We just returned yesterday from a camping trip to Fort Desoto Park. The weather was magnificent. Not a cloud in the sky, and every day was breezy, dry, and in the 70s with nighttime lows in the lower 60s. We have been perfecting our camping skills as well, with the camper van making our lives so much easier. DH has truly figured out how to organize everything so well. We visited Fort Desoto, spent time at the beautiful beach (the nation's No. 1 beach in 2005), and walked out on the fishing pier. One of the highlights of this trip for our kids is crossing over the Sunshine Skyway, a very spectacular looking bridge. The children saw some live starfish on the beach, and a live manta ray that washed ashore just before we walked past. Also, pelicans galore. One exceptional highlight was the dolphin we saw just offshore, maybe 100 feet from the waterline. It was jumping and plunging repeatedly into the water. Thanks to Little Son for noticing that!

Here we are checking out the mortar cannons at Fort Desoto. This fort never saw any combat. It was constructed during the Spanish-American war to protect Tampa Bay. This cannon could fire a 1000 pound cannon ball over a mile up in the air. it was interesting to learn how they practiced firing it off every day, and the conditions the soldiers had to live with during that time (around 1905). The barrels of these guns, alone, weighed 29,000 pounds. It was interesting to learn how they mounted these guns in place way out on this remote barrier island before they had heavy equipment such as cranes to do the work.


Here are the children out on the fishing pier. It was very interesting to watch everybody salt water fishing on a Sunday afternoon. The water is just such a lovely aquamarine color there. The beach sand was so white and powdery.







Here is a photo of some of the many pelicans we saw. The fishermen had to compete with these to catch fish. No contest!













Baby Girl and Little Son decided to go into business for themselves. They collected the prettiest seashells they could find, and put them up "for sale" at the edge of our campsite. After sitting there for about an hour, and flagging down every passing car, they had $1.25 to show for their efforts (and sold the prettiest shells!) Some campers are very generous people. Too funny!

Oh, and lest I forget, here is a picture I took on the way out of town, through the windshield, of our children's absolute favorite bridge, the Sunshine Skyway. For the blog, of course.










It really was a terrific camping trip.

Our next camping trip will be the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. More on that in a future post.