Rainbow Springs State Park headsprings

We visited the headsprings part of Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon, Florida.

Their map:

Rainbow Springs map

The main part of the park is physically separated from the campground:

A sign with info about the history:

Info sign

Pond and waterfall:

Pond and waterfall

Natural Landmark since 1972:

Natural Landmark since 1972

Paths and the spring:

Paths and the spring

Caution, gators:

Gators

Info sign:

Info sign

Selfie:

Selfie

Swimming area:

Swimming area

Swimming area from other side:

Swimming area from other side

Bumpy path:

Bumpy path

Marshy area:

Weedy area

Marshy area

Bubbling sand GIF:

Bubbling sand

Waterfall GIF:

Waterfall

Waterfall long exposure:

Waterfall long exposure

A nice park. Apparently crazy busy in summer, but not so much in winter.

Video

Video: Hundreds of manatees at Three Sisters Springs in Florida

Some clips from three viewpoints at Three Sisters Springs in Florida, with hundreds of manatees gathered around the springs.

Seeing hundreds of manatees at Three Sisters Springs in Florida

We visited Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida, to see manatees. These fascinating creatures spend the winter gathered around warm springs connected to the gulf, as the springs maintain a temperature of 72° F year-round.

Here’s a map of the springs:

A map on the wall of the visitor center:

Map

350 manatees counted:

350 manatees counted

Entrance sign:

Crystal River Three Sisters Springs

Manatee manners signs:

Manatee manners

One of the springs:

Spring

Lots of manatees:

Manatees

The nearby Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center:

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center

Florida’s Forgotten Coast

While staying at Ho-Hum RV Park, we did a few drives along the Forgotten Coast, in the panhandle of Florida. Amongst other things, we saw all four of the lighthouses on the coast.

A pamphlet for the lighthouse driving tour, with information about each lighthouse:

Lighthouse driving tour pamphlet

The first drive was west of the RV park, with lunch at the Blue Parrot Ocean Front Cafe (they have a live cam you can view, too), then St George Island Lighthouse.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

Bridge to St George Island:

Bridge to St George Island

Blue Parrot for lunch:

Blue Parrot

St George Island Lighthouse; unfortunately the museum was closed when we visited:

St George Island Lighthouse

St George Island beach:

St George Island beach

Further west, the Cape San Blas Lighthouse in Port St Joe:

Cape San Blas Lighthouse

The second drive was east of the RV park, to St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, St Mark’s Lighthouse, and Publix groceries on the way back.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge visitor center, with info about the lighthouse too:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge visitor center

The wildlife refuge:

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St Marks Lighthouse:

St Marks Lighthouse

The third drive was to have lunch at The Fisherman’s Wife restaurant in Carrabelle, then visit the nearby Crooked River Lighthouse.

Here’s the route on an interactive map:

The Fisherman’s Wife; we wanted to eat here last year, but they were closed for the holidays. They were closed again most of the time we were at Ho-Hum this time too, but opened a few days before our departure:

The Fisherman's Wife

Crooked River Lighthouse, the tallest of the four:

Crooked River Lighthouse

The old lighthouse keeper’s house, now a small free museum:

Crooked River Lighthouse

Crooked River Lighthouse museum

Fascinating stuff. We really enjoy this area of Florida; much more laid-back than the more touristy and populated parts.

Travel from Lena, Mississippi to Red Bay, Alabama

We drove our coach 184 miles, about three hours of driving, from Lena, Mississippi to Red Bay, Alabama.

Here’s a map showing our route (kinda), heading north:

Route map

That wasn’t actually our route, as we decided to take the Natchez Trace Parkway, which the RV routing didn’t like, but I examined closely and determined it’d be fine for us. Here’s an interactive map of the actual route:

A branch and lots of leaves by our truck:

Branch by our truck

A narrow road from the campground:

Narrow road from campground

A sharp turn from the park road; not too hard for our coach:

Sharp turn

Another Allegro Bus passing us:

Another Allegro Bus

A drizzly drive:

Rainy

Entering Natchez Trace Parkway:

Entering Natchez Trace Parkway

Natchez Trace Parkway

Lunch stop at the Jeff Busby area:

Lunch stop at Jeff Busby area

Loose dogs roaming around:

Loose dogs roaming around

Natchez Trace Parkway

Leaving Natchez Trace Parkway for I-22 East:

Entering I-22 East

I-22 East

MS-25:

MS-25

Turned into MS-76 (a newer and much nicer highway):

MS-76

Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama:

Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama

Arriving at our destination, Red Bay Acres:

Arriving at Red Bay Acres

Mostly empty RV park:

Mostly empty RV park

Oooh, a Zephyr (top of the line Tiffin motorhome):

Mostly empty RV park

Our site:

Our site

Video

Video: a timelapse of a flooding RV site in Tickfaw State Park, Louisiana

A short timelapse of our RV site flooding; watch the right side to see the water creeping in, and see how much it rises overnight! We changed sites when it kept rising.

Galveston Island State Park beach

Other than the Moody Gardens Festival of Lights (which was posted out of sequence, on Christmas Day last year), and going to a H-E-B grocery store, we didn’t do much while staying at Galveston Island State Park, in part due to rainy weather. But we did enjoy several walks along the beach.

An info sign:

Info sign

Beach

Empty beach, with regular garbage bins. The sand is quite nice, with very few shells:

Beach

Oil rig visible in the distance:

Beach

Jenn picking up garbage:

Jenn picking up garbage

Houses beyond the end of the park at the south end:

Houses beyond the end of the park

Park boundary:

Park boundary

No motorized vehicles beyond this point; people can drive on the beach, but not in the park:

No motorized vehicles beyond this point

Beach

Shells

Boardwalk to a day use area:

Boardwalk to day use area

Showers and changing rooms in the day use area:

Showers and changing rooms in day use area

Picnic shelters in the day use area:

Picnic shelters in day use area

Turtle sculpture:

Turtle sculpture

A ranger patrolling on the beach:

Ranger patroling on the beach

Houses beyond the end of the park at the north end:

Houses beyond the end of the park

Park boundary:

Park boundary

Big empty beach:

Beach

Galveston Island State Park

We stayed at Galveston Island State Park in Galveston, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice waterfront state park. We had the best site, with nobody other than some tent sites between us and the gulf.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-12-01
Check out: 2024-12-08
7 nights

Weather:

Lots of wind, some rainy days, some partly cloudy
High temps 62-72°F, lows 56-64°F
Daily wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

Little road noise
No train horn noise
Occasional helicopters going over
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#60, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Mostly level site; high in front; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 60 feet long by 12 feet wide
22 feet to neighbor on driver side, offset
80 feet to tent pad on passenger side
Separation between sites: just grass, and a little slope on passenger side
Picnic table on covered 16 by 16 feet concrete patio
Fire pit
No trees
Mostly clean site
Elevation 10 feet, front facing due East
Beach view

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
No sewer connection

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 160 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 120-130 Mbps down, 24 Mbps up, 36 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Beach

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful beachside camping

This is a beautiful state park campground with nice, large sites and easy access to the beach. The concrete pad was mostly level (just a bit high in the front). The covered patio area had plenty of room for tables and chairs, with hooks on the supports for hanging a hammock or windbreak. There are no sewer connections in the campground, but the dump station is very conveniently located on the way out of the park. We camped at Galveston Island State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Park map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

View of the gulf out or side window:

View out or side window

Neighboring site:

Neighboring site

Tent sites, mostly empty — unsurprisingly for winter — though the second one was occupied the whole time:

Tent sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Noticeboard:

Noticeboard

Surf conditions sign:

Surf conditions sign

Path to the beach:

Path to beach

We’d be happy to stay here again.

2024 parks and museums

In the previous post I covered the National Parks we visited in 2024, but we also visited many National Monuments and other National Park Service units, plus state parks, museums, and such. So this post summarizes those.

Again, you can also see the attractions from 2023, from 2022, and from 2021. And you can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the park category (with earliest or latest posts at the top), and the museum category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).

Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida:

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Florida:

Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center in Florida:

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Florida:

Island ‘Ting with Sebago Watersports in Florida:

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida:

World of Coca‑Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia:

Myrtle Beach State Park beach in South Carolina:

Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina:

Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina:

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site in North Carolina:

The Birthplace of Pepsi in New Bern, North Carolina:

Colonial National Historical Park: Yorktown in Virginia:

Colonial National Historical Park: Jamestown in Virginia:

Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia:

Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia:

Blue Ridge Parkway north end in Virginia:

Manassas National Battlefield Park in Manassas, Virginia:

Gettysburg National Military Park: museum and visitor center in Pennsylvania:

Gettysburg National Military Park: memorials and cemetery in Pennsylvania:

DC monuments by night tour in Washington, DC:

Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, DC:

Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington, DC:

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia:

Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland:

Blue Ridge Parkway south end in North Carolina:

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky:

Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois:

Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village National Historic Landmark in Mitchell, South Dakota:

Legion Lake in Custer State Park, South Dakota:

Iron Mountain Road, Needles Highway, Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, South Dakota:

Mount Coolidge, Wind Cave National Park, Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, South Dakota:

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana:

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in Santa Clarita, California:

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, California:

Museum of History in Granite in California:

Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas:

Galveston Island State Park beach in Galveston, Texas (post coming in January; this link won’t work until then):

River Bottomland Hardwood Trail hike in Springfield, Louisiana (post coming in January; this link won’t work until then):

Some fascinating places.

2024 National Parks

One of the main reasons for traveling the United States in a motorhome is to explore the many wonders around the country. In previous years I had four posts of attractions visited in the year, but this year I’m going to split them by the kind of attraction, since that seems like it’ll be more useful for future reference.

This is a summary of the National Parks we visited in 2024. You can also see the attractions from 2023, from 2022, and from 2021.

As with the previous summaries, I’ll include a link to the corresponding blog post, and a sample picture. Click or tap the link or picture to see more.

You can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the national park category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).

We visited 12 new National Parks in 2024 (plus revisited several), for a total of 47 so far of the 63 total National Parks.

Everglades National Park in Florida: