.

After a quick shower to wash away the smoky odor we absorbed on the scene, we headed for the Georgia coast. Fortunately, we had spent the previous weekend spring cleaning the SolAire, purging the unneeded collection of various doo-dads, replacing out-of-date items, replenishing our food supply, and updating our wardrobe.  An outside scrubbing left her shining and ready for a spring break jaunt.

We arrived at Crooked River State Park near St. Mary's, Georgia, just before 3:00 PM, checked in at the office, and pulled our rig to the campground to discover a nearly perfect site.  Nearly - because our view of the water was obstructed.  Perfect - because the site was level.  Not a single leveling block needed.  Easy setup!

Crooked River State Park, St. Mary's, Georgia

Wouldn't it be courteous if every camper would remove his site tag upon departing the campground? The perfect campsite, the one with a gorgeous water view, was empty, but tagged.  Our gut told us they had left the camp a day early, but our southern manners wouldn't allow us to replace their tag with ours and take the site.

The campground is spacious, with easy back-in sites and some pull-thru spaces, plenty of room to maneuver big rigs without fear of taking out a pine tree or a site post.  Even so, the neighbors placed bets on Jamie's ability to back into the site with me directing (yes, they admitted this later).  Our radios come in handy at times like these - no shouting back & forth for the neighbors to hear.

The park sits atop a cliff - a sand hill is more like it - in a sharp bend of the river.  Fencing with warning signage prevents you from stepping too close to the edge and potentially dislodging a hunk of earth and landing in the swift current.

We explored the park by truck and by bicycle: a marina with bait shop and boat dock hosted pelicans and seagulls and a few afternoon fishermen; several group shelters, including one lovely enough for a wedding venue; mini-golf for those so-inclined; cabins; a nature center where schoolchildren on a field trip oohed & ahhed over petting a snake - I quickly departed the building; several trails through the palmetto forest; and a path down to the river's edge where we found a couple of grandfathers and their grandsons had filled a cooler with a day's catch.

Our hybrids took a beating, and so did we, when we went off-road onto the trails, first bumping along the boardwalk, then over tree roots and finally onto the sandy floor of the forest.  Thanks to a layer of pine straw, we managed to pedal through the sand.

We climbed up the stairs to a bird viewing stand to gain a bird's-eye view of the forest, only to find we were viewing a solar farm on the grounds of the Kings Bay Naval base.

We found better bird-watching at our campsite.  A pair of cardinals visited each morning, and another soon-to-be mother tried to build a nest next to our outdoor fridge.  She selected the softest of materials and was persistent in her attempts to start her nest in our camper until we finally closed the door, shutting her out entirely.  I wonder where she found to start anew.

A squirrel and his buddies enjoyed Jamie's can of Planters peanuts.  That plastic blue lid was no barrier. He chewed his way into the goodies.  We didn't intentionally feed the wildlife; they are thieves, scampering about, up and down the pines, climbing onto our tables and chairs, not afraid of humans.

Our sightseeing trip into the city of St. Mary's quickly turned into a trip to Fernandina Beach. St. Mary's was sleepy, with just a few businesses open downtown.  We had visited here one evening on a previous trip to find the park bustling with activity, but on this midday trip we found little to hold our interest.

In Fernandina, we visited the historic district, browsed in a few shops, and found a local spot for dinner, The Crab Trap.  Food was good!

What a small world - we failed to recognize until we had returned home - that some college friends of ours were in Fernandina with their son playing baseball at the same time!  Missed opportunity to reconnect.  We'll plan better next time.

Jamie had high hopes of kayaking and fishing along the river and in the marsh, but the wind was too brisk and the air a bit cool to venture out on the kayak this trip.

We'll definitely revisit Crooked River State Park, but only when we know we can arrive early. This park stays full, so late arrival will yield few, if any, choices of sites.  It's a quick trip from the Jacksonville area; those Florida tags were all over this campground.