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Georgia to Green Cove
Springs, Florida
3rd October - 2nd December
2008
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After four months on the road and almost twelve
thousand miles, by the time we returned to Georgia, adventure fatigue was
setting in. We decided to spend a weekend up in the
Georgia Mountains at the charming Vogel State Park to enjoy a spot of lake
fishing and crazy golf. Luckily we arrived just in time to
snag the very last campsite available. It was obviously a
popular spot for enjoying the colours of the autumn.
We spent another night up in the mountains at
Amicalola State Park. Neither park brought much fishing
success.
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Vogel State Park
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Red Top Mountain State Park
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Our next campsite was selected entirely based on
its proximity to Atlanta but Red Top Mountain State Park turned out to be a
gem. The park lay on the shores of the Allatoona Lake and we
spent a day trying a spot of fishing from our canoe. The
long drought experienced in Georgia was evident from the water level in the
lake.
When the wind picked up too much to make
canoe fishing an option, we hiked around the shore of the lake, fishing rods
in hand. We had little success again but encountered some of the
local wildlife including a snake and a pair of deer running through the
woodland.
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Since it had opened a couple of years earlier,
we'd wanted to visit the Georgia Aquarium in downtown
Atlanta. Although not keen on driving Harvey in city
traffic, we quickly found the aquarium with our trusty GPS and found a
suitable parking location just across the road from the Aquarium where the
friendly parking attendant took good care of Harvey.
In the aquarium our first visit was to the
eerily ghost-like Beluga whales. The most famous aquarium
resident was the enormous Whale Shark in the Ocean Voyager
exhibit. It was an amazing sight to see. Phil
the fisherman was fascinated by the groupers in the same aquarium which were
giants too.
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Beluga Whale
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Whale Shark
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Phil ponders the giant
grouper
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Phil fishing from boat no.
3
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During our four month road trip we'd only had a
couple of days of rain. Now, however, it seemed that the weather
had turned on us. We arrived and left Atlanta in pouring
rain and for the next four or five days, the rain continued persistently for
which the Georgia residents were very grateful.
After an overnight stop at High Falls State
Park just south of Atlanta, we pushed on southwards, hoping to have enough
dry weather to enjoy a weekend of lake fishing at Gordonia-Alatamaha State
Park. We were disappointed to discover that we weren't allowed
to use our own canoe on the lake but instead had to rent a boat from the
park. We were assigned boat number three at a good rate for the
whole weekend. Boat number three turned out to be a large
aluminium rowing boat, much heavier than our trusty canoe to drag into the
water. Once launched the job of propelling the boat was not made
easy by the fact that it was supplied without oars and rowlocks and only
with two small paddles. Luckily it was a small
lake!
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We fished determinedly between rain showers, the
lake's resident herons and alligators looking on in amusement as we drew a
complete blank. The only fishing success at all was during our
first five minutes in the park when Phil had a quick go off the dock.
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The last stop on our summer road tour was to be
at Laura Singleton Walker State Park, named for a local conservationist,
with the distinction of being the only person still living when a state or
national park was name in their honour.
We arrived on the day of an evening
"Sunset Wildlife Watch and Owl Howl" and decided to tag along and
brave the mosquitoes. Unfortunately the walk was scheduled
about an hour later than the leader would have liked and by the time we
reached the park's observation dock it was almost dark
already.
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View from our campsite at
Laura S. Walker Park
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We watched the park's bird residents coming in
to roost for the night and once it was dark, could easily spot alligators
lurking in the lake, whose eyes would reflect red in
torchlight. The stars of the show, the owls, were
conspicuous in the their absence, despite the best efforts of our walk
leader with recorded owl calls.
We spent the next couple of days in our canoe
trying a spot of bass fishing. The lakes water
lilies were beautiful, with their reflections crystal clear in the still
waters. Unfortunately they also seemed to attract our
fishing hooks and we spent much of our time struggling through the patches
of lilies, trying to retrieve lures stuck there. Having lost a
large bass on the first day, we were determined to land
another. Finally we hit the jackpot, bringing the total
number of bass we'd caught to five including the biggie.
All were released back into the lake to face the alligators, whilst we were
sure to be off the water before sunset!
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It was time to head back to Green Cove Springs
to check on our beloved Anju, before flying back to the UK to visit with
family. On our return to the marina, as ever, we
were greeted as long-lost relatives. We were delighted to find
George and Julie from Seaquel also there, having returned from their
month-long house and dog sit at Chris and Vivian's house in North
Carolina. We managed to fit in a night out at an Italian
restaurant before we had to leave for the UK and they kindly drove us to the
airport.
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