Around January of every year I get an intense itch – the itch for swimsuits, sunshine and Summer adventures. That is what living in Florida does to you. You see the beach on a daily basis driving to the store, work etc. and dream of shedding the sweaters for swimsuits. It’s a mind trick. One of the ways I caved in to this intense itch earlier this year was by reserving a tent camp site in July in the Cape San Blas State Park or T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park for a week with our two kids.
It sounded like a brilliant plan (and it really was). See, camping in the Cape San Blas State Park has been closed since hurricane Michael did a work on it. I have been dreaming of the day that they opened the camp grounds back up. They did just that last Fall so not only were we able to get a spot, but the grounds were new! This was such a treat to tent campers like us who had to rely on the bath houses multiple times a day due to the amount of sheer sweat we poured because, again – tent camping on the beach in Florida in July.
Fast forward a few weeks – maybe a month or more before this trip – I reached out to Emily at Becasa to simply tell her how much I love her passion for this slice of the Forgotten Coast. She shares a love and history for this area that is infectious. If you aren’t familiar with her, she is the queen of this piece of Florida, in my opinion. She was one of the significant voices behind the book Saints of Old Florida that every Floridian proudly displays on their coffee table as well as a constant voice in the area of preserving the ways of old Florida that many hold on to. That email quickly turned into a phone conversation where we talked more like friends than acquaintances. Emily is just that way. She makes everyone feel instantly at ease with her laid-back, refined and Coastal demeanor. We also connected on a love for India – my youngest daughters birth country. Emily spent time in the beautiful country and relished the sights, colors, textures and culture that I have grown to love. While talking she mentioned the idea of sharing a behind the scenes look of my family’s coastal lifestyle on her Instagram to which I quickly mentioned our upcoming camping trip to Cape San Blas. The rest is history! She artistically featured our trip, making these hot, sweaty days look anything but.
This trip really was special for my family. We have been coming to Cape San Blas for years now but camping on the Cape was a new experience. We spent our days listening to the waves hit the shore (that’s how close we were), woke up in the middle of the night to the bright moon piercing our eyes, swam all day and hit some of our other favorite places like Apalachicola and St. George Island.
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