We booked our trip to Florida almost a full year prior. In November of 2021, we reserved a week at our favorite Florida State Park, Topsail, located on the panhandle of Florida, and then a second week at Tomoka State Park on the eastern coast. We booked for the end of September – beginning of October to coincide with our fall break from school. The kids’ grandparents lived near Tomoka State park, so we were eager to see them and stay at the park.

Upon departure from Colorado Springs on September 23rd, there was a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico. This disturbance would soon become a tropical storm and then a full blown hurricane. We watched the weather very closely as we travelled through New Mexico and then Texas. This was a crazy hurricane. There was very little data as to where it was going. The European model forecasted the hurricane to take a more easterly path, hitting Tampa Bay, and going through Daytona (near Tomoka State Park). The American model forecasted the hurricane to take a more westerly path, hitting the panhandle, close to Topsail State Park. Saturday, September 24th, we made it to Alexandria, Louisiana and with little information on where the hurricane was moving, we decided that in the morning we would cancel our Topsail reservation and instead head to Galveston Beach State Park in Texas. From our location in Louisiana, this beach was less than 4.5 google driving hours away and made the most sense. We planned on staying at this part until Friday, where hopefully the hurricane had moved on, and we could then head to Tomoka State Park.

On Tuesday, September 27, we got word that Tomoka State Park had closed their campground during our upcoming reservation. The hurricane was forecasted to hit Wednesday, September 28th to Thursday, September 29th. We decided the best plan would be to stay in Galveston until October 1st, then take two days to drive to Ormond Beach near Daytona, where my in-laws lived. Since our campground was closed, we planned to camp in their driveway and we hoped that by the time we arrived, the trees on the road would be cleaned up and the flood waters receded.

Galveston Beach was a pretty nice beach. Although we missed the beautiful tall palm trees, white sands and emerald waters of Florida, Galveston Beach did provide that necessary beach fix for our family. In late September, be aware that mosquitos are out in force and jellyfish can fill the waters. However, the water was warm (about 86F) and there were very few biting flies. The park had beautiful paddling trails for kayaks and SUPs. There were alligators in the park, and if I could ever get over my fear of them, I might be interested in paddling the trails. As it was, I did run as many of the roads in the park as I could, skipping the hiking trails as sand burrs were present and I was protective of my dog’s feet.

Enjoying the rest of our time in Galveston, we moved from the State Park to Jamaica Beach RV resort. Very family friendly, this RV resort had an indoor pool, lazy river and free mini-golf. There was also a splash pad, bounce house and easy access to the ocean. The property had a trail out to the bay side with more opportunities for kayaking or paddling. We spent two days here and had a lot of family fun. We ate out in Galveston at two very nice restaurants – Miller’s Seawall Grill and Sunflower bakery. Both places had shrimp po-boys that were delicious. On Friday, we spent the day in Galveston city, walking the historic town. We saw markings on numerous houses that indicated the water level from Hurricane Ike in 2008. We spent the evening at Pleasure Pier where the kids got to try out a ton of amusement park rides. All four kids conquered the Pirate’s plunge, Caroline and Isaac enjoyed the Iron Shark, but my favorite ride for them was the Froggy jump. All the kids loved the bumper cars, swings, the kiddie ferris wheel and Rock ‘n Roll. After an exhausting 3.5 hours, we headed to our last campground in Galveston – Dellanero RV park – for the night.

Saturday morning, we left Galveston to drive to the east coast of Florida. Driving through Louisiana, we went through the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, stopping at the visitor center there. This area is a huge swamp, filled with cypress trees. It was absolutely otherworldly to view. All along this stretch of Highway 10, we drove along causeways that were elevated above the water and swamp. It was unlike any highway I had driven. We stopped just west of New Orleans for lunch at O’Yahs which had the best chicken and sausage gumbo I had ever tasted. We then drove across Lake Pontchartrain, saw some damage that might have still been left over from Hurricane Katrina over 15 years ago. We overnighted near Pensacola (Eagle’s Landing Campground) and made it to Ormond beach before sunset the next day.

Ormond Beach is a town located on the Halifax river just north of Daytona. A quick ride over the bridge brought us to the outer island and the Atlantic Ocean. We drove the coastline a bit and saw a rocket launch out of Cape Canaveral. A mile down the street from my in laws is the entrance to Tomoka State Park. We were able to bike down to the park and ride along the paved path at the entrance to the State Park. Unfortunately no one was allowed into the park as many trees were down and areas were flooded. We enjoyed the pool at my in-laws and ate amazing food. When it was time to leave, we were all sad to say goodbye to Grammy, Gramps and Maggie, their dog.

It would take us 4 days and 2000 miles to get back to our home in Colorado Springs. Determined to not drive more than 500 miles a day, we first camped at Blackwater State Park in the Florida Panhandle. This park was amazing with beautiful trails and boardwalks (and unfortunately ticks). The campground had a beach along the Blackwater river. The white sands of the beach stood in direct contrast to the dark tannic waters of the river. These sands along the bank of the river are actually quartz, eroded away from the Appalachian Mountains. This is why the beaches along the panhandle all have this extremely fine white grain. Our second night was a KOA in Shreveport, Louisiana. We then booked it all the way to Dumas, Texas, staying at Texoma City Park (free site with electric and fresh water available).

Our last day, we drove from Dumas, Texas back to Colorado Springs through the northeast section of New Mexico. Here we drove through the Raton volcanic fields and made a quick stop at Capulin National Monument. Standing at the visitor center, we were able to view snow-capped mountains out in the west. We were almost home.