Here is a list of the Parks we stayed in with my 1 to 4 star ratings:
Kathryn Abbey Hanna City Park, Jacksonville **
- nice campsite, was cool when we were there
Anastasia State Park, St Augustine **
- wifi hotspot, nice facilities
Tomoka State Park, Ormond Beach *
- can't remember much, was not on beach
Moss City Park, Orlando **
- many friendly (almost too nosy) sandhill cranes, isolated location
Sebastian Inlet State Park, Vero Beach ***
- fishing paradise, miles of beach, great seafood store
Highland Hammocks State Park, Sebring **
- alligators, good nature trails, crowded
Oscar Scherer State Park, Osprey ***
- excellent location (near Casey Key beaches), good hiking trails, scrub jays
Turtle Beach County Campground, Sarasosta ***
- 50 feet from the beach, oh those sunsets, crowded, tight
Fort Desoto County Park, St. Petersburg ****
- miles of beach, great facilities, wifi hotspot, lagoon side camping
St. George Island State Park, ***
- miles of untouched beach, isolated
St Andrews State Park, Panama City ***
- great beach, close to the March Break madness
Grayton Beach State Park ***
- fabulous beach, nice campsite, private
Topsail State Park RV Resort ***
- wifi, cable, shuttle to the beach, swimming pool, manicured
Henderson State Park, Destin ****
- nice little campground, nestled away from the road and stores, boardwalk to the beach,
Big Lagoon State Park, Pensacola **
- lot of dead trees from Ivan 2003 still, old campground in need of uplift
Gulf Shores State Park, Orange Beach, AL ****
- huge, wifi, cable, our site right on lagoon, walk to beach, love Orange Beach
The "real Florida" refers to the natural coastal scrub vegetation that you can still see in these parks. It is a thick thicket of saw tooth palmetto, Spanish Stopper, small trees, salt marsh plants etc that is virtually impenetrable. Small birds, squirrels and other small things live a happy go lucky life there. The trouble is most of this vegetation is gone now from Florida to provide space for condos, fast food places, roads, hotels, stores etc.
In fact, the scrub jay population is at risk because most of the dry wooded land that these birds require for survival is long gone to commercial interests. Thank goodness for the Florida State Parks (county and city parks too) for preserving this land forever, or none of us would ever have seen what Florida was like before the 20th century.
As you can see we were pretty satisfied with our park camping experiences. Prices ranged from $18 to $40 per night. The most frustrating part is trying to get in. In winter, most State parks below Daytona Beach are completely sold out months in advance. We were able to get in by picking a day here and 2 or 3 days there where there were gaps between longer reservations. You have to pay in full at time of booking on the website but can make a change for an additional fee. It is rumored that some people abuse the 2 week maximum stay period by getting family members to book back-to-back stays to parcel together a month or longer in the same park. Shame, but it is so nice there... However, even though the shingle said park full and people were turned away, we usually saw the odd empty campsite each morning. I guess someone had prepaid and not shown up.
More info on Florida State Parks here: http://www.floridastateparks.org/
Now we thought we had seen everything but the Gulf State Park in Orange Beach Alabama was perhaps the most comfortable and beautiful stay of all. I guess it is their flagship campground and they enjoy showing Florida up. Park was full of snow birds but we did see some lucky March breakers who managed to get in. This campground is all booked up for next winter already as they have great weekly and monthly rates. Can't recommend this park enough: http://www.alapark.com/gulfstate/Camping/
Oh yes, we found The Uncommon Florida too. Up the west coast from Springhill to Carabelle, they call it the Nature Coast. There are few beaches, plenty of trees and lots of swamp. Off the typical tourist's road map, it is an interesting part of Florida for sure. We preferred the Panhandle proper with the miles of beaches and short distance to town.
A few parting photos:
D.
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