St. George Island State Park, St. George Island, Florida
Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you (and your family), . . . every kind of living creature that is with you – the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground – so that they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.” ~ Genesis 8:15-17
I hate it when I get behind and can’t remember what we did. It’s hard enough to remember the day of!
Today, we left a stunning day at the beach and traded it in for the interior of Florida’s springs and rivers. This took us 4 ½ hours and 184 uneventfully and mostly straight, flat miles.
It was mostly devoid of water when we went by here on our way to Carrabelle the other day.
Well, mostly uneventful. There was the close call with the train . . .
Sure hope the brakes are working! 
I keep forgetting to mention . . . We’ve noticed that around the island they collect and sell brown, dropped pine needles. They bundle them up like sod. Wanna guess what they do with them? They use them for mulch! Seems like a great idea to us. And there are certainly plenty of them around.
As we traveled today, Blaine asked me a question. Holden Beach, NC, or the Gulf Shores? Let me explain for just a second to those of you who don’t know our history. Every summer for about 30 years, we rented the same privately owned beach house for a week at Holden (ours was the only family that wasn’t their family). Our children were raised there. Our family and friends came and played with us there. The owners left autograph books for their guests to write in, which we did, every year. When it became obvious that we’d not be returning, I asked the owners if I could make copies of our contributions, then I made books for us and our boys, complete with pictures. Such blessed memories!
So now the question. Holden vs Florida’s Gulf shores? Well, as usual with my responses, that depends. For memories, it’s definitely Holden. Plus Holden is more fun to play at because the waves are bigger. For sheer beauty, it’s definitely the Gulf. So there you have it. It’s like having two children and being asked to choose between them. It’s impossible!
Today, we passed through a small town called, Sopchoppy. I was instantly curious where that name came from, so I looked it up, and found, not only that, but what has to be one of the most unusual annual festivals in the history of annual festivals.
The name is a corruption of the Muskogee word for a nearby river, Lockchoppe. It’s a former railroad town which came to be in 1894 when the CT&G Railroad and encouraged people to settle in the area. In order to get the people to town, they greatly exaggerated the quality of the soil and the climate. Too late, the people purchased their property and were sort of stuck there. The railroad closed in 1946. It transported lumber, turpentine and related products, honey, farm produce, soldiers, fish and oysters packed in ice, and sturgeon caviar and frog legs from the river. As of 2018, 482 people lived in the town.
And now for the good part. Are you ready?
It’s home to the annual Worm Grunting Festival! See didn’t I tell you? I suppose now you want me to explain?
Worm grunting, aka worm charming. It’s a method for driving worms to the surface of the earth. The worm charmers hammer wooden stakes (stobs) into the ground, then rub them with metal slabs (usually a 10# flat piece of iron called a rooping iron). The resulting vibrations cause worms to surface and then they gather them up and use or sell them for bait. April, 2019 was their 19th annual festival and 7,000 people attended! Back in 2009, Mike Rowe even did a ‘Dirty Jobs’ episode on this event, so maybe you have heard of it! Oh! And in 2019, there were 200 different types of worms on display. Betcha didn’t know there were so many, didja?
So whadayathink? Wanna give it a try? Plan an April vacation in 2022? (they cancelled this year’s due to Covid)
Don’t ever let it be said you don’t learn interesting things on this post. . . .
O’Leano State Park, High Springs, Florida
We’ve been to this Park before. It’s a nice place to stop on our way across the state. But there’s no TV. There are so many trees, we can’t pick up a satellite signal. It’s just for a week though, and we have plenty of shows and movies recorded. Hopefully, Blaine can pick up some sports and weather on local TV.
Once we were set up and had dinner, we ventured out to remind ourselves about the River Trail here in the Park. Gave us a chance to stretch our legs for a couple of miles.
But there’s something strange in the neighborhood. This is the place where the Santa Fe River plunges beneath the surface of the ground before popping back up three miles later. On this trail, they call it “River Sink”. Ring any bells? That’s okay if it doesn’t. Two years ago, the water at the sink area was slowly spinning the stuff that ended up down there – green stuff, branches, leaves, etc. But today, there was no movement whatsoever. Nothing. Very weird!
Nothing’s moving.
We were disappointed. : (
Wonder why?