Today was perfect weather on the lake. Scotty and I took a walk around our campground and observed that most of the sites are absolutely perfect as they are most all have lakefront views. About 2 o’clock, Tyler and Amanda came over and we sat around the campsite talking and playing Dutch blitz. For dinner, we had hamburgers And sat around a little longer before they had to head home.
We headed over to Amanda’s House in cabbage town within Atlanta. She prepared omelettes for us. Afterwards, Scotty put together and above ground planter in the backyard. Amanda plans to plant vegetables there. We then headed out and got a margarita as we Walked towards Inman Park. There were many vendors that we enjoyed visiting. We always stopped at the woodworking booths as they were several and admired their handiwork about 3 o’clock. We found a place to sit and we watched the Inman Park gnome parade go by it was a great parade and lots of energy within the city. After the parade, we walked back toward mann and Tyler‘s and stopped for dinner. Fries with some chilli sauce and some Brussel Sprouts with honey and pizza for dinner. It was excellent.
It was rainy in the morning but it slowed down some so we decided to go over to fall Creek Falls. We had it almost all to our self obviously because of the weather it was a 0.4 mile hike down to the falls and we joked it was a 3 mile hike back. We did have to be careful because of the rain. The rocks are a little bit slippery. I made a slip but didn’t injure myself and then apparently Tina slipped and bumped her elbow. no big injuries we survived. We Then headed to the Piney Creek suspension bridge and into our delight there were emergency workers there training. They had two baskets and we’re lowering workers down along the side. It was Quite interesting to watch. It did make me feel safer knowing that emergency workers were preparing for anything that may happen within the park. Back at the trailer we brought out the game, ‘Relative Insanity’. We discovered that Tina is easy to please and she got tickled many many times as we all did. For dinner we had fajitas then because the rain had cleared up we sat around the campfire and had a great campfire and roasted marshmallows.
We arrived at fall Creek Falls and set up the trailer in our site number four. Tina and her friend Gail came along and borrowed Scotty‘s tent to spend two days with us. We also set up their tent close to The trailer. It was a rainy day, but the rain stopped enough for us To drive over to Cane Creek Falls. The falls were very pretty and made for a nice little walk. Close to the Falls is a suspension bridge. It’s wide enough for probably two people to Stand abreast. It’s pretty wobbly and once we got to the other side we turned around as there is a trail that goes for 1.7 miles but with the weather we didn’t want chance it. Back at the campsite, we had a hamburger dinner with green beans and potato salad and cheesecake for dessert. Yum.
It was the perfect paddle to end our Florida 2025 adventure. We paddle 6 miles in an hour and 43 minutes of paddling time. The river was only about 3 feet deep, there were many twists and turns, and the water was absolutely clear. We saw four ducks and only a few turtles. We once again had the river to ourselves and it was spectacular.
When we got back to the trailer, we each took showers and did a quick cleanup of the trailer and hooked up to leave for Mississippi.
Peaden Bridge to Cotton Bridge, 5.5 miles, 1:50 paddling time, 70-78 degrees
When we are woke, we noticed that the lake was completely covered by fog. I walked down to take some pictures in the fog, actually hung around for quite a while as it was quite thick.
Then, a beautiful, relaxing paddle awaited us. We thought it would be longer, but it only turned out to be 5 1/2 miles. The entry point at Peden Bridge was a little bit steep, but I stood at the top and lowered the kayaks while Scotty got it from the bottom. Actually quite easy. The river was extremely clear, even if it was the brown resin water. There were many trees down, most likely from the last hurricane, but the great thing was that someone had already been through and cut. The logs were made paths through them. We didn’t see any fish along the river. We saw six ducks ahead of us and every time we would be close they would start quacking and flying and going crazy. The river twisted back-and-forth, but it was never difficult. Once we realized that we would be finished earlier than expected, we decided not to eat our lunch Going to go out afterwards for an early dinner. Instead, we went to a late lunch at the gator Café. I had an excellent grilled chicken salad and Scotty had a fried flounder sandwich. We both enjoyed our meals, but the true highlight were the most that we ordered afterwards. Oh my gosh, were they excellent. We both left with full tummies. Definitely worth it.
It was nice to have a relaxing morning around the campsite. We sat in our chairs overlooking the bay and then decided to go out for lunch. We rode down to a restaurant/bar called neons. Scotty had gators that were fresh to the restaurant and fried there. I had Maryland style crabcakes. We both agreed that our lunches were excellent. It was an 8 mile bike ride down and back. After that, we rode in the truck over to the Gulf of Mexico and laid out our blanket. We watched as the sand was dragged up from the gulf. The sand was a few hundred Yards offshore where they were apparently widening the channel after the last hurricane. As the sand came pouring onto the beach, made a river and there were lots of people out shell hunting. There were two bulldozers that pushed the sand to even out the beach. When we got back to the camper, we once again sat outside, but this time with a fire.
