Fort DeSoto Campground

We arrived at Fort DeSoto Campground mid-afternoon on Sunday, 1800 miles from home. It is part of a Pinellas County Park located in St. Petersburg. It suffered pretty catastrophic damage from two hurricanes in a row last fall. I was talking to a camp host (from Maine) who said there was 4 feet of water across the island. The park didn’t open until sometime in January and the campground mid-February. All electric hookups had to be replaced, as well as every washer and dryer and any furniture/equipment below water level. They were able to rescue some of the picnic tables but many needed replacing. The tree cover and palms are sparser, but will grow fast in this tropical climate, unless they are dead. This is our 5th stay here since 2020. (We didn’t make it 2021.) Jim’s Aunt Judy (his mother’s sister) lives in St. Pete and four of her five children live nearby, so it’s a wonderful opportunity to visit with family and enjoy lovely summer Florida weather.

We have a week at one site and another week at a second site. I love settling in at last, putting out the rug, the awning, the tablecloth and our new sign! Tom and Laura gave it to us for Christmas. Now I have to remember to take it out when we leave! Jim and I went down to the beach on Monday and walked about the campground. We headed into St. Pete, hit a couple breweries, went to a geocaching event and did some grocery shopping. We caught up with a couple we met last year who have their Alto (camper) with them. Jim’s sister Katia flew in from Maine on Tuesday, so we had dinner with her, Judy and cousin Krista and her husband Brian. The Tiki Dock was rather cold with a good breeze going.

I hope to catch up with a few friends in the area and just enjoy the beach and family, so probably not much exciting to report!

First week report!

It was a good week. We had dinner with cousin Lianne and Tim on Wednesday, then walked to cousin Kurt and Diane’s new house just down the street. On Thursday I took the morning to geocache at a lovely Veteran’s Park for a few hours, then we took Aunt Judy to the beach for the afternoon and another dinner out with cousins in Gulfport. Saturday, Katia, Jim and I went to the Florida Botanic Garden in Largo. It was a beautiful garden, Katia saw her first gator. We all especially liked the tropical fruit garden, with the beginnings of bananas and blackberries. Jim and I had a quiet evening at camp. Weather wise, it was glorious all week, between 75 and 80, low to no humidity, but that changed over the weekend as it got hotter and more humid.

We moved to our second site at Fort DeSoto on Sunday. This new site is nicer, shadier, better water view and more private. I love it! I headed into St. Pete to Mass for 8 AM, got back and we finished packing the rest of our stuff and hooked up the camper for the move. We stopped at the dump station and then onto our new spot. Sunday afternoon we went to Kurt and Diane’s new home and caught up with many of the next generation and enjoyed the ocean breeze on their porch. Now it’s Monday, we had two Alto couples staying in the park over for brunch. We had coffee, fruit salad and I made cinnamon buns in my cooktop ‘oven’. Nancy brought quiche and Regina a salami and cheese plate. We had great conversations about travels, our campers and life. Then we had Aunt Judy and Katia over for dinner here, grilled chicken, salad, corn, potato salad and margaritas! We finally put the AC on to get rid of the humidity. Jim has been working on filling in the empty spots for the rest of our trip! We look forward to the rest of the week here and then headed West!