Gulf State Park, Alabama

We are at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL.  Got here Tues. afternoon.  It has been very hot and humid the last several days.  This morning a storm blew in dumping quite a lot of rain.  Yesterday we spent most of the day at the new swimming pool which just opened labor day.  We also checked out the new pier.  In the afternoon Barb mentioned that the couple camped across from us looked familiar.  About 5:30 the husband came over to invite us to go to eat with them.  It was then that we found out it was the couple that camped beside us at Big Bend.  They are from  Florida.  We all went out for a seafood dinner  and had a good time discussing every place we had been.  It is another coincidence that we run into someone we had seen a thousand miles ago.   Also we didn't see any oil on beach,  but that may change today as we are going to take a long beach walk.

                                           New pier at Gulf SP

                                           Deep cleaning sand.  In middle are seagulls

                                           More deep cleaning with local tv coverage

                                           Barb in fountain

                                           Barb in pool

                                           Me in fountain

Fontainebleau State Park Mandeville, LA

Night before last stayed at Sam Houston Jones State Park in western Louisiana.  At the moment we are staying at the Fontainebleau SP  which is on the northern shore of Lake  Pontchartrain, LA.  It is very hot with a high humidity, and our camper does not have air conditioning.  It is a beautiful campground and we road the bikes all over.  Would like to go swimming but signs say "High Bacteria, swimming not advised". 

                                           Moss on Cypress tree in swamp

                                           Found a sign but no gators

                                           This is not our camper but there is a story here.  Met the owners in Yosemite, and talked for an hour.  They are a nice couple from Maine,  and doing a circle of the country like us. They have a Shadow cruiser camper like us and met us by talking camper talk.   They are in their 70's  and have been traveling for a long time.   We seen them in New Mexico and Galveston Island and then again Monday night they camped near us.   We both have different agenda's,  so thought it a coincidence that we kept seeing each other.

                                           sunset over Lake Pontchartrain

                                           Now where is the switch to turn on the fountain

                                           Me with Lake Pontchartrain

Galveston Island State Park

Leaving Galveston Island SP today.  It is very hot and quite windy.  Had a little rain late last night.  Yesterday we walked about 3 miles up and down the beach, but no pics as there was too much sand and salt air blowing.  Beautiful beach.  The park reopened last year after having been distroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008.  There are 2 areas to camp, out by the beach or back by the bay.  We are back by the bay.  When the tide came in it was about 15 feet from our camper.  This morning we have been watching the Pelicans dive for fish and watching other birds.   There is also a lot of kayakers here.

                                            Hurricane Ike damage at State Park

                                           our campsite

                                           view looking out our back door

                                           Pelicans diving

                                           Fisherman seen out back door