Fish Camp on Lake Talquin

Sometimes it's nice to have a reason to visit someplace new; such was the case with our visit to Lake Talquin near Quincy, FL and Ingram's Marina campground.  Jamie's parents asked us to join them at a family reunion across the lake on Sunday afternoon, so finding this campground tucked along the lake made for a happy camping weekend.

This little jewel is just an hour and half drive from home, close enough that departing home after work still allowed us to arrive and set up long before dark.  As we pulled into the driveway, we were met by two separate ambassadors on golf carts.  The first, a helpful guest, willing to assist two first-timers; the other, a boss's man, calling repeatedly for which site to place us.  Fortunately, we were finally awarded our first choice - the one suggested by the helpful guest - an easy to pull in site situated next to the boat slips: as good a view as available at this old-Florida style fish camp.

Dinner recommendations came from the helpful guest and from the marina attendant; we opted for Country Boys, an inexpensive, but tasty seafood choice about a mile from camp.  Typical seafood for us: fried shrimp & fried pickles; the portions were quite large!  We were delighted to share our basket of pickles with the helpful guest as a thank-you when he arrived at the restaurant.

Friday evening's cool and windy weather turned to warmer and windy on Saturday.  We found a spot near the dock to stave off much of the wind and soak up the warmth of the sun's rays while we finished our morning coffee and planned our day.

We ventured out, touring many of the roads leading into residential communities around the lake.  It's a pretty lake, and lakeside homeowners have some lovely views across the water.  Way leads on to way, and eventually, we found ourselves at Camping World, and then Tallahassee's Harbor Freight, before topping off our afternoon with scoops of freshly made butter pecan (for him) and sea salt caramel toffee (for her) ice cream at Bruster's.

Though we had intentions of grilling our dinner both evenings, we were drawn to the local spots, so Saturday evening we walked over to The Whip, a bait-shop, bar and restaurant boasting good food and poor service.  We snagged a table outdoors, where two boat slips were turned into a deck.  Water ran from the rooftop, creating just enough ambient noise to keep conversations private.  While the sun set over the lake, a sly gator eased toward the fish cleaning area, and ducks flew across in the distance, we dined on crab cakes and snapper.  A bit pricey, as we had been forewarned, but delicious nevertheless.

Returning to camp, we checked out the night fishermen on the dock and their catch. Looks like the fishing in this lake is pretty good!

At Ingram's we were allowed late check-out on this Sunday afternoon; apparently, they weren't expecting new arrivals.  After the reunion, we returned to pack up the SolAire and head home.  We were most appreciative of the full-hookup site.

And so ends another perfectly peaceful camping weekend.