Snow in Georgia

I had my first ever white Christmas!!!  I’ve been in Georgia for 47 out of 50 years and we have never had a white Christmas.  The news says it hasn’t happened in more than 130 years!! 

It didn’t start snowing until after 9:00 am, so I went to my mom’s house early for breakfast on Christmas day.  We noticed it was starting to sleet and snow, so I left shortly after that.  By the time I got to Dillard the streets were already snowy and icy.  But I made it back to the campground just in time.  I saw one minor accident where someone slid into a street sign. 

The pictures below are from Dec. 25.  The first picture was taken from my car on the road just before the campground. 

In the above picture, you can see a few folks huddled around a fire.  They are 2 rows behind my site!  I knew one of the guys and during one of my walks went over and warmed up a bit.

The next 3 pictures were taken on Dec. 26.  It never got above freezing! We ended up with 5 – 6 inches of snow.

I realized I forgot to post a picture of a great campground in Gainesville, GA.  River Forks Park is a Hall County park and campground near Gainesville.  I went there because it’s only about 12 minutes to Camping World and I had an appointment the next morning.  The park is on Lake Lanier which is the lake where some friends and I would rent a houseboat for a few days each summer. 

It is now Dec. 27 and 18 degrees.  It is not supposed to get above freezing today, but hopefully once the sun comes out I’ll get out of the campground and go to my mom’s house.  Others made it out yesterday, but nobody else is on my row at the campground, so the road is still very snowy and icy.  My sister and family are due in today if they make it through all the bad weather. 

Georgia

I haven’t blogged much while in Georgia.  I have visited friends, family and doctors (not socially!).  During my first week in GA, I stayed at Ft. Yargo State Park in Winder, GA.  This is a nice park and this year I got a spot on the lake.

Below is a visitor to my campsite.

After Ft. Yargo, I went to Dillard, GA for a month.  After Dillard, I had thought I was going to go to the Florida panhandle – probably St George or St Joe State park.  But in watching the weather it was going to be cold there (and almost everywhere in the US), so I went further South.  I went back to Sanibel Island.  I camped for a week and stayed in an ocean front Condo for a week.  This was the first time I have slept in something not on wheels in almost a year. 

While there it was a bit chilly, but it was still nice.  The day after the real cold weather the beach was interesting.  Lots of shells and live sea creatures.  So many that I saw on the news that some marine biologist were looking into it, but as an initial cause they were thinking it was just the cold and rough water.  Lots of good shells (many still had the creature inside), starfish, hermit crabs and even squids.

Ding Darling Wildlife sanctuary is one of my favorite places on the island. Below are a few pictures from my visits this year.

I didn’t realize that wood storks have a leathery head.

I also went back to the Corkscrew Swamp refuge.  I saw a Night Heron do the strangest thing.  It looked like he was trying to stand on his head. He would stay that way for several minutes, then straighten up for a while and then do it again.  Below are 2 different shots of this behavior.

When I saw this, I was glad I was on the boardwalk!

One day, a lot of urchins had washed ashore.  I would say thousands.

I also say a Skimmer for the first time.  When I first saw it, I thought it was a gull that looked like a toucan.

I’m currently back in Dillard, GA watching it snow!  On my next blog, I’ll post some pictures of the snow and my RV.