Well the third time's the charm!
Open Pond Recreation Area is the only campground within the Conecuh National Forest here in Southern Alabama. The last time we were in this area we actually were able to "sneek a peek" of the campground while out driving around in ROVER. That just made it all the more imperative that we actually stay here after we saw first hand how nice it was.
From the moment we arrived here at our campsite we have been seeing a true wildlife anomaly running around the campground.
The rarest "white" Gray Squirrel is a true albino at about 1 in 100,000. They are white in color, but also have red eyes.
This squirrel we have seen running around the campsite is a "white" colored gray squirrel, because it has normal colored brown/black eyes. Still pretty rare, there are a few pockets of them around the country with the closest being in the small town Sopchoppy in Florida, about 200-miles from here.
This white colored one we have here is definitely the dominant squirrel in the park, we've seen it successfully chasing all the other grey squirrels away from it's territory.
Typically they would agree on what time, then one would call the other on the phone, then they would each walk around their respective neighborhood. Heather would walk around her neighborhood in Jacksonville, FL and Tricia would walk around wherever we were camping that day.
Today was different! They both still got out of bed and dresssed warmly, but there would be no phone call today, because Heather was here, camping with us! She took time off of work and spent four nights with us, but will be returning home on Wednesday to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her family.
While walking this morning Tricia took the following photos around the shoreline of Open Pond.
Tonight we're going to have a campfire, something we rarely do! We usually save campfire nights strictly for entertaining guests, which is exactly what we're doing tonight.
The high and low temperatures for the day dropped 15°F from the day before as the weather front moved through the area.
By dinnertime we all were going a little stir crazy with a bad case of cabin fever, so we piled into Heather's car and drove 22-miles into town to have dinner at David's Catfish House and Gulf Seafood.
This restaurant was chosen basically so I could sample their "All You an Eat" Catfish and Poporn Shrimp Dinner offering. Neither Tricia, nor Heather, enjoy seafood all that much.
I of course ordered the "All You Can Eat" option and Heather ordered a Hamburger Steak Dinner. Neither of us were all that impressed with our meal. I definitely didn't take advantage of the "All You an Eat" feature of my meal and barely made it through the first plate of food.
Tricia was very happy with her Pork Chop Dinner, so keep that in mind if you find yourself at any 1 of their 11 different locations in Southern Alabama and the Western Panhandle of Florida.
I almost never order "meat" at a seafood restaurant, but this time I wish I had!
Shortly after she left I jumped into ROVER and headed 7.5-miles towards the Florida border where I found the nearest location to purchase "ice cubes". We are still living out of a cooler and it requires ice about every two days.
Instead of just going out to get ice, we included a little bit of a sightseeing tour on today's outing.
A short 22-miles from our campsite here in Alabama is the "highest natural point" in the state of Florida. Notice I emphasized "natural", because I'm sure that most of the municipal trash collection locations around the state, affectionately known as "Mount Trashmore", are taller than 345 feet in elevation.
We were glad to see there was no trash surrounding this high point in Lakewood Park.
A few "Fun Facts" about Florida's High Point:
1) It's location in Lakewood Park is called Britton Hill, named after William Henry Britton, the lumber baron who developed the area in the early 1900s.
2) Florida's "High Point" is higher than 16 state's "Low Point", most of them being in the midwest and western U.S.
3) You won't be surprised to learn that Florida's High Point is the lowest of all 50 states, only Delaware comes close at 448 feet.
Would you like to be notified of new blog posts?
