Oceanside at Butler Beach

Most state campgrounds limit your stays to two weeks. We wanted to stay the month of February in the St. Augustine area on the ocean. Bryn Mawr Ocean RV Resort fit the bill as it is located on the ocean side of historic A1A.

Our site is next to the park’s heated pool and spa.

It’s just a five minute walk over a dune to a wonderful beach.

The beach is wide and at low tide hard enough to ride your bike for 10 miles.

This area is adjacent to the land that was purchased by local African American businessman Frank B. Butler in 1927. He bought the land out of frustration with the beaches of St. Augustine being designated “Whites Only”, with violators being arrested. Despite white opposition Butler Beach became the only beach available to African Americans between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. When Butler died in 1974 the family left the remaining parcel to the county for a park.

While walking and biking along a beautiful ocean beach is a great way to spend the day you have to change it up periodically. We searched the area and headed to the Tolomato River Boardwalk Preserve. The 1.7 mile(round trip) boardwalk is located just north of St. Augustine.

The boardwalk takes you through a large marsh of needle rushes to the Tolomato River.

Gardens always attract our attention. A short drive south of our “camp” is Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. Owen D. Young (a founder of the RCA Corporation) purchased the property as a winter home in 1937 and it was later donated to the state by his wife Louise in 1964.

The gardens also have a number of hiking trails.

North of St. Augustine on a barrier island is the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve which protects 76,000 acres of Florida’s northeast coast. The reserve offers hiking, biking and fishing opportunities.

You never know who you’ll meet along the trail.

The bike trails take you to the convergence of the Guana, Tolomato and Matanzas Rivers where we saw a pod of dolphins.

On one of the many cold wet days this month we drove to St. Augustine for a tour of our favorite local chocolatier.

While we spent a great deal of time at the beach our goal was to spend time with our extended families in Florida.

While we did a lot visiting we still found time to wander the beaches.

Our daily walk over the dunes to the beach gave us a chance to visit with the locals.

We’ve enjoyed our time in Florida catching up with family and friends. In spite of the allure of life at the beach we’ll be moving north into southern Georgia.