On The Road With The Dennens: Sebastian Inlet State Park

OK...I'm going to say something nice, first. It's beautiful here. They have lots of facilities for you to enjoy the water....beaches both in the inlet and on the Atlantic. It's the perfect spot for families. It always has a refreshing breeze (land breeze and sea breeze, depending on the time of day) and there are several interesting things to do in the immediate area that are lovely. Shopping for food (or anything else) isn't too bad or too far away. The thrift stores directly down the road have been filled with the clothes of the wealthy, so if you're into that kind of look you can get it for a song here. There are lots of beautiful scenes and you can experience lots of interesting marine life. I have seen dolphins, sea turtles and interesting fish so far, in addition to a plethora of bird life. Numerous pelicans, especially. The sunsets on the inlet are often breath taking, and it's popular here. I think reservations a year in advance are probably needed if you want your tent or RV to cozy up to the shoreline.

I was nice. I said nice things first, so now I can tell you the REAL scoop. There are also some problems. The electricity here, for one, is NOT well planned at all and there have been numerous outages over the days we have been here. A most UNpleasant thing to have to deal with in the hot Florida summer sun. The outages were often fairly quick, lasting for only a few moments, but some lasted longer. If you travel here with animals, like we did, be prepared to not leave the campground, because you don't want to come home to roasted pet whatever. We did leave on three occasions, but were nerve wracked the whole time. Would have been nicer KNOWING that the electricity was a sure thing. Your campsites are kind of close...and if the campers around you have a passel of kids, like the ones near us did, that can be less than peaceful...unless you, too, have a passel of kids. The bathrooms are NOT conducive to use. The women's bath house is a ONE passenger deal...one toilet and one shower with NO door or curtain...and the shower is right where the main door opens, so you aren't going to go in there and not lock it. That being said, be very prepared to have people pound on the door and yell through it for you to hurry up, or ask who's in there, and where their precious little Amber is....I know, because all of that happened to me. That much needed restful shower was again, less than peaceful. Not happy campers here. We ARE coming back in November, but ONLY because it's close to where we are going and it will be November (and hopefully chilly) so the electricity won't be a biggie)...but after that, probably not (Unless we are super de dooperty impressed in November, that is.).

We were treated to a lovely sunset the first night.....and some lovely pink clouds across from the sunset....

There are little nasty things around these parts that BITE. They bite and they MEAN IT. We were the all you can eat buffet in the biting gnat world. Those damn things aren't anything more than flying teeth. Chewing on you and you haven't a clue where the heck it's coming from. The only signals it's happening is the stinging, gripping small point of pain and the red, itchy raised welt afterward. I'm a big mess of bumpy red spots. Yeah, this is the life.

Our trip to the Atlantic side WAS nice....we found a parking spot where the beach was ours and ours alone. Not a soul around. Breezes kept the biting teeth off of us, and the water was 82 degrees. I didn't go swimming, but I loved breathing in the awesome salty air.