Topsail Preserve State Park, Santa Rosa, Florida

5/15 – 5/16 Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
Happy Birthday Stephanie! We left Henderson Beach State Park which we loved and drove ten miles down the road to our next campground. Stayed two nights at Topsail Hill Reserve State Park. We had planned to try out all the beautiful Florida State Parks in the Panhandle and they have not been disappointing. There are still some that we will miss but maybe another camping trip we can camp at those. Florida has so many state parks and the majority of them are along the coasts. We really are enjoying our camping along the Panhandle and the beautiful beaches here. One picture I am posting today shows George’s hand holding some tar from the BP oil spill. This has been the only beach where we have seen any remains of the tar. Workers go out every day with little nets to scoop up the tiny remains and some parts of the sand are black. Also posted a picture of George looking at the riptide sign. At Henderson Beach SP he got caught in a riptide and had to let it take him out before he could swim sideways to get out of it. There are riptides along the Panhandle at every beach and you need to be aware what to do. One thing about the sand along the Panhandle with the soft quartz in the mixture, the sand never gets hot. The sand stays cool to the touch all day long no matter how hot it is.

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park (Gregory E. Moore RV Resort), Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, $42 with an excellent Trailer Life Rating in the top 1% of the nation. 154 RV sites plus tenting sites and cabins
This used to be a private park before it was bought or given to the state. It has everything – full hookups, cable, underground water sprinklers, laundry, basketball court, swimming pool, shuffle board, club house, cabins, tenting area, camp store, playgrounds, shuttle to the beach, bike trail to the beach and their fresh water lakes. The park has 1, 643 acres including over 3 miles of beach, some coastal dune lakes, cypress domes, and wet prairies. Easy checkin and the person that checked us in was very nice and informative. Nice campground and we would return. Met some great campers at this park. We are the smallest rig here most campers come in their big rigs and stay for a week or two. This campground is big with a lot of sites and can be confusing at first but it does have that Florida resort feel to it.
The first night we stayed here we got up around 3 in the morning because we thought our water connections had sprung a leak. Our campsite was flooded but the others around us were dry as a bone. George went and checked everything out before we realized that they had underground sprinklers that went off in our site at that time and soaking everything in our site for about fifteen minutes. Funny now but not funny at that time in the morning. This was a private park before the state took over so that is why they have the sprinklers! George and I played shuffleboard everyday here and he won every game. So hopefully no other park will have it because he has been boasting every since. Great stay at this park!