Cumberland Island National Seashore - Castaways on the Island

This post represents another installment in The Big Switcheroo series – tales from last spring’s epic journey from the northeast to the Florida Keys and back – involving family, friends and an extraordinary range of adventures.  Why is this series entitled “The Big Switcheroo?” Alan and I had booked a weeks-long camping loop of the southern states in the eastern half of the country for the Spring of 2019, but needed to change our plans when we found out that our son’s long-time girlfriend was graduating with her Master’s degree in May on a date we would be out of town.  We quickly swapped out the southern states loop for an extended trip to Florida that we had planned for the following year – hence, The Big Switcheroo.

Although Alan and I would have been quite content to simply enjoy some down time at our gorgeous campsite at Crooked River State Park, the main reason we had ventured to coastal Georgia was to explore Cumberland Island National Seashore.  Cumberland Island is Georgia’s largest and southernmost barrier island at 17.5 miles in length; it encompasses over 36,000 acres. 

There are no services on Cumberland Island, aside from restrooms and water fountains - no restaurants, no ice cream stands and definitely no tiki bars or craft breweries.  The Island is mostly wilderness with several camping areas, a few historical structures such as the Plum Orchard Mansion, the First African Baptist Church and the ruins of Dungeness, a mansion built by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie.  (Thomas was Andrew Carnegie’s brother.)  So, visitors need to be well prepared, packing in (and out) all of their supplies for the length of their stay.  As much as Alan and I loved tent camping when we were young adults, when we saw campers headed to the Island with their food, water, tents and other camping equipment packed in backpacks and rolling carts, we were extremely happy knowing we’d be driving back to Crooked River State Park and sleeping in our comfy bed with the A/C running that night.

Crooked River State Park - A Circuitous Explanation and Exploration

This post represents another installment in The Big Switcheroo series – tales from last spring’s epic journey from the northeast to the Florida Keys and back – involving family, friends and an extraordinary range of adventures.

Our overnight stop at Twin Oaks RV Park in Elko allowed us to color in the state of Georgia on our camping map of the United States.  Although we had driven through Georgia plenty of times on our way to and from Florida, we had never vacationed there or even stayed overnight – camping or not.  But that stop at Twin Oaks wasn’t our only camping adventure in Georgia last spring.  After leaving Elko, and then stopping to watch the trains at the Folkston Funnel, we had less than an hour to go to our final destination of the day – Crooked River State Park in St. Marys, Georgia.  It’s time to put on your thinking cap because the next couple of paragraphs are, well, rather confusing.